Senator Marco Rubio announced today that he will be leaving politics at the end of his term. Earlier this week he made the hard decision to suspend his Presidential campaign. The man had the gumption to run for President and at various times appeared to be strong enough to win the nomination. Faced with the loss of his home state he appears to have known he would be suspending his campaign before Primary day in Florida. Senator Rubio came in second here in Virginia thanks to a strong local team of high profile supporters, and did very well in Northern Virginia.
He could be criticized for not being the most conservative Senator, and for his involvement in the Gang of 8. It still remains that he is a conservative in a body with some high profile players who put more stock in relationships with Democrats than in conservative ideals. Keep in mind, in 2010 he took back the Florida Senate seat for Republicans by defeating not only a Democrat but a Republican so moderate he ran as an independent in the general election. The people of Florida will be losing an important leader, and conservatives should be thankful for his service. On stage he was well spoken and telegenic and clearly identified with people that Trump and Cruz have struggled to reach.
I supported Rand Paul and now support Ted Cruz. I will support the nominee. I thank Sen. Rubio for his service and hope he will still help us get our nominee elected in November.
26 comments
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Go back to Cuba “Little Marco”. If you’re so dumb to be “duped” by the Democrats then you are too dumb to be president.
There’s a cushy job somewhere waiting for Rubio.
Say, author… any response to Lawrence Wood’s complete destruction of your fluffy piece thanking Rubio for nothing… except oh yes he gave us the Gang of 8 Bill!!
Conservative principles? He is a talking Barbie Doll that you wind up to mouth the usual happy talk and then he gives you the Gang of 8 Bill.
And Lawrence puts Rubio into a slimy perspective beyond what you seems to know..
Only Kasich can beat Hillary.
Right.. and Romney was going to beat Zero…
“The people of Florida will be losing an important leader, and conservatives should be thankful for his service” – God Paul did you miss the boat on this one.
There is a rather strange phenomena regarding Marco Rubio, as the fresh faced new up and comer to politics that just doesn’t fit the facts. Rubio was and is a well known local player out of Miami (Miami-Dade Metro) since the late 1990’s and served in the Florida legislature for over ten years, ending up as speaker (a very rapid and unusual rise). He may have been a fresh face on the national scene but that was certainly not the case in the state in which I grew up and retain many close friends.
Ask yourself why the native son, born and raised in Greater Miami, attending South Miami High School and later University of Miami law school, when up against a must win presidential primary in his home state could NOT carry a single county in the entire state except Miami-Dade in the south. This rejection was stunning but the reality is if not for reinventing himself as a non-vetted Tea Party Movement candidate (they were really bad at this) while far down in the polls, running against Charlie Crist, his political career was largely done and in tatters from repeated accusations of misconduct and financial irregularities during his time in state office. His tenure in the Tallahassee legislature from 2000 to 2009 dovetails with what many call the golden age of corruption in Sunshine State politics culminating in the FBI and the IRS descending on Florida in 2010 to investigate how Florida Republican officials and top pols, including Rubio, used their state party credit cards. Many were prosecuted and while Rubio was on his way out the State House door and was not finally charged he was never in the end required to release his credit card records from 2005 to 2007. Frankly he dodged a bullet. This did not involve minor discrepancies but tens of thousands of dollars of misappropriated state funds.
During his stint in the state house, Rubio also started two political action committees that together took in about $600,000 over a period of less than three years and often made very questionable payments including one example of $14,000 for “couriers” that were in effect three relatives of Rubio’s who were doing unspecified political work around the state. One of these committees, Floridians for Conservative Leadership, established to support state and local candidates, following an investigation by the Miami Herald and St. Petersburg Times revealed that in 2010, the committee spent nearly $150,000 on administrative and operating costs and only $2,000 in actual candidate contributions. Again credit card expenses were an issue with charges as high as $50,000 with little to no information about how the money was actually spent.
One of Rubio’s closest friends, David Rivera, a state representative who became a Representative of the US Congress (FL 25th District 2011–2013), and is often referred to in Florida as one of it’s most corrupt politicians, worked closely with him in the legislature to secure his speakership, as well as shared a Tallahassee residence with him, while the state legislature was in session, was under investigation for years by state and federal officials for an exhaustive list of alleged misuses of political money. One example, investigators suspected that Rivera had accepted more than $500,000 in payments from the owner of a Miami dog track for Rivera’s help on a local initiative to allow slot machines at gambling sites. Rivera slipped off the hook in 2012 after an 18-month investigation, with authorities citing the statute of limitations and Florida’s lax campaign finance laws. His stint in the US House was though was over.
This was and is Marco Rubio’s political world in his home base in Florida. Floridians and Rubio understand what an apparent significant number of Washington politicians didn’t that he had little to no political future in Florida and was facing a significant challenge for any re-election effort that early on as a first term Senator he denied he was interested in pursuing regardless. He understood his political skeletons had not all been put to rest in Florida and any future re-election efforts would drag them back out into the open with the possibility of further investigations. For those that still haven’t caught the drift here the Florida voter base did not hold a very high opinion of his honesty and very questionable financial activities. Thankful for his service, it takes a long, long pause to swallow that one.
Stunning once again Lawrence.. You pretty much slice through the baloney that Rubio supporters want to project on this phony.
Not to mention that his brother-in-law was a notorious drug kingpin in Miami. His sister is still married to the guy (Orlando Cicilia ) and waited for 12 years for him to complete his sentence. “Little Marco” claims he didn’t know where the money came from when he received Miami Dolphins tickets from Cicilia. If he is that stupid (ha!) who would want him in government. Go back to Cuba Marco! Also, these elected officials should have to take an UNPAID LEAVE OF ABSENCE while they run for office. He is being paid to do a job (be a senator) and he has one of the worst voting attendance records.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/how-marco-rubio-helped-his-ex-con-relative-get-a-real-estate-license/2015/12/30/a1d96816-ae7f-11e5-9ab0-884d1cc4b33e_story.html
More about Rubio’s exit from politics here, http://www.people.com/article/marco-rubio-leaving-politics-vice-president
Need my hip boots.
Hopefully Rubio can rehabilate himself from his opportunistic nature, and disassociate himself from the Gang of Eight scum.
He could have a future if he would adhere to the Constitution and his Christian ways.
However, at this time, goodbye and good riddance.
How cavalier you skip over the ‘GANG of 8’ debacle!!! When Marco Rubio BETRAYED the Tea Party – yes spit in our eye – by joining with the Democrats/liberals in Congress to try and cram amnesty DOWN OUR THROATS!
He fooled me once, but not again! I gave him money and supported him – but under his duplicious false pretences. (And poor Marco – the useful idiot – got BURNED by his Gang of 8 brethern. Such are the vagarencies of politics.)
BTW – any and all readers who think Trump is somehow hurting the “conservative” brand – you couldn’t be MORE wrong! Marco Rubio flushed that word down the toilet.
I was waiting for someone to post a tacky comment. I knew the Trump supporters couldn’t let Rubio exit gracefully or let Paul post a nice farewell to him.
Lawrence Woods cuts Rubio to shreds as to his sleazy political nature. Oh that’s right you like amnesties so that is no problem for you, but check out Lawrence’s post to see why Rubio doesn’t deserve a nice farewell..
I shredded this argument in another forum already, not doing it again because I have better things to do.
As for Wood’s post? Not interested. Rubio is leaving. Attacking him when he’s exiting, and launching attacks on the people saying goodbye to him, is just what I originally called it: tacky.
What accomplishments does Rubio actually have? Other than the Gang of 8, can you name any? Lawrence has a pretty detailed list of accomplishments in Florida… and a sitting senator couldn’t win his own state? Kasich won Ohio at least…
::sigh::
I’m not doing this again either. The whole “You attack the guy and I defend him” routine is done for Rubio.
This isn’t about what Rubio has or hasn’t done. I’m past the point of caring about that, he is leaving. Attacking him on his way out the door like this makes you look bad, not him. Let him go with some degree of courtesy.
There was such a deep bench for the republican party. If Trump is smart – and we might actually find out how smart he really is – he’ll start forming his cabinet and advisors from the other former candidates. It will pull us together better than anything and keep more people engaged. Let’s win for a change.
In the voting booth I went back and forth between Trump and Rubio, and finally decided to cast my vote for Marco. I hope he comes back. He is all the good things the author said he was.
Why in the world would you vote for Rubio??? That is insane. All the good things wound up in? The Gang of 8 Bill? See Lawrence Wood’s post about the sleazy nature of this career slim and then tell me about good things.
Now the horse ___ about Rubio being duped by the Democrats into creating the Gang of 8 bill… Read Lawrence Wood’s post and then you tell me if a guy like this is “duped” Duped my bottom… he knew the reward for pushing through that bill from the corporation donors. Like Eric Cantor did.
Don’t talk about border control EVER if you can say you voted for Rubio…
Good Lord at least you could have voted for Cruz… he gets immigration.
“The Tragedy of Senator Rubio” should be a play. It is shameful how the Establishment used him the past month, and unfortunate he went along with it.. They may have actually killed off the career of this promising young senator.
Sorry to read this. I voted for him in the Va. primary. I also liked Rand Paul. Not sure who to support now.
Cruz, by every measure.
Cruz.
I also was behind Paul. Cruz now is the obvious play for the libertarian wing of republicans. Only limited government candidate still running.
So promising … perhaps killed by his naive efforts with Dems to craft a comprehensive immigration plan. I had hoped that he would become a multi-term president, and restore integrity to Washington.