Someone needs to tell Marco Rubio that when you're in a hole, quit digging. This weekend already learned that the junior Senator from Florida doesn't care for the hard work of governing all that much. He decided to add insult to injury on CNN this Sunday and tried to defend his missed votes by saying they weren't all that important after all, since Republicans don't have a filibuster proof majority in the Senate: Marco Rubio Falls Apart When Asked Why He Has Missed The Most Votes In The Senate:
When pressed during a CNN interview about why he thinks federal workers should be fired for not doing their jobs while he has missed the most votes in the Senate, Sen. Marco Rubio put his foot in his mouth and said that voting in the Senate is not important for a Senator.
In an interview that aired on CNN’s State of the Union, Jamie Gangel pointed out to Rubio that other Senators running for president (Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders) have only missed ten votes while the Senator from Florida has missed 59.
Rubio answered, “Well, I can tell you that in the history of presidential politics when they’ve been running for politics in the Senate, they’ve missed votes.”
Sen. Rubio tried to explain away his absences by arguing that the Senate votes don’t mean anything, “A lot of these votes don’t mean anything. They’re not going to pass, and even if they did, the President would veto them.”
Gangel reminded Rubio of his comments on the Senate floor that federal workers who aren’t performing should be fired, “Someone might say you’re not showing up. You’re not doing your job by voting.”
Caught in his hypocrisy, Rubio tried to dig his way out, “Not true. Because voting is not the most important part of the job. The most important thing that a Senator does is constituent services. ”
As Jason noted, after Gangel called him on his nonsense, he tried to backtrack, but it was too late. If this is the guy they're looking to as their savior if Jeb!'s campaign finally implodes and they ever get Trump and Carson to drop out of the race, good luck with that Republicans.
Full transcript via CNN:
GANGEL: Marco Rubio criticism over and over again -- that you keep missing votes on the Senate floor, 43 percent of the votes. I know you say you're campaigning for president, but Bernie Sanders, Rand Paul, they've missed fewer than 10 votes, you're up at 59 or 60.
RUBIO: Well, everyone needs to run their own campaign. I can tell you that in the history of presidential politics, people have when they've been running for politics in the Senate, they've missed votes. And I'm not missing votes because I'm on vacation.
GANGEL: This many votes?
RUBIO: Well, actually this is lower than what other people have missed. I'm running for President so that the votes they take in the Senate are actually meaningful again. A lot of these votes won't mean anything. They're not going to pass and, even if they did, the President would veto it. We can --
GANGEL: The other day, though, you got up on the Senate floor and you said federal workers who don't show up should be fired.
RUBIO: That's not what I said.
GANGEL: What did you say?
RUBIO: I said federal workers that aren't doing their jobs, that are not performing at their jobs, should be able to be fired...
GANGEL: OK.
RUBIO: ...should be held accountable for not performing.
GANGEL: So someone might say you're not showing up, you're not doing your job by voting.
RUBIO: Not true, not true.
GANGEL: You don't think you're in a glass house?
RUBIO: Because voting is not the only part of the Senate job. I mean the most important thing a Senator does is constituent service. We are still involved in looking out for Florida's issues.
(CROSSTALK)
GANGEL: ...votes aren't important?
RUBIO: Of course, they're important.
GANGEL: Intelligence committee hearings aren't important?
RUBIO: We do all the intelligence briefings. I was just there this Tuesday. I got fully briefed and caught up on everything that's happening in the world. I'm fully aware. We have a staffer that's assigned to intelligence, we get constant briefings. I think votes of course are important. But unfortunately too many of them today are not meaningful.
Anyone remember all the grief President Obama got for missing votes while the press all but ignored John McCain doing the same thing? We'll see if any of that same crowd has something to say about Rubio now.
