None of the new polls show Rubio making much progress as the establishment pick to end the existential dual menace-- at least to the Republican Party-- of Herr Trumpf or Texas' neo-fascist Senator Cruz. The two newest national polls, one from NBC and one from Fox, don't offer the Karl Roves, Mitch McConnells or Reince Priebuses much hope that Rubio is the right champion to save the party. The Fox poll shows him a distant 3rd with 13% to Cruz's 28% and Herr Trumpf's 26%. If every other candidate dropped out and all their backers jumped on the Rubio bandwagon, he would still trail the fascist duo. And Fox respondents don't see him as best-equipped to handle either the economy (7%) or national security, his supposed strong suit (11%). Nor is he seen as an especially good bet to beat Hillary. The NBC poll has Rubio at 15%, way behind Herr Trumpf at 27% and Cruz at 22%. Conclusion: the conservative mainstream vote is not coalescing around Rubio the way party bosses had hoped, which is why they are increasingly turning to a brokered convention and Paul Ryan.Yesterday on Meet the Press, people unfamiliar with Rubio's record as a career-long bigot had an opportunity to see why many mainstream conservatives are not buying what he's selling. Although Rubio's campaign is being partially funded by right-wing hypocrite Paul Singer, a pro-gay GOP billionaire with an openly gay son, Rubio is adamant about ending marriage equality. And he told Chuck Todd he will do it by appointing ugly bigots like himself to the Supreme Court. He tried to worm his way out of answering the question, since Meet the Press has not just Republican voters, but normal people as well:
CHUCK TODD: Are you going to work to overturn the same sex marriage?MARCO RUBIO: I disagree with it on constitutional grounds. As I have said...CHUCK TODD: But are you going to work to overturn this?MARCO RUBIO: I think it’s bad law. And for the following reason. If you want to change the definition of marriage, then you need to go to state legislatures and get them to change it. Because states have always defined marriage. And that’s why some people get married in Las Vegas by an Elvis impersonator. And in Florida, you have to wait a couple days when you get your permit. Every state has different marriage laws. But I do not believe that the court system was the right way to do it because I don’t believe...CHUCK TODD: But it’s done now. Are you going to work to overturn it?MARCO RUBIO: You can’t work to overturn it. What you...CHUCK TODD: Sure. You can do a constitutional amendment.MARCO RUBIO: As I’ve said, that would be conceding that the current Constitution is somehow wrong and needs to be fixed. I don’t think the current Constitution gives the federal government the power to regulate marriage. That belongs at the state and local level. And that’s why if you want to change the definition of marriage, which is what this argument is about.It’s not about discrimination. It is about the definition of a very specific, traditional, and age-old institution. If you want to change it, you have a right to petition your state legislature and your elected representatives to do it. What is wrong is that the Supreme Court has found this hidden constitutional right that 200 years of jurisprudence had not discovered and basically overturn the will of voters in Florida where over 60% passed a constitutional amendment that defined marriage in the state constitution as the union of one man and one woman.CHUCK TODD: So are you accepting the idea of same sex marriage in perpetuity?MARCO RUBIO: It is the current law. I don’t believe any case law is settled law. Any future Supreme Court can change it. And ultimately, I will appoint Supreme Court justices that will interpret the Constitution as originally constructed.
The young fogey's record on equality for the LGBT community has been pretty wretched going back to his days in the Florida legislature. In 2006 he was adamantly opposed to gay couples adopting children and told the Tallahassee Democrat that foster children forced to spend the night in a conference room would never been allowed to find homes with gay parents. "Some of these kids are the most disadvantaged in the state. They shouldn't be forced to be part of a social experiment." Even after federal courts struck down the gay adoption ban, Rubio backed GOP legislation that encourages adoption agencies turn away otherwise capable gay parents by claiming a moral or religious objection.Before Rubio had flip-flopped on his own immigration bill he was threatening to vote against it if an amendment against LGBT discrimination was included. On a right-wing radio show he promised fellow bigots that ""If this bill has in it something that gives gay couples immigration rights and so forth, it kills the bill. I'm gone. I'm off it. I've said that repeatedly."But the slimy little Rubio has been consistent in one thing: trying to turn the tables by claiming bigots and hate mongers like himself are being subjected to intolerance. He loves to play the victim card when he's denying people equality. Last year he was making a play for the aggrieved anti-gay far right vote by whining that he and others who believe in bigotry as a fundamental right are the victims of intolerance. "There is a growing intolerance on this issue, intolerance of those who continue to support traditional marriage. Even before this speech is over, I’ll be attacked as a hater or bigot. Or someone who’s anti-gay. This intolerance in the name of tolerance is hypocrisy. Supporting the definition of marriage as one man and one woman, is not anti-gay. It is pro-traditional marriage."In April, The Advocate, probably not having thoroughly vetted Ted Cruz well enough yet, asserted that Rubio might be the most anti-gay presidential candidate yet, at the same time one of his local newspapers was reminding Floridians that Rubio's record on women and LGBT rights is pretty terrible.
[W]hile Rubio is young and Hispanic and so, by default via those things, "exciting," it's also critical to remember that he's still very much old-school about some pretty important things. Namely women's and LGBT rights.A quick refresher course on what Rubio thinks of women and gays:He Voted Against the Renewal of the Violence Against Women ActIn 2013, the U.S. Senate renewed the Violence Against Women Act by an overwhelming 78-22 vote. The renewal of the act included protection for domestic violence against gays, lesbians, immigrants, and Native American women. Since being established, the act has helped reduce national rates of domestic violence with programs and services, including the federal rape shield law, community violence prevention programs, funding for victim assistance services-- such as rape crisis centers and hotlines-- as well as providing legal aid for victims of violence.Rubio was one of the 22 who voted no to renewing the act.He Blasted Florida for Repealing the Same-Sex Ban2015 kicked off with a bang when the state finally legalized same-sex marriage across the board. Gay couples from all over the state lined courthouse steps and got hitched. Some wanted to be counted among the first, while others simply wanted to take in the momentous occasion with laughter and tears. It was an historic moment for the state and the LGBT community. Florida was finally catching up with the times. And then Marco Rubio went and crapped all over it.While he was careful not to use antigay wording, Rubio was very much antigay marriage. Though he argued it was a legal issue."I do not believe that there is a U.S. Constitutional right to same-sex marriage," he said at the time. "I don't believe it's unconstitutional. I just don't believe there's a constitutional right to it."So in other words, he doesn't believe there's a constitutional right to it. Or, to put it another way, screw your rights, gay people.He's Been Opposed to Same-Sex Marriage for a Long TimeAt least he's consistent. 2015 wasn't the first time Rubio spoke out on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage. In 2013, he went the "states should have the right to define marriage in the traditional way" route while scoffing at the notion that he was somehow a bigot.Yet, even as he espoused the virtue of constitutionality, he's always been very pro "God in government," particularly when it comes to gay rights.In 2013, he told the famously antigay Florida Family Policy Council: "We hear about keeping God out of our schools, keeping God out of our politics, keeping God out of other people's lives," Rubio said. "This is a ridiculous debate, because God is everywhere at every time."He Once Made Robocalls for Vehement Antigay GroupIn 2012, Rubio participated in an antigay campaign called the National Organization for Marriage. In robocalls made for the organization, Rubio joined Mike Huckabee and Focus on the Family cofounder James Dobson in asking people to "protect the sanctity of marriage" and vote against any same-sex initiatives found on voting ballots in Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maine, Maryland, and Washington state.
And this is what the party bosses think they can pass off as the new mainstream image of the GOP? He's like an 80 year old trapped in the body of someone in their 40s... and awkwardly so.Of course, the ugly bigotry just one miserable piece of what's wrong with Marco Rubio that makes him so utterly unqualified to be president of the United States. That whole "Deep Bench" turns out to be such a ridiculous and ironic farce. Last night Michigan Republican Justin Amash was horrified by Rubio's foolish pandering to the discredited warmongers who once dominated the Republican Party. He's worse than Hillary Clinton, so much worse... and on some levels I suspect that he's even worse than Herr Trumpf.
