In case you missed it, Marco Rubio appeared on The Daily Show last night to promote his new book. He also, I assume, made the common mistake that many of his colleagues do: To think they can snow not only the public with their nonsense, but Jon Stewart as well.
Wrong. Unfortunately for Marco, he too has fallen for the image the right has so carefully scripted and crafted about him. He was to be the shining star of the Republican Party. The savior.
Well, had Marco studied up on recent history, he could have saved himself some of the embarrassment: So was Fred Thompson, once upon a time....
This interview shows what some of us in Florida have been telling the rest of the country for years: That Marco Rubio is little more than a walking, right-wing talking point robot with virtually no ideas of his own. For me, it was a struggle to listen to the entire interview because I could almost recite Rubio's script in my sleep at this point. We've been hearing it for years now. But it is worth it to watch Jon Stewart call out his BS for what it is, and tear each part of his party dictated rhetoric apart piece by piece.
In a nutshell it shows you what many of us have said over and over again. Rubio is not Vice Presidential, or Presidential by a long shot no matter how much the Republican base tries to paint him as the magic man who can turn everything around for the party. Nope. He IS the party, that's the problem, and he can memorize a script. That's. It. It also illustrates that even Jon Stewart is probably more qualified than Rubio is.
Shorter Rubio:
"Both parties are to blame for the obstruction" (that doesn't exist on the Republican side according to Rubio. But no. For instance, both sides did not block immigration bills and vote against the DREAM Act. Marco and his party DID).
"Obama isn't the same person he was when he was elected. He had a chance to do something (about immigration) but he didn't do it." (You could just omit the name Obama and insert Marco Rubio here, after all he was the great shining hope of the Republican Party when he won his Senate seat. And yet.....he blocked and obstructed when he had the chance. Obama on the other hand, did do something, which Marco now criticizes.)
"Democrats are divisive!" (No, as Stewart points out, the rhetoric doesn't match the reality. Reality, of course, is a place Marco Rubio has never had to inhabit in his sheltered political life.)
Oh, and here's one of my favorites: When asked about the current filibuster issue in the Senate, which Marco doesn't seem to realize he is a part of now, he blames.....the Senate:
"The filibuster is a Senate-ey (? Marco's words) issue." Earth to Marco: YOU'RE A U.S. SENATOR.
Also related to the filibuster was this: "If you don't want to vote, don't run for the Senate." I couldn't agree more. So why did you, Marco??
He goes on to say he isn't responsible for everything that's been blocked, or as he would put it: No obstruction here, what are you talking about? "I've only been in the Senate for a year and a half" (Memorizing my script and collaborating with a ghost writer on my book. Did I mention my book?), and "I don't know what the numbers were before I got there." (Which Stewart slides over to him on a card.)
When Stewart asks if Republicans have ever taken accountability for their part in the blame, Rubio avoids answering.
Asked about the Republican opposition to the Affordable Care Act, Rubio uses the repeal and replace party mantra, and says he has put forth his own plan. Here he actually says this:
"Republicans and I have alternative plans. You just never hear about them because the media never covers our plans." and "No one watches C-Span."
Two points here.
1. Nothing got more coverage in the media quite like the long, long road to the ACA.
2. Many, many of us watch C-Span.
Had there been an alternative, we would know about it. There's no Republican plan. That's why some in his party are starting to panic now at the reality that the Supreme Court may throw out the entire thing. The time for replace may well have arrived, and Rubio and his party have nothing.
For all of Marco's insistence that his party only wants compromise and never obstructs, even in the interview he can't compromise on the hypotheticals that Jon Stewart presents him with. At one point, Rubio actually says:
"I'm not in there so both sides can get something out of it." Exactly the point. For once Rubio is honest.
To much of what remains, Stewart says this, which sums everything up nicely:
"What you're pretending? You know it's baloney."
Watch the entire interview here. (Technical issues on the website prevented an embed of the interview at the time of this post.)
