I actually had a tough time trying to follow Rubio's speech ~ it didn't seem anchored in any recognizable reality and there were a number of flat-out lies ~ his presentation was painful to watch ~ bottom line for me: his personal family biography would be impressive if it were true, but it's been proven not to be ~ and he has significant problems with his ethics and finances, running up huge personal bills on his FL GOP credit card [not sure if that's ever been repaid] and facing foreclosure on his personal home ~ I really can't figure out why Rubio is so attractive to the GOP/TP with all the negatives he carries ~ Sooz

Putting the rube in Rubio
By Steve Benen - Wed Feb 13, 2013 8:39 AM EST

[Sooz comment: Rubio video clip accessible via the end link]

The expectations going into Sen. Marco Rubio's (R-Fla.) response to the State of the Union address couldn't have been much higher, especially coming on the heels of the "Republican savior" label. And it's fair to say the far-right Floridian didn't exactly make the most of the opportunity.

In speeches like these, it's almost inevitable that in the contest between style and substance, the former trumps the latter. It's why so many still laugh at Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) four years later. And on this score, Rubio had a very tough night -- he looked like a nervous and sweaty personal-injury attorney before taking an instantly-famous drink of water during his live broadcast.

Watching this unfold over 15 minutes, it was hard not to think that if this guy is the GOP's "savior," the party is in deep trouble.

But while it was Rubio's dry mouth that will be remembered, I hope the political world won't completely overlook the speech itself, because the far-right senator's remarks helped prove that he's quite literally not ready for prime time, for reasons that have nothing to do with his hard-to-watch presentation.

By any sensible measure, Rubio's entire pitch was incoherent gibberish. He thinks President Obama is hostile to free enterprise and wants to increase the deficit, neither of which makes any sense. Rubio thinks the housing crisis was caused by big government, which is simply idiotic. Rubio celebrates his family's history of dependence on government social programs like student loans and Medicare, while articulating a policy agenda that guts government social programs like student loans and Medicare.

Forget ideology, subjectivity, and areas of opinion -- the fact is Marco Rubio's speech was filled with a series of claims with no meaningful connection to reality. The senator even thinks combating the climate crisis means asking government to "control the weather," which is just genuinely dumb.

I know many of the folks watching Rubio's right-wing infomercial kept asking, "What's wrong with the guy's mouth?" but I kept wondering, "What planet is this guy living on?"

What's more, as someone who spent quite a bit of time studying Mitt Romney's stump speech, I can say with great confidence that there were no real differences between Rubio's remarks and the failed Republican presidential candidate's pitch to voters last year. Indeed, in some cases, it seemed like a word-for-word copy-and-paste job, up to and including, whining about "wasting more taxpayer money on so-called 'clean energy' companies like Solyndra."

And therein lies the point. Republicans are absolutely convinced that there's nothing wrong with their policy agenda, and there are no substantive lessons to be learned from their 2012 defeats. It's why they're still pushing abortion legislation, still waging a war on voting, still pushing to defund Planned Parenthood, and still refusing to compromise on fiscal issues.

And as of 11 hours ago, they're still pushing Mitt Romney's platform, subtly repackaged for Marco Rubio.

I suppose this shouldn't come as too big a surprise -- GOP leaders have spent three months saying they'll get back on track with better messengers, not different ideas. So why not just hand Romney's stump speech to Rubio and hope for the best?

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/02/13/16948495-putting-the-rube-in-rubio?lite

I did not see Rand Paul's speech last night and, given Steve Benen's critique here, I'm in no hurry to watch the clip linked below ~ Paul's strict TP mindset offends me ~ as does his always slovenly physical habits ~ ~ Sooz

Rand Paul goes through the motions
By Steve Benen - Wed Feb 13, 2013 9:32 AM EST

[Sooz comment: Rand Paul video clip accessible via the end link]

It was, to put it mildly, a crowded media landscape last night. President Obama's State of the Union address was obviously the big story, but there was also quite a bit of interest in Sen. Marco Rubio's Republican response, the developments in California surrounding Christopher Dorner, and for some reporters on Capitol Hill, Ted Nugent's thoughts on the evening.

That left Sen. Rand Paul, delivering the third annual "Tea Party" response to the SOTU, as the odd man out. That was generally good news for Republicans, who didn't want the distraction in the first place, but bad news for the junior senator from Kentucky.

If you ignored -- or more likely, forgot about -- Paul's speech, I'm afraid you didn't miss much.

"We are in danger, though, of forgetting what made us great. The president seems to think the country can continue to borrow $50,000 per second. The president believes that we should just squeeze more money out of those who are working.... Ronald Reagan said, government is not the answer to the problem, government is the problem. Tonight, the president told the nation he disagrees. President Obama believes government is the solution: More government, more taxes, more debt."

Hmm. Reagan increased government spending, raised taxes seven of the eight years he was in office, and nearly tripled the national debt. He's Rand Paul's point of comparison when it comes to fiscal restraint?

Paul added that one of the great things about the United States is that everyone is "guaranteed a chance to succeed based not on who your parents were but on your own initiative and desire to work" -- said the self-accredited ophthalmologist who got elected because of his famous father.

The entire speech was a poorly delivered, predictable mess. Paul wants to eliminate nearly all public investments, change the Constitution to make deficits impossible, impose term limits, cut foreign aid, and privatize education. He's convinced the job market will flourish just as soon as corporations get another big tax cut.

Paul's entire pitch was just tired, more likely to generate eye-rolling than outrage. The speech effectively served as the opposite of its intended goal -- it made the Tea Party "movement," such as it is, seem stale and unnecessary.

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/02/13/16948919-rand-paul-goes-through-the-motions?lite

Rubio celebrates his family's history of dependence on government social programs like student loans and Medicare, while articulating a policy agenda that guts government social programs like student loans and Medicare.


I noticed this too, but this seems typical of modern Republicans.

You can't go around using terms like "nanny state" when you and your family have personally benefited from government programs.

Well, you can but it looks pretty dumb.

Dissociative identity disorder?