a) Weakens America/AmericansThere are NO counter examples.
b) Distances America's allies
c) Strengthens America's enemies
d) Attacks Christianity
e) Serves islam
f) Harms Israel
Or some combination of the above.
Posted on 02/07/2016 3:01:19 PM PST by Kaslin
Gaffe or no gaffe, it makes a lot of sense when you think about it.
What was Marco Rubio thinking Saturday night in Manchester, New Hampshire? Why would he repeat the same canned talking point four times, even after Chris Christie accused him of constantly repeating his canned talking points? And if he had to repeat a canned talking point during a Republican debate, why on earth would he choose one about how Barack Obama knows what he's doing?
The knows-what-he's-doing debacle felt like Rubio's political Fredericksburg, a futile repetitive charge into overwhelming enemy fire. Christie's brutal mockery of Rubio's "memorized 25-second speech" evoked the fictional President Bartlet's "What are the next 10 words of your answer?" smackdown of an opponent's 10-word debate answers on "The West Wing." But there was an actual point that Rubio was trying to make, even if his embarrassing inability to deviate from his political script overshadowed his political argument.
To understand the point, it helps to remember that Rubio was initially responding to the notion that he was too inexperienced to be president. "Gov. Christie warned voters here in New Hampshire against voting for another first-term senator, as America did with Barack Obama in 2008," said moderator David Muir. Rubio quipped that if experience were all that mattered, Joe Biden ought to be the next president, since "he's been around 1,000 years." It was then that Rubio went to the well for the first time: "And let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing."
Why would he dissent from the Republican Party line that Obama is a clueless incompetent? Obviously, he wasn't suggesting that Obama has been a good president, since his entire campaign has been dedicated to the proposition that Obama is a disaster. He was suggesting that Obama, despite his relative pre-White House inexperience, has been effective at getting his way. "Barack Obama is undertaking a systematic effort to change this country," Rubio said. Then he listed some of the ways the president has succeeded in doing that: Obamacare, the $800 billion stimulus, the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill and the nuclear deal with Iran.
What Rubio emphasized, and then emphasized three more times, is that Obama has been catastrophic for America, for Americans, and for the notion of American exceptionalism. "All this damage that he's done to America is deliberate," Rubio said. "This is a president who's trying to redefine this country." What Rubio did not quite say, but certainly implied, is that Obama's status as a first-term senator has not prevented him from achieving what he set out to achieve.
Incidentally, Donald Trump was the only candidate who challenged Rubio's premise, dismissing Obama as a rank incompetent. But whether or not you like what Obama has done, and none of the Republican candidates do, Rubio is correct that he has done an awful lot, transforming U.S. policy not only on health care, economics, financial regulation and Iran, but also on energy, education, taxation, gay rights, Iraq, Cuba and much more. Rubio's opponents have dismissed him as a Republican version of Obama -- charismatic and inspiring but ultimately too young and inexperienced for the job. Rubio was essentially implying, but not quite daring to say out loud, that Republicans need their own version of Obama to reverse what he's done.
Of course, one thing Obama has done is win two national elections. Rubio's candidacy has benefited from a widespread belief that he would be the most electable Republican, a Cuban-American from humble roots, a natural politician with a stirring personal story who would look like tomorrow against Hillary Clinton's yesterday. But that aura of electability took a big hit Saturday night when he started to sound like a broken record and look like an empty suit. He certainly didn't seem like someone who knew what he was doing.
a) Weakens America/AmericansThere are NO counter examples.
b) Distances America's allies
c) Strengthens America's enemies
d) Attacks Christianity
e) Serves islam
f) Harms Israel
Or some combination of the above.
Right. But it was still an awesome point to keep making.
The average person only retains 10% of what he or she hears. Say it three times and they might remember it.
Or better yet sacrifice yourself to the press making fun of you and get it out there a lot.
What I love is now it is a big deal so Obama has to hear about it.
You could also argue that Obama is just a puppet of his NWO masters and they knew what they were doing getting him into office.
Mario Robotco has his own agenda to destroy America - AMNESTY
I'm a governor ... I'm a governor ... blah blah blah
Rubio is not the only one that repeats his dogma. They all do.
correct
In a little-noticed interview earlier this year with Univision, Jorge Ramos, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) declared that, as President, he would keep Barack Obama executive amnesty for DREAMers in place until it was permanently codified through legislation.
Jorge Ramos is the Univision Open Borders Rectum, who was thrown out of a presser by Trump last year.
“Christie crushed Rubio. ....”
The way I look at it is that Chritie crushed himself.
Obama set out to destroy America, which doesn’t mean that Obama isn’t stupid as well.
I agree. Odumbo is systematically destroying the country. Very similar to the New York values comment.
Obama DOES know what he’s doing. RUBIO WAS RIGHT ON THAT ONE
The Boy in the Bubble is not ready for prime time.
No he isn’t. But Rubios point IF anyone was interested was that there are much larger issues worth REPEATING, again and again, rather than take bait from a non-starter and get in a pissing contest over trivia.
“The Boy in the Bubble is not ready for prime time.”
No, Trump is not.
True.
Let’s see what the voters of NH say about it Tuesday.
Lots of liberals in NH, but even some of them know that Trump is a phony, plus there are conservatives in NH as well.
btw, I’m routing for Cruz, but Rubio is far better than Trump.
Indeed. We must recognize that 0dumbo knows exactly what he's doing.
Good point about Obama.
As you say people don’t recall much. What they will probably recall is Elephant Boy making hay out of Robotio.
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