Marco Rubio: Ignore What I Say And Do, Just Send Money
Marco Rubio is without a doubt a shameless hypocrite, but you've got to hand it to him on his latest fundraising plea.
As you'll recall, last week Rubio was busy avoiding town halls and his constituents who wanted to have a word with him about the Republican plan to take away their health care, among other topics. Rather than face the music, Rubio first blamed an urgent trip to Europe, although no one seems to know why he was in Europe, or if he really went in the first place, and his office isn't talking.
Then, when he was caught on camera in Florida while his office was telling callers he was still in Europe, he shifted the blame to his constituents.
He also claimed that town hall participants are "rude and stupid" and demanded respect from the person on camera who confronted him about it, rather than acknowledging that there are real voters of his who are afraid of what will happen to them if he takes away their health care and they want to talk to him about it.
In other words, Rubio is blaming his victims.
Rubio also finds fault with the people at these town halls because they're (gulp) organized and educated. He says the town halls aren't a productive exercise (especially when he doesn't show up to answer questions), and sees the fact that they get news coverage to be another problem (because viewers would see he has no good answers nor reason for taking away his constituent's health care.) And finally, Rubio had this to say:
"It would be unfair to the people that voted for me, my of whom voted for me because of my opposition to ObamaCare, to now suddenly vote like the person whom I beat and so that's what I intend to do."
Rubio seems to be taking another page from Trump's playbook. He will only serve the Republicans who voted for him. But here's another problem for Rubio. Some of those now angry constituents happen to be people who voted for him and they don't want to lose their health insurance any more than those who didn't vote for him. Of course, another option Rubio doesn't consider here is that he could simply do the right thing. But that option has always been a bridge too far for Rubio.
Rubio wasn't always an anti-townhall guy, no sir. Here's what he had to say in 2009 when he used angry Tea Party voters to win his Senate seat the first time around:
Ah yes, back then they were "real people" with "real anger," and Rubio seized on their anger and fear and ran with it, all the way to Washington. But now real voters (many of them Rubio's) have real anger after discovering that all the GOP fear mongering over Obamacare was just that: fearmongering. They like their insurance and they want to keep it. So now Rubio has deemed them "rude and stupid" and he's not about to go on camera and show them he has no good answers for them.
"Be respectful, man" he says.
So in light of all his town hall avoidance tactics, it might come as a surprise to some that Rubio's currently fundraising off those town halls, just not for the reasons they might think.
Here's a copy of his latest fundraising email. See if you can spot the hypocrisy:
Yes, Rubio's "very enthusiastic to see so many people expressing their freedom of speech."
Or to translate, he's enthusiastic that people are exercising free speech, except those doing so are rude and stupid and how dare they try to hold Rubio accountable on camera for coming for their health care when the result could be bankruptcy and/or death, and Democrats are evil, something something, and all you need to know is Marco Rubio is the real victim here, so please send him money.
"Yes Marco!" I want you to let me die without health care, and here's anywhere from $5 to $___ in order to do it!
The only one who's being rude and stupid here is Marco Rubio, and let's add a healthy dose of arrogance and hypocrisy while we're at it.
