A few weeks ago, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) spoke at a Koch brothers’ event, where he said he would push the nation into default unless Democrats accepted a constitutional amendment on balanced budgets, but instead of hearing applause, Rubio was heckled. “No amnesty!” someone shouted.
It’s been that kind of summer for the far-right Floridian. Rubio was caught terribly confused by U.S. policy in Syria, and then argued private-sector hiring has slowed due to the national debt, which is little more than gibberish.
He should have quit while he was behind.
“A solution is within sight in order to avert another crisis of Washington’s creation,” he added. “President Obama and his allies in Congress should abandon their threats of shutting down the government and instead work with Republicans to pass this proposal that would keep government open while preventing taxpayer dollars from being used to inflict ObamaCare’s damage on people’s jobs, incomes, current health plans and doctor relationships.”
Let’s put aside for now the fact that Rubio doesn’t understand the Affordable Care Act. Instead, note that from the Republican senator’s perspective, Democrats are threatening to shut down the government.
Why? Because those rascally lefties aren’t simply paying the ransom unhinged conservatives have demanded. Who’s to blame if the hostage gets shot — the hostage-taker or the loved ones who refused to pay up?
In Rubio’s mind, it’s the latter. Indeed, Rubio very likely sees this as a way to get in the far-right’s good graces after he worked constructively on a popular and bipartisan immigration reform bill conservatives decided to hate. I fully expect this to become the norm in GOP circles over the next several days: Republicans aren’t pushing the nation closer to a government shutdown, they’ll say, Democrats are by failing to satisfy Republican demands. Coming soon to an interview near you.
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