Tag Archives: Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio Turns Away From Immigration As Bill’s Prospects Flounder

By Breaking News

Marco Rubio SC Marco Rubio Turns Away From Immigration as Bill’s Prospects Flounder

After relentlessly defending for months the Senate’s ambitious overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws, Sen. Marco Rubio didn’t respond when House GOP leaders last week trashed it as a “flawed … massive, Obama-care like bill.”

The Florida Republican’s office, which churned out countless press releases touting his interviews and speeches about the legislation, hasn’t said a word about immigration since the Senate passed the bill on June 27.

The silence is a sign that, at least publicly, Rubio won’t try to dissuade the House from a piecemeal approach that excludes a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

Instead, Rubio is turning to the safer, more-conservative-friendly issues he campaigned on in 2010—President Obama’s health care law, federal spending, the deficit—but with less support from Republicans than before, according to public polls. He’s put off abortion opponents clamoring for him to spearhead a controversial ban after 20 weeks of pregnancy and staying put while potential rivals in 2016 jockey in the early-primary states.

In the past week, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., addressed Republican activists in Nevada, while Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, announced plans to headline a fundraiser in New Hampshire on Aug. 23. (Both Paul and Cruz voted against the immigration bill.) Rubio hasn’t been to a presidential stomping ground outside of Florida since November, when he visited Iowa.

Read More at National Journal . By Beth Reinhard.

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Western Journalism

Tea Partiers Trying to Recall Rubio Hit Pesky Problem

By Ruth Brown

You can’t actually recall a US senator in Florida, but Tea Party activists aren’t letting a little thing like that thwart their efforts to recall Marco Rubio. Radio host KrisAnne Hall says she and a group of other conservatives are helping draft legislation that would allow senators in the state… …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home

Marco Rubio: Immigration Reform Compromise Isn’t ‘Amnesty,’ Will Be More Onerous Than Current Law

By The Huffington Post News Editors

WASHINGTON — Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) suggested Sunday that the bipartisan immigration reform currently being negotiated by eight senators would not constitute “amnesty” because the path to legal status it proposes would be more onerous than the standards under current law.

“They don’t qualify for any federal benefits — no food stamps, no welfare, no Obamacare,” Rubio said during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.” “They will have to stay in that status until at least 10 years elapses … and then all they get is a chance to apply for a green card.” Anyone applying to stay in the country under the proposal would also have to pay an upfront fine.

Advocates of immigration reform emphasize that the existing system is filled with unreasonable barriers to entering the country legally, and impractical terms for bringing undocumented workers into society. One of the top goals for reformers is to make it easier for people already living in the United States without required documentation to become citizens. Some critics of the bipartisan negotiations currently underway in the Senate have noted that creating an official, long-term second-class status for the undocumented may create more problems than it solves.

Read More…
More on Immigration

From: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/14/rubio-immigration-amnesty-_n_3080184.html

Rubio: Immigration plan not amnesty, border security still a 'trigger' for citizenship

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio on Sunday dismissed arguments that the Senate immigration bill offers amnesty for illegal immigrants and said border security is not the only key issue – as a bipartisan group of senators plan to release the legislation this week.

From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/politics/~3/3a19tuug5Ts/

Immigration Reform March In Miami: Thousands Rally For Clear Path To Citizenship (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

By The Huffington Post News Editors

Saturday thousands marched through Miami‘s Little Havana neighborhood and Downtown, imploring Congress to pass immigration reform with a real and inclusive path to citizenship for 11 million aspiring Americans.

Protesters held signs with “Marco Rubio Say Yes” and “Marco Rubio, Keep Families Together” directed at the Cuban-American Senator whose immigration platform is seen in opposition with the wishes of the Latin base in his hometown of Miami.

See photos from the protest below.

Read More…
More on Marco Rubio

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post

What Is Marco Rubio Up To?

By The Huffington Post News Editors

It was the mystery left in the wake of the Sunday shows: Just before Sen. Chuck Schumer was set to tell “Meet the Press” that the so-called Gang of Eight is on the verge of a deal on immigration reform, Sen. Marco Rubio sent out a statement headlined, “Rubio: No Final Agreement on Immigration Legislation Yet.” It read, in part, “Reports that the bipartisan group of eight senators have agreed on a legislative proposal are premature.”

Read More…
More on Republicans

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post

Marco Rubio: Immigration Deal Reports ‘Premature’

By The Huffington Post News Editors

BY PHILIP ELLIOTT, ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Even with one of the largest hurdles to an immigration overhaul overcome, lawmakers on Sunday cautioned much work remains and that no final deal has been reached.

The AFL-CIO and the pro-business U.S. Chamber of Commerce reached a deal late Friday that would allow tens of thousands of low-skill workers into the country to fill jobs in construction, restaurants and hotels. Yet despite the unusual agreement between the two powerful lobbying groups, lawmakers from both parties tried to curb expectations that the negotiations were finished and an immigration bill was heading for a vote.

Read More…
More on Lindsey Graham

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post

RNC Chairman Tells GOP Not “To Act Like Old Testament Heretics” On Same-Sex Marriage

By Breaking News

Republican Elephant 2 SC RNC Chairman Tells GOP Not “To Act Like Old Testament Heretics” On Same Sex Marriage

I was appalled when Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman came out last week and endorsed same-sex marriage because his son is a homosexual. Portman decided that supporting his son’s sinful lifestyle was more important than what his faith says on the subject.

However, after hearing what Reince Priebus, Chairman of the Republican National Committee told Susan Page from USA Today, I am ready to drop my affiliation with the GOP and take my vote to either the Libertarian or Independent Parties.

Page asked Priebus about the GOP 2016 platform and whether it would endorse same-sex marriage.

Page: “Karl Rove said in a Sunday TV interview that he thought it was possible, that he could imagine the 2016 Republican presidential nominee supporting same-sex marriage. Can you imagine that? Is that conceivable to you?”

Priebus: “I’m not sure, you know that I can’t look through that crystal ball, but I think you see people like Marco Rubio and Rand Paul are talking about states’ rights and the Tenth Amendment. Obviously you hear a lot of that in our Party. My position is that marriage is between a man and a woman but my other position is that you treat people with dignity and respect, love and grace, and so I think they’re all compatible with each other. I don’t believe we need to act like Old Testament heretics either…”

Read More at godfatherpolitics.com . By Dave Jolly.

Photo Credit: Donkey Hotey (Creative Commons)

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Western Journalism

RNC Chairman Tells GOP Not “To Act Like Old Testament Heretics”

By Breaking News

Republican Elephant 2 SC RNC Chairman Tells GOP Not “To Act Like Old Testament Heretics”

I was appalled when Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman came out last week and endorsed same-sex marriage because his son is a homosexual. Portman decided that supporting his son’s sinful lifestyle was more important than what his faith says on the subject.

However, after hearing what Reince Priebus, Chairman of the Republican National Committee told Susan Page from USA Today, I am ready to drop my affiliation with the GOP and take my vote to either the Libertarian or Independent Parties.

Page asked Priebus about the GOP 2016 platform and whether it would endorse same-sex marriage.

Page: “Karl Rove said in a Sunday TV interview that he thought it was possible, that he could imagine the 2016 Republican presidential nominee supporting same-sex marriage. Can you imagine that? Is that conceivable to you?”

Priebus: “I’m not sure, you know that I can’t look through that crystal ball, but I think you see people like Marco Rubio and Rand Paul are talking about states’ rights and the Tenth Amendment. Obviously you hear a lot of that in our Party. My position is that marriage is between a man and a woman but my other position is that you treat people with dignity and respect, love and grace, and so I think they’re all compatible with each other. I don’t believe we need to act like Old Testament heretics either…”

Read More at godfatherpolitics.com . By Dave Jolly.

Photo Credit: Donkey Hotey (Creative Commons)

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Western Journalism

Clinton Easily Tops Republicans in Florida Poll

By Mark Russell With the 2016 elections right around the corner (well, a three-year corner), Hillary Clinton boasts 11-point leads over her closest Republican rivals in the swing state of Florida, according to a new Quinnipiac poll . Clinton leads former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush 51%-40%, and Sen. Marco Rubio 52%-41%. She also holds… …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home

Cuba Travel: Baseball Star Rey Ordonez Allowed To Return Home Thanks To Obama Travel Policies

By The Huffington Post News Editors

When Rey Ordóñez defected from Cuba in 1993, he became only the second baseball player to leave a club on his native island and try to make it in Major League Baseball. Throughout the following decades, Ordóñez traveled across America playing for the New York Mets, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Chicago Cubs, but never made it back to Cuba because U.S. laws banned his return. This week, Ordóñez took advantage of the Cuba travel policy enacted in January and finally returned to Havana, where he was given a hero’s welcome.

An AP reporter found Ordóñez hanging out in a hotel in downtown Havana, taking pictures with his fans and generally having a good time. The shortstop expressed his joy on returning to his homeland and his shock at his star power, saying “It surprised me because I’ve been gone twenty years and, really, I didn’t play much in Cuba.”

Ordóñez owes his trip to an Obama Administration policy, much criticized by Marco Rubio, allowing so-called people-to-people trips to Cuba. Though the process of going to Cuba is still extremely complicated, it is now possible for savvy travelers and homesick ballplayers.

Read More…
More on Cuba

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post

Chris Christie Finally Gets Some Love From CPAC [VIDEO]

By The Huffington Post News Editors

Well, CPAC has come and by now, gone. Time to patch things up, maybe, with the famously snubbed Chris Christie? Well, he didn’t win the CPAC straw poll — there, enough people stood with Rand Paul to hold off young fresh fellow Marco Rubio for the honor. But Christie did finish in a respectable fourth place — just pipped for the bronze by Rick Santorum, who was invited and gave a speech that went over like gangbusters with the assembled.

But now that CPAC is over, is it time for Christie to return to the GOP fold. NowThisNews’ Sara Kenigsberg worked the crowd all weekend, and the people she talked to were very postively disposed toward the New Jersey governor — though former Florida Congressman Allen West did feel obligated to play nutritionist.

All told, something tells me that Christie being left uninvited to CPAC is going to be a one-time thing.

Read More…
More on Chris Christie

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post

Rand Paul Beats Marco Rubio in CPAC Poll

By Neal Colgrass Sen. Rand Paul edged out Sen. Marco Rubio in the CPAC straw poll today by 25% to 23%, followed by a handful of candidates who couldn’t crack double digits, the Washington Times reports. Those candidates, courtesy of the Washington Post : Rick Santorum: 8% Chris Christie: 7% Paul Ryan: 6% Scott… …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home

Too Early? Republicans Audition For 2016 Election

By Breaking News

Marco Rubio SC Too early? Republicans audition for 2016 election

OXON HILL, Md. — Florida Sen. Marco Rubio implored fellow Republicans to reconnect with middle-class voters.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul basked in the glow of his lengthy filibuster as he scanned a sea of “Stand With Rand” signs.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush held out the prospect of the nation’s greatest century if the GOP were to evolve into the party of “inclusion and acceptance.”

Only months after President Barack Obama’s re-election, an annual gathering of conservatives served as an audition for Republicans looking to court conservative activists and raise their profile with an eye on greater political ambitions.

It may seem early, but the diehard activists who attended the three-day Conservative Political Action Conference are already picking favorites in what could be a crowded Republican presidential primary in 2016.

Read more at Official Wire. By Ken Thomas.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Western Journalism

President Rand Paul?

By Steve Deace

Rand Paul 4 SC President Rand Paul?

If Rand Paul goes on to become President of these United States one day, we will look back on the events of March 6th, 2013 as the catalyst for making that happen. And because of those events, Rand Paul now has more political capital to spend than any elected Republican in the country.

Rand Paul’s 13-hour filibuster on the Senate floor over the issue of whether or not a White House can unilaterally determine to kill Americans using drone strikes, with no regard whatsoever for the 5th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, did something on a national policy level that hasn’t happened much in recent years—it united the right-of-center coalition in America around principled leadership.

The only other two recent examples of this I can think of were what Scott Walker did to the unionistas in Wisconsin and what Mike Huckabee did for Chick-fil-a. But those events, important as they were, didn’t accomplish what Rand Paul did last week. What we saw was one man’s crusade – if for only one night – bringing the ruling class to its knees. We saw Rand Paul bend Washington, D.C. to his will. We saw him grab them by the throat and force them – milquetoast RINO Mitch McConnell and liberal statist Dick Durbin alike – to respond to him.

When was the last time a Republican in the nation’s capitol did that on a matter of public policy? Has McConnell, the Republican leader in the U.S. Senate, ever done that? What about Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner? We already know the answer. The last time a Republican in the beltway moved heaven and earth on a matter of public policy was when George W. Bush wanted to invade Iraq.

Let’s hope this turns out better than that.

You may wish Rand Paul had done this on an issue you care more about than this one, and you may doubt his sincerity (when isn’t it a good time to doubt a politician’s sincerity?), but you also can’t deny the potential political power of this moment. There were the GOP’s other bright shining and emerging stars, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, side-saddling up next to Rand. There was John Thune, who looks like Tarzan but plays like Jane when it comes to politics, hopping on the bandwagon to do something that looked hard for once. Then the next morning, there were the hackneyed symbols of RINO face palms, John “little ball of hate” McCain and Lindsey Graham, predictably lining up to condemn Rand—which only adds to his conservative street cred.

Do you know why what Rand did was so powerful? First, because we are starved for anything that resembles leadership, and leadership is what Rand was showing. We are like parched throats in a desert desperately seeking anything that resembles a drop of water. So many of you have called or emailed me the last few years wondering when someone will stand up and fling the monkey poop right back into the face of a corrupt ruling class. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Western Journalism

Jeb Bush: Political Reporters ‘crack Addicts’

By Breaking News

Jeb Bush SC Jeb Bush: Political reporters ‘crack addicts’

WASHINGTON— Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush compares journalists to “crack addicts” and “heroin addicts” for asking about the 2016 presidential campaign.

Bush was asked Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” who is more likely to win the White House — himself or Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio.

Read More at OfficialWire .

Photo credit: Politécnico Grancolombiano (Creative Commons)

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Western Journalism

The Real Answer To The Immigration Question

By Michael Reagan

Mexico SC The Real Answer to the Immigration Question

America has almost 12 million illegal immigrants.

Many of them came here on visas and never left.

But about 60 percent of them walked in from just one country — Mexico.

Though the stalled Obama Economy has caused about 900,000 to go home since 2007, there are still about 6 million Mexicans living in the United States who’ve sneaked across our borders.

Everyone from Marco Rubio to John McCain and our golfer-in-chief are trying to figure out how to deal with the illegal immigrants we have already and prevent future waves of Mexican migrants.

But no one seems to be talking about why so many Mexicans risk so much — including their lives — to break into America.

What is it that makes so many of them leave their families and children behind and travel — often on foot — to seek economic opportunity in the USA?

I’ve been to Mexico on business and on vacations. It’s a beautiful country, rich with oil, gas, and other natural resources. It’s blessed with 114 million good and hardworking people.

Mexico has everything it needs to be a First World country. But it’s cursed.

Its government is corrupt and inept — and always has been. Now its federal government is a running joke. It’s unable — and unwilling — to stop illegal drugs or people from crossing into the USA.

Mexico has become one of the most dangerous places in the world. Deadly criminal cartels effectively control the U.S.-Mexican border, trafficking in drugs and humans. Drug violence is so widespread that some cruise ships no longer visit Mexico’s Gold Coast.

No wonder so many Mexicans come north to a country where good jobs are plentiful, the wages are high, and the streets are safe. If I were a Mexican, I’d be leaving too.

Yes, as Republicans say, it’s time to protect our borders better. Yes, it’s time to come up with realistic ways to deal with the illegal immigrants we already have living among us.

But it’s also time for one of our so-called political leaders to ratchet up the rhetoric and pull a Ronald Reagan.

When the Soviet Empire still controlled half of the world, my father stood near the Berlin Wall in 1987 and famously told Mr. Gorbachev that if he was really for peace, prosperity, and liberalization, he should “Tear down this wall!”

It was a bold and masterful political move that showed the whole world that Ronald Reagan and the United States stood steadfastly on the side of freedom in the waning days of the Cold War.

One of our most important wars today — and one we clearly are not winning — is the drug war on our southern border.

What we need now is for President Obama to skip the back nine at the Floridian, go down to our border with Mexico, and deliver a message to Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto.

Senor Nieto,” our part-time president should say, “End the corruption. Crush the drug cartels. Make Mexico a peaceful and safe society. Free your economy from the shackles of socialism so your citizens can …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Western Journalism