Posted on 06/26/2013 12:12:14 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
Rubio calls Tea Party attacks on immigration 'a real trial for me' By Ramsey Cox - 06/26/13 02:06 PM ET
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Wednesday defended his decision to work on bipartisan immigration reform and said "it has been a real trial" hearing Tea Party charges that he has turned his back on conservatives.
“I have received numerous emails and calls from conservatives and Tea Party activists,” Rubio said on the Senate floor Wednesday. “Their opinions and concerns really matter to me because they stood with me during my election.”
Rubio said Tea Party activists aren’t “anti-immigrant” — they just don’t trust the federal government to enforce immigration laws that have gone unenforced over the last 30 years.
“It’s because the government has failed them so many times before,” Rubio said.
Rubio enjoyed strong support from Tea Party activists when he won his Senate seat in 2010 and has been touted as a potential 2016 GOP presidential nominee.
But some conservative Republicans have said his bipartisan work on immigration reform could hurt his chances of winning the nomination.
Rubio was a central player in the Gang of Eight negotiations that produced the immigration reform legislation, and led the early effort to sell the bill to conservatives.
Former Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) has said he wouldn't rule out a primary challenge to Rubio if he runs for reelection in the Senate.
"To hear the worry, anxiety and growing anger in the voices of so many people who helped me get elected to the Senate, who I agree with on virtually every other issue, has been a real trial for me,” Rubio said.
Rubio has repeatedly said he’s not working on the legislation to increase his political stock and got involved in immigration reform talks for the right reasons.
“I got involved in this issue for one simple reason: I ran for office to try to fix things that are wrong with this country,” Rubio said. “And that’s what this is about for me.”
Rubio said he didn’t want to leave immigration reform simply to Democrats because he knew the issue of border security wouldn’t have been strong enough.
Earlier Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) applauded Gang of Eight members, but noted their work might not be appreciated by all of their constituents.
“This is really America at its best. Each one of those eight senators don’t know, just as I don’t know, whether this work will help them or hurt them in their political careers,” Reid said. “But we have a broken immigration system, and they have come up with a solution to fix it.”
The Senate is expected to pass the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act later this week.
The bipartisan group of eight senators, known as the Gang of Eight, introduced S. 744, which would create a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the country, toughen border security, create a guest-worker program and boost high-skilled immigration.
Rubio, Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) comprise the Gang of Eight.
Second, get a hearing test.............
Third, Mexicans hate Cubans anyway, so stop sucking up to them like you’re one of them....you’re not.
FUMR! TRAITOR!
“I got involved in this issue for one simple reason: I ran for office to try to fix things that are wrong with this country,”
How is concern for our economy and our national sovereignty WRONG for this country?
I hope my emails have been some of the ones he’s referring to. I am geared up for a West run at Marco. I helped him get elected before he was redistricted, and I’d happily help him again.
And the verdict is, Mario Rubio is a liberal and he should switch parties ASAP.
Specifically what was wrong?
You apparently got into the Senate by lying about your convictions. Let's see how you do come 2016.
Go chew on that for a while.
Sing it Marco, sing it!!!
Marco Enigma
Rubio deserves a trial, as a traitor.
...said “it has been a real trial”
Would that we could place him on trial...for imitating a conservative.
Guilty, you RINO slime. Get thee out into the sewer with your fellow liberals.
“I got involved in this issue for one simple reason: I ran for office to try to fix things that are wrong with this country,”
Hey dumbass! Stop digging.
While Rubio and his Eight Senate Gangsters put out political smoke and mirrors to “get a bill passed this year,” nothing they have said will change the basic problem of aliens illegally invading the USA.
llegal aliens invade the USA for Welfare and Wages.
1.) End the Anchor Baby Law.
2.) End the Hospital Emergency Room No Payment Law (EMTALA).
3.) End ANY other Welfare to Aliens.
4.) Fine US employers $1,000 per day per employee who is an alien.
5.) Spend NO money on “securing the border.” It is a bottomless money pit.
6.) Spend money on Chainlink/ Concertina wire desert prisons for the mandatory 6 month imprisonment for repeat offenders who have invaded our Country more than once.
7.) Transfer Border Invasion Enforcement to the US National Guard in each State, and US Coast Guard.
8.) Repeal all State and Federal Laws that prohibit voter officials and Police from requesting proof of US Citizenship for any reason what so ever.
9.) Be as hostile to all illegal alien invaders as we should be to all Federal politicians and Federal Judges who vote for or support another Kennedy-style amnesty bill with no significant Federal enforcement.
I'd love to support Allen West with even more effort than I ever thought about for Rubio. I told Rube's staffers that, too.
Please keep me posted if you hear anything definite from Col West. Thanks.
Hey Marco how about listening to the people instead of your wife on this or any other matter?
Rubio has committed political suicide, period.
BACKSTABBER!
Lastly:
“As an ordained U.U. Reverend, I suggest not fireworks, but sackcloth and ashes for this Fourth of July!”
Rubio said Tea Party activists aren’t “anti-immigrant” — they just don’t trust the federal government to enforce immigration laws that have gone unenforced over the last 30 years.
“It’s because the government has failed them so many times before,” Rubio said.
Marco, it may not be too late to salvage your career, though I think you've probably already flushed your shot at POTUS down the toilet.
I suggest you complete your "Come to Jesus Moment" by simply announcing that you need to see teeth in the enforcement provision by applying the Ellis Island test.
During the Ellis Island immigration peak, any would be immigrants who were found to have criminal histories, communicable diseases or likely to become wards of the state were excluded.
Insist on a similar common sense provision in your bill. Get Flake to go along with you. Then, see how long it takes Chuck Schummer to torpedo it. You can then walk away blameless as if you never helped father this thing.
And America will be better for it.
It is NOT ABOUT YOU!
What an egotistical b**tard!
I wonder if this had anything to do with his lament...
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