Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:45 pm
Marco Rubio is ducking and dodging questions while sticking to his talking points during a woeful performance at the CNN Republican town hall.
Rubio danced around and did not give an answer to the question of whether or not Apple should be forced to unlock the San Bernardino killers’ iPhones. Rubio said that he would not visit Cuba as president unless it were a free Cuba. Sen. Rubio was on the wrong side of the warming relations with Cuba. Even a majority of Cuban-Americans favor President Obama’s warming of relations with Cuba.
Rubio’s college plan involved people being given higher education accreditation for “life experiences.” This would do nothing to lower the cost of college. Rubio also advocated that students raise the money through a student investment plan. In other words, students would have to go out and raise their own money for college. His two more concrete proposals were income based student loan repayment and legislation that would require colleges to tell students how much they will earn with their degrees.
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On national security, Rubio damned Republicans with faint praise by claiming that he has the most foreign policy experience of anybody in the field. Sen. Rubio claimed that he had a whopping five years of foreign policy experience.
It is easy to see why Rubio hasn’t been able to wow Republican voters. Rubio has the slickness that the Republican establishment loves, but he is an unexciting candidate. When asked about his lack of experience, Rubio called Obama and failed president and touted his own experience in the Florida state legislature.
Rubio needed a performance that dazzled Republican voters and took the focus off of Trump and Cruz. Instead, Rubio relies on his talking points and demonstrating why he has yet to win a primary or a caucus. Sen. Rubio’s problem is that he sounds like the third or fourth best Republican candidate.
If anyone listens to what Rubio is really saying, they will soon realize that he isn’t saying much. Trump and Cruz have clear messages. It is unclear what, if anything, Sen. Rubio stands for. Marco Rubio has taken the Romneyesque route of taking both sides of an issue while not saying much of anything.
Rubio is doing nothing to dispell the notion that he is an over focus-grouped talking points machine.
Anderson Cooper asked Rubio if he had ever personally felt the sting of racism. He couldn’t name a time when he had been discriminated against, so he moved on to a pre-programmed series of talking points about his parents and racism.
The establishment is rallying behind Rubio because they believe that he is their only hope to stop Trump, but through the first half Sen. Rubio is a dull candidate who is having a very bad night at the CNN Republican town hall in South Carolina.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
