I've been saying for a while that I believe Sen. Rubio is the republicans' best hope for 2016.  Now comes Time magazine.  But does he want it?  In his own mind, is he ready?

Tonight, what did you think?  I thought his speech, his showcase moment, was pedestrian.  And watching him, I couldn't help wondering if he's uncertain, or if he has a moisture problem, or one causing the other.  First, repeatedly wiping his face, and then the curious reach for the water bottle.  Did anyone else think he was reaching for a chart?  Forehead smack when it wasn't?  Apparently it's what's "trending" most from his speech.

On NBC's post-game at least, Gov. Jindal jumped into the vacuum with cogency and force, ran around him and moved into first position, at least for the moment.

But yes, it's early.

 

As for whether Sen. Rubio's heart is in it, it reminded me of Gov. Perry's "...whoops..." debate meltdown.  When it came right down to it, at heart he either didn't want it or believe he was up to it.

I think Rubio is generally a nice guy and pretty well spoken. This morning..I saw the footage of his Republican SOTU response and thought to my self.."what is going on with him?". No one can really know what the underlying issues behind his performance last night were. Perhaps he wasn't feeling well..or he had a bit of an anxiety attack.  In any event..he mostly had a "deer in the headlights" look...and you're right. The speech itself was rather pedestrian and really sounded like it had been written on the fly.

This was not a thoughtful response which offered concrete alternatives to what Obama offered. It was merely reguritation of the same old talking points.

I give him a D.   The speech was a mess. The delivery was awful, and the content was one long, tired and negative rant.   He looked like a deer in the headlights, sweating, touching his face over and over, and that odd reach for a water bottle in the middle as if he just walked out of a desert.

That Republicans look to him as their "savior" speaks volumes about the sorry state of their party.

He did better than Jindal did though....barely.

And when you brag about not inheriting any money from your parents, and then proceed to talk about your still alive mother it just makes you look like you don't know what the definition of 'inherit' is. 

 I don't want him anywhere near this .

I think from an optics standpoint, he has some more work to do just as far as presentation goes.  He seemed unsure and nervous and so his words didn't connect because he seemed like a student trying to read a report in class that they have never seen before. The GOP has had a number of misses in recent years with SOTU rebuttals. Bobby Jindal's SOTU response was bizarre and he came off like a brown version of Kenneth from 30 Rock except more awkward, Michelle Bachman looked into the wrong camera when she gave her Tea Party response a couple of years ago which was cringeworthy and strange, so maybe the set up works well for most but some of the most recent people to get up there were not great selections. 

 

 

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They could have written these posts before Rubio spoke...

They aren't really listening, they are too busy genuflecting to their God of Government....

 

Obama is a great speaker but, his speech was all platitudes and blame republicans!

More govt to create jobs!! ugh

And here comes the waaahbulances. 

In response to doozy-day's comment:
[QUOTE]

You clowns crack me up, Obama is barely sworn in for his second term, our country is on the verge of finanacial melt-down, unemployment @ 8%, trillion $ defecits and growing debt, and all you can talk about is that "Rubio looked a little weak?"

Nice priorities, eff-tards!

 

 Rubio didn't look a little weak.... he looked downright pathetic ... his response to Obama, besides looking a little dry, was a rehashing of the same old tired GOP policies that almost ruined this country.

BTW every vote that Rubio has ever made as a senator has always come at the expense of the middleclass so the rich can be protected. Even his latest vote did nothing to protect a majority of the middleclass.

What vote is that you say ? Well he voted against the Violence Against Women Act .

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What vote is that you say ? Well he voted against the Violence Against Women Act .

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Does that mean Rubio is in favor of violence against women?

Do you actually know what provisions are in this bill, or just go by the title?

It is so typical of liberals to morally preen about attacking a problem; the real question is, despite the title of a bill, is it just a ruse to do the only thing that Washington does well, waste more taxpayer dollars?

During a speech on the Senate floor on Monday outlining his concerns with the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn sharply criticized overspending and program duplication by the Justice Department.

Pointing to charts showing the web of redundant and expensive Justice Department grants, Coburn argued that the last thing the Senate should do is add to the mess.

“Department of Justice grants — 253 different programs, not just run by the Department of Justice, but nine other agencies besides them — [are] spending $3.9 billion a year,” he said, while displaying a cost chart. “And we might say that’s okay. Now let’s look at the organization"

The Oklahoma senator pulled out a second chart with hundreds of boxes and lines drawn between them.

“Layer over layer over layer of administrative cost — all of these programs very well intended, all of them highly inefficient,” he said.

VAWA, he said, is particularly wasteful.

“Now what are we doing with this bill? We are going to add more to it. We are not going to add a lot of metrics to see what we are doing actually works,” he said. “The other thing were are doing with this bill is we have an authorization that is far greater than any of the amount of money we are ever going to be spending on it. Now why would we do that?”

“This legislation significantly violates one of the principles that we have to do to get out of the hole, and that is to eliminate duplication and consolidate what’s in front of us,” he continued.

No doubt the VAWA will pass, because of its title. Just as "Hurricane Sandy relief" bill passed, overloaded with unrelated pork.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/02/11/tom-coburn-speaks-out-against-waste-in-violence-against-women-act/#ixzz2KnIfvYba

 

Rubio was spot on in his message; but he appeared to succumb to the pressure of the event as a screen test for 2016.  I was surprised how hurried he seemed and the nervous tick he had of touching face or temple 3 or four times and then the Poland Spring sip was like amateur hour, where was his media guy that never should have happened.

I refused to watch the Tea Party response, as it was irrelevant.

In response to massmoderateJoe's comment:

Dr. Rand Paul , like him or not, is relevant to 2016. 

He is no Michelle Bachman. Rand Paul can pick up some of his father's young activist Libertarians...and as citizens are harassed and burdened by ObamaCare, Libertarianism will look even better. 
As a third party candidate, he could deliver the White House to the Democrats. The GOP better keep him in the fold.

In response to Sistersledge's comment:

Obama would have voted "present"..........

I couldn't care less what his voting record is, I don't know anything about Rubio other than he's making folks like you all edgy, and it's only feb 2013.

For that, I like him.............

Save your breath on Rubio, he's no threat to your messiah at this time, I still think it's funny that you are all in a hissy-fit over Marco Rubio!

In response to massmoderateJoe's comment:

Interesting.

Because, in looking at the transcript, it seems like every republican slogan and truism ever uttered since Reagan took office.

In fact, his speech could very well have been given 30 years ago with hardly a word changed.

Some was just weird:

like saying, "govt holds you back" and "limits opportunities" and then a minute later, saying, "I believe in federal financial aid. I couldn't have gone to college without it."  Say whuh?

It gives me the impression that Rubio is not nearly as conservative as some in his party want him to be.  Either way, he needs to up his game, or he'll lose the high ground during the immigration debate.

In the end, he just ended up trying to lambaste govt's "recklessness" and replace it with the private sector's own recklessness. 

 

 

I didn't think he was all that bad - maybe just in relation to the 'savior' expectations that have been set up for him.  It's a tough task - the President gets to feed off the room and the applause, and the response is delivered alone in a closet.

I like Marco Rubio - I think he's one of the few GOP leaders that actually believes what he's saying.  I disagree with almost everything that comes out of his mouth, but he's genuine and respectful to those who do disagree.

But I don't see him as having a chance at the White House.  Maybe he could win the nomination, but whatever in-roads he made with Hispanics would be lost with older voters and (if Clinton runs) women.  

The GOP base is simply dying.  They don't need a new face of the party - they need new ideas.  Or they need to wait for the Dems to self-destruct.

No tele promter what was he thinking. Oh ! that was his second speech within the hour at a desk. First in spanish. 

Heis very smart , I have hope for change in 2016.

I hope but dought he will run for WH. 

In response to chiefhowie's comment:

He was using a teleprompter - he was just having trouble reading it at times.

Yo Cracking Up so I guess you, Rubio and the 21 other Senators (all from Red States) are against Federal Guidelines in the sentencing of those found guilty of violence acts upon those that you guys consider lesser humans ?

But don't worry reasonable people will protect you and your ilk from yourselves.

In response to MattyScornD's comment:

I hope you were that inquisitive on Obama's claims.

NPR this morning refused to give him a liar liar pants on fire grade but there were a number of issues that he completely over reached or just said what he wanted the answer to be.

Like saying how much ACA had already saved us, well most aspects don't go on line until 2014 so the only slow down in medical costs is the recession.

 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=171857477

 

 

In response to massmoderateJoe's comment:

Changing the topic, eh?  I thought this was the Rubio thread.

 

Obama already has the job.  Twice.  Rubio is still only half-known to the public at-large.  

So the bars are different, though I disagree a bit

In response to doozy-day's comment:

 You are either a Disciple of Sun Tzu, the Art of Warfare or you take great pride in being an ignorant low information voter.

Son, I'm betting you are a ignorant low information voter.