The Unbearable Lightness of Marco Rubio (continued)
Well, it’s official: Marco Rubio has no backbone. When push comes to shove, he will cave.
If there were any lingering doubt about that, it disappeared today when he announced that he would support the confirmation of Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State. Rubio’s sharp questioning of Tillerson–particularly over ties with Russia–during the confirmation hearings had raised some hopes that he might vote against Tillerson in committee. But no.
Rubio’s statement noted that he continued to have reservations about Tillerson. But he evidently decided that it was better to go along rather than further risk the wrath of The Donald. He manfully asserted, however, that “upcoming appointments to critical posts in the Department of State are not entitled to and will not receive from me the same level of deference I have given this nomination.” Way to show that fighting spirit, Marco!
During the campaign for the Republican nomination, Rubio famously called Trump “a con artist” and stated that Trump is “wholly unprepared to be president of the United States.” He said he could not allow turning over “the nuclear codes of the United States — to an erratic individual — and the conservative movement — to someone who has spent a career sticking it to working people.” Rubio was also responsible for the “tiny hands” meme that still has traction with late night comedians. So he has plenty of reason to fear that the long knives might come out at some point.
But, of course, he ended up endorsing Trump for president, even though he said “I’ve stood by everything I ever said in my campaign.” Huh? How does that work exactly?
No, Marco, you can’t have it both ways. You can’t denounce someone and then turn around and endorse him, but expect to get credit for your “reservations.”
Or maybe you can. Florida voters had their chance to get rid of Rubio in November, but re-elected him. Admittedly, the national Democratic Party gave at best limited support to his opponent, Patrick Murphy, whose media campaign went all warm and fuzzy instead of attacking Rubio on his blatant hypocrisy. But Rubio continues to skate by on his charm and Sunday-school-boy looks.
To be fair, he’s not alone, with the other putative “independent” Republicans in the senate like John McCain and Lindsay Graham obediently toeing the party line as well. The Republican leadership had already said that they would bring the Tillerson nomination to a full senate vote even if he lost the vote in committee. Confirmation was probably inevitable.
So the State Department goes to the Big Oil (and, who knows, the Russian?) candidate. Thanks for your “reservations,” Marco.
TrumpWorld for Beginners 