This morning, Marco Rubio (R-FL) took to Twitter to relitigate the humiliating televised CNN town hall debate that followed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre. The Florida Republican sanctimoniously harped on “Judea-Christian heritage” to distract from the fact that he was criticized for siding with the NRA over the children in the state he represents.
The debate after #Parkland reminds us We The People don’t really like each other very much.We smear those who refuse to agree with us.We claim a Judea-Christian heritage but celebrate arrogance & boasting. & worst of all we have infected the next generation with the same disease
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 28, 2018
California’s Lieutenant Governor, Gavin Newsom, who is also the frontrunner to replace Jerry Brown as Governor of California, cut through Rubio’s diversionary nonsense.
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Wrong. The debate after #Parkland shows that the next generation has far more courage than you and the other @GOP lackeys who refuse to pass reforms that will SAVE LIVES because the @NRA cuts checks to your campaign. https://t.co/l0rsKjtrDH
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) February 28, 2018
The stinging moment for Rubio came at the hands of Fred Guttenberg, the father of a student named Jaime, who was killed in the shooting. Guttenberg confronted the Republican Senator, calling his and Trump’s reassurance on the massacre “pathetically weak.”
Sen. Rubio is confronted by Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter was killed in the Parkland shooting: “Look at me and tell me guns were the factor in the hunting of our kids … and you will work with us to do something about guns” #StudentsStandUp https://t.co/vjDOxP1usk
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) February 22, 2018
“When I like you, you know it. When I’m pissed as you, you know it. Your comments this week and those of our president have been pathetically weak,” said Mr. Guttenberg.
“So you and I are now eye to eye. Because I want to like you, look at me and tell me,” he continued. “Guns were the factor in the hunting of our kids in this school this week. And look at me and tell me you accept it and you will work with us to do something about guns.”
“We’re going to talk about guns,” Rubio said to boos. “I’m saying the problems that we’re facing here today cannot be solved by gun laws alone and I’m going to tell you what we’ve done already and what I hope we’ll do moving forward—“
“Were guns the factor in the hunting of our kids,” Guttenberg interrupted. “It’s the weapon of choice, can you say that.”
“Absolutely,” Rubio said.
Rubio, for his part, has accepted over $3 million from the NRA, a figure that explains his unwillingness to turn his back on the proliferation of guns in America. In other words, the Republican Senator is already bought and sold; he’d rather protect the NRA than Florida’s children.
America, however, is fed up with Republicans’ inaction regarding common sense gun reform. Led by the Parkland survivors, a campaign to unseat those who favor special interests over their constituents is posing an existential threat to the Republican Party with midterms fast approaching.
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