Free Republic

In February 2013, Senator Marco Rubio let me sit in on the politics course he taught part time at Florida International University. He knew I was writing a cover story about him for Time magazine, but he still gave his students a master class in self-promotion in my presence, explaining the machinations he had used to persuade his colleagues to elect him speaker of the Florida House of Representatives: “You raise money for them. You befriend them. You make sure your kids are friends with their kids. And then you cut the best deal you can.” He also candidly described...

A Washington Post story last month revealing that Marco Rubio had been arrested after hours in a Brickell Park in 1990 quickly sparked far slimier allegations in the conservative Twittersphere: Namely, that the 18-year-old Rubio had actually been cruising for gay sex in the park with a good friend who later ran a notorious gay porn site. New Times ran down those rumors and found that, indeed, Rubio's childhood pal — a man named Angel Barrios — went on to become entangled in Miami's most notorious gay smut legal case. But that's where the rumor mongering and fact separated; there...

Picture taken Nov. 15, 2009, in Sanibel, Florida in the Andrews home at fundraiser they hosted for Marco Rubio, when nobody gave Rubio any chance to defeat Charlie Crist. Phyllis Schlafly made a special trip to Florida, at Pat Andrew's request, to headline the event. Phyllis Schlafly is a retired American constitutional lawyer, conservative activist, author, and speaker and founder of the Eagle Forum. She has led the conservative movement for 50 years. Schlafly came to national attention when millions of copies of her self-published book, A Choice, Not an Echo, were distributed in support of Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign....

It’s silly to pretend otherwise: As a Democrat, I’d rather run against Ted Cruz than Marco Rubio. But that’s like saying I’d rather run against herpes than Marco Rubio. Of course I would. I don’t care that Ted Cruz may be smart and strategic. He’s also creepy and cruel, according to just about everyone who’s ever had the misfortune of knowing him for longer than 10 minutes. I’d also rather run against Donald Trump than Marco Rubio. Again, obvious. But for me, less so than Cruz. Trump isn’t quite as easily caricatured as a cartoon villain. Before his current role...