Free Republic

I had such an amazing time at CPAC. I met amazing people, heard great conservative speakers, and spent a great deal of time with our blog team which was a lot of fun in and of itself! I wanted to take some time to list my favorite speakers that I heard at the conference. I decided to leave out all of the GOP candidates as I didn't get to see two of them so I don't want to give a biased answer or make anyone think I'm endorsing someone. If you wanted to go to CPAC or you missed any...

Marco Rubio gave an amazing speech this morning called Is America Still An Exceptional Nation?. It has to be one of the best speeches I’ve heard from Rubio and could have been easily been the keynote.

Rubio blasts Obama as 'terrible president' in CPAC speech By Justin Sink - 02/09/12 11:40 AM ET Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), suspected to be close to the top of every Republican presidential candidate's wish list for a running mate, delivered a blistering critique of President Obama at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. "The president of the United States looks like he's a really good father, looks like he's a really good husband, but he is a terrible president," Rubio said to applause from an audience of prominent conservative activists. Rubio blasted the president's record, arguing repeatedly that he...

Did anyone see Marco Rubio just speak 9:30am?

George LeMieux has two big problems to overcome in his campaign to become the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate. One is Connie Mack, and the other is Charlie Crist. LeMieux has taken a lot of heat in this race because he was Crist's strategist and helped guide him into the governor's office. That is a legitimate concern for conservatives, but I don't put a lot of stock in that criticism because, as a former political consultant, I know it's incredibly rare for a consultant to agree with his client about everything. The relationship, no matter how close, is fraught...

Tonight on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity,” Joseph Farah alleged that Florida senator Marco Rubio is ineligible to serve as vice president, saying he’s “not a natural-born citizen. We’ve been through this with Obama now for four years.” Farah, the editor of WorldNetDaily.com, drove much of the controversy over President Barack Obama‘s birth certificate, claiming the president also was ineligible to serve because of where he was born. He speculated that former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum hasn’t been more aggressive in taking on Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney because he is angling to be Romney’s running mate. “I think Santorum is...

Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has introduced a bill to repeal regulations issued by the Obama administration that many faith-based organizations say would force them to buy health insurance plans that violate their consciences. “The Obama Administration’s obsession with forcing mandates on the American people has now reached a new low by violating the conscience rights and religious liberties of our people,” Rubio said in a Jan. 31 statement. Rubio also criticized the administration for “forcing religious entities to abandon their beliefs.”

We've reached a new low when a senator has to present a bill to restore religious freedom -- but at least we still have a senator who will introduce such legislation in the face of an overt trampling of the right to free exercise of religion. Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio today will introduce "The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 2012", a bill that would reverse the Obama administration’s recent confirmation of its decision to force religious employers — in conflict with their religious beliefs — to provide employees with insurance that would cover contraceptives and abortifacients.It’s impossible to overstate...

Florida Senator Marco Rubio has been a Tea Party favorite, much like South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley was. Haley endorsed Romney and was thoroughly rebuked by her state's voters when Gingrich won going away. Rubio hasn't officially endorsed Romney but he has come about as close as Sarah Palin has to endorsing Gingrich. In fact, Rubio's rebuke of Gingrich's ad that went after Romney for being anti-Immigration may have been almost as effective in deflating the Newtmentum in Florida as Romney's negative and egregious ads that targeted Gingrich. The Senator from Florida even rebuked Gingrich when the former Speaker likened...

Grassroots advocates are targeting Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio over his support for Arizona's immigration law and other policies. The nonprofit group Presente is leading the "No Somos Rubios" (We are not Rubios) campaign. It plans to protest and fly an airplane over the Hispanic Leadership Network's conference Friday at the Doral Country Club near Miami. Rubio and the top GOP presidential candidates are speaking there.

In Telemundo's 'Enfoque': "me ayudaba mucho." --- IMHO. It is very important for the Hispanic Americans to hear from him a good word for Newt. Especially after the fall out of Marco asking Newt to pull off the ad about immigration.

Will the Tea Party be asking (demanding!) that Senator Marco Rubio (VERY PUBLICLY) ask Mitt Romney's campaign to shut down their "Tom Brokaw" ad -- in light of the fact that when Sen. Rubio VERY PUBLICLY inserted himself in the Florida GOP Primary battle, Newt Gingrich pulled that Romney ad ? Does the Mitt Romney ad of a 14 year old NBC news lead story about Newt Gingrich (charges he was cleared of) offend Sen. Rubio or will he sit silent? Is Sen. Rubio merely an "immigrant issue" politician or is he a fair representative of ALL Floridians? NBC has...

“As you know, earlier this week, President Obama delivered his fourth annual address to Congress. It was an opportunity for the President to talk about his accomplishments over the last three years and to lay out his plans for the year ahead. “And he missed on both counts. “You didn’t hear much talk about the success of his Administration—and that’s because there isn’t much. “Yes, this President inherited a significant national debt, but over the last three years he’s made it worse. Our national debt has grown by nearly 50 percent since he took over, and now, for the first...

Like strong solid bookends on either side of a couple of trashy dog-eared paperbacks, two men that represent the best of what the Republican Party offers made speeches this week. Between them, another accusation-filled debate between the contenders for the GOP presidential nomination. On Tuesday, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels gave the party's response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address. Not only did he clearly articulate how runaway government spending and an unaffordable national debt is the root of our ongoing economic crisis, he proposed common sense and unity where the president has advocated for already failed policies...

Senator Marco Rubio was interrupted by young protesters while addressing the Hispanic Leadership Network's Inspiring Action conference in Miami Friday morning. He was just beginning a heartfelt speech on immigration, as an opening act for both former Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Gov. Mitt Romney. Both candidates spoke consecutively to the same crowd shortly after. The hecklers asked Rubio why he doesn't support illegal immigrants, and were consequently asked some tough questions themselves, by reporters, as they were escorted out. See the confrontation and one of the protesters comments in the following video clips:

SARASOTA, Fla. — Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich assailed his chief rival for the party’s nomination on Tuesday by using a local insult, calling Mitt Romney the “Charlie Crist” of the GOP field. His reference to the former Florida governor, who lost his Senate race in 2010, embodies Gingrich’s strategy as he tries to ride a wave of momentum heading into the primary here next week: to channel the energy and power of the tea party movement that sank Crist and elected outsider superstar Marco Rubio. Gingrich has attached himself to the tea party movement ever more tightly in recent...

Popular former Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum is predicting that the makeup of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s inner circle of advisers, which includes several strategists who ran former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist’s ill-fated Senate campaign against conservative standard-bearer Marco Rubio, will hurt Romney’s image with Florida voters. In an exclusive Newsmax interview Monday evening, McCollum said Sunshine State voters “will not be favorably inclined to that, because most Republican primary voters in Florida know that Charlie Crist flopped on them. He went over to the Democrats’ side … it just wasn’t the same Charlie Crist they thought they’d elected.”...

Congressional support for controversial online piracy legislation eroded dramatically on Wednesday in the face of an unprecedented online protest supported by tech titans such as Google, Wikipedia and Facebook. Several key senators withdrew their support from the Senate's Protect IP Act (PIPA), including Tea Party favorite Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), an elected member of his party's leadership. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who leads the Senate GOP's campaign team, said the legislation should be put on hold, while Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a sponsor and the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, retreated from the...

Consider the following hypothetical. Fox News, during the 2008 presidential campaign, learns about a long-ago arrest of a relative of Sen. Barack Obama. Fox calls Obama. It makes an offer Fox assumes he cannot refuse: "Agree to appear on the show of your anti-ObamaCare nemesis, Sean Hannity, or we run the story on your relative's arrest." Obama refuses. Fox runs the story. Turns out the piece so lacks credibility that none of the other newspapers and television outlets, conservative or liberal, follow suit. A Fox executive later brags to a national magazine that Fox did, indeed, try to make mincemeat...

Have you ever thought about that? How many times have you seen establishment types posit about how beautiful it would be to have a Romney/Rubio ticket? Even after Rubio has made it clear he isn't interested, I keep hearing it. It can be summed up in one word: Hispanic. The republicans have absolutely nothing in common with a conservative like Rubio, yet every time they mention his name, they always go off on a tangent about how he can win the hispanic vote. Because of his skin color?!?! Yep. The republicans are that superficial. It's that simple. They're in full...

scathing letter to sent to Barack Obama this morning, Senator Marco Rubio said that under the President’s first term in office, “more and more people have come to believe that America is becoming a deadbeat nation.” Rubio went on to pledge that he would challenge any further increase in the debt ceiling, arguing that “we [Congress] need to make it routine to actually spend no more than we take in.” In the letter obtained by HUMAN EVENTS, the Florida Senator said that President Obama’s upcoming request to increase the debt ceiling by a whopping $1.2 trillion will cause the nation’s...

Bias: A giant TV network has effectively admitted to blackmailing Florida's GOP Sen. Marco Rubio over his immigration stance. It's Exhibit A of the kind of sludge being hurled at Latino leaders who won't toe the open-borders line. Bigfoot Spanish-language television network Univision unwittingly revealed it's got a mafia-style hit-equivalent out there waiting for any conservative leader of Hispanic descent who won't tout their open-borders line on immigration. So much for reporting the news. Univision's top honchos behind this are all about politics — and are running their news organization like a cult mafia leader wielding power based on groupthink...

I thought this would be interesting to share with all fans and supporters of Rubio here and all those who think only leftist Democrats and leftists disguised as Republicans supported this bill. Thought it would be interesting to see a Conservative perspective of support for the bill, admist all the claims that this was something done by Obama to start to create a Communist regime. This has been posted in replies to other posts before but I thought it was deserving of its own thread, so here it is.

Since my New Year’s prediction that Obama would select Hillary Clinton for his running mate in 2012 (and Joe Biden would become Secretary of State), I’ve been swamped by requests for my GOP prediction. Here goes. You can forget the caucuses and early primaries. Mitt Romney will be the nominee. Republicans may be stupid but the GOP isn’t about to commit suicide. The other candidates are all weighed down by enough baggage to keep a 747 on the tarmac indefinitely. For his running mate, Romney will choose Marco Rubio, the junior senator from Florida. Why do I say this? First,...

Excerpt and video of Rubio's speech: "Here's my challenge to the Administration and the State Department: You're not going to change your mind, but at least examine how this is being implemented because this is a charade." Washington, D.C. (Right Side News) – During a Senate floor speech this evening, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio highlighted the rampant abuses that occur under the Obama Administration’s “people-to-people” program. As part of his remarks, Rubio read from several days’ worth of dancing and music appreciation-heavy travel itineraries that are currently licensed under this program. Below is an excerpt of the speech: “There’s this...

Last week, Sen. Marco Rubio, rising star of the Republican right, on everyone’s short list for VP, called for a unanimous vote, without debate, on a resolution directing President Obama to accept Georgia’s plan for membership in NATO at the upcoming NATO summit in Chicago. Rubio was pushing to have the U.S. Senate pressure Obama into fast-tracking Georgia into NATO, making Tbilisi an ally the United States would be obligated by treaty to go to war to defend. Now it is impossible to believe a senator, not a year in office, dreamed this up himself. Some foreign agent of Scheunemann’s...

The new Martial Law Bill which affirms the detention of American citizens indefinitely without due process of law passed the Senate 93-7. Habeas corpus just got knifed in full daylight, left to bleed in the cracks of the Capitol commingling with the blood of patriots who died for this country. The blood drawn like butter by Senate vampires drooling and gurgling with delight, appetites satiated… for now. Their ecstasy whisps through depraved neurons as their spit foams upon the very name of freedom. And while there are hints Obama may veto it, my opinion is that the bill has been...

Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Chris Coons (D-DE) have teamed up to create the "American Growth, Recovery, Empowerment and Entrepreneurship Act," more simply known as the AGREE Act. This legislation focuses on policies that both Democrats and Republicans have proposed and endorsed. After all the gridlock in Washington, it looks like this bill, sponsored by Rubio and Coons, might actually start creating jobs in our horrible economy. I commend both Rubio and Coons for taking the first step to introduce a true bi-partisan bill that can be passed by both houses of Congress and the White House. What is in the...

Mike Pence, Mitch Daniels, Paul Ryan, Bobby Jindal, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush — conservatives all year long have been wishing, yearning, even begging people who aren’t in the presidential race to enter the fray and save them from what seems like a frighteningly uninspiring field of candidates. Yet could it be that the sharpest, most accomplished, most campaign-savvy, and most full-spectrum conservative in a quarter-century of presidential contests has been in the contest all along, working harder than anybody, making at least as much intellectual sense as anybody, never blowing a debate, and never failing to stand on...

In a discussion about the eligibility of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) to serve as President or Vice President, the following email was sent to the president of the California Republican Assembly after she stated in an email that the U.S. Constitution states that one must be “born in the U.S.A.” to qualify as a “natural born Citizen:

"Birthers cite an 1875 Supreme Court case, Minor vs. Happersett, in which the court used the term "natural-born citizen" to refer to people born in the United States born to U.S.-citizen parents.""The arguments aren't crazy," said Georgetown law Professor Lawrence Solum. But, he added, "The much stronger argument suggests that if you were born on American soil that you would be considered a natural-born citizen."

A GOP presidential candidate can get within spitting distance of 50 percent of Florida’s voters if Sen. Marco Rubio is his or her vice-presidential running mate, according to a new poll from Suffolk University in Boston. The poll what may be an even more enticing proposition for President Barack Obama: Were he to jettison Joe Biden and replace him with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, his level of support would rocket up from the low-40s to 50 percent, said David Paleologos, director of Suffolk’s political research center. “I was amazed at not only how much she moves the tickets,” Paleologos...

Last week, the Washington Post attacked Marco Rubio for “misrepresenting” his family’s story. The Post got called out by other newspapers for the Post’s egregious truth stretching to make its story fit. In the quotes the Washington Post cited, the reporter misrepresented the context of Marco Rubio’s remarks. It was true that Rubio had gotten some details wrong. But it was also very clear that they were the innocent mistakes of a son retelling his parents’ story. It was also true the Washington Post got parts of its reporting wrong. But the Washington Post has not stopped. Now the paper...

Media: Does the Washington Post ever consult a dictionary? In what looks like an effort to lasso Republican Sen. Marco Rubio's rising star, they've built a shoddy two-story attack on a faulty definition of "exile." It started Oct. 20 when, on the front page, the Post headlined, "Marco Rubio's compelling family story embellishes facts, documents show." The hit piece, by Manuel Roig-Franzia, cited Rubio's repeated self-reference as the "son of exiles," saving the "Gotcha!" for the second paragraph: "The documents show that Rubio's parents came to the United States and were admitted for permanent residence more than two-and-a-half years before...

Many Republicans see Marco Rubio as a rising star who can help them win over the fast-growing Hispanic population, but the Florida senator says toned-down rhetoric on the hot-button issue of immigration would be more likely to bring those voters to the GOP. "The policies are important, but the rhetoric is sometimes the impediment," Mr. Rubio said in an interview. "Sometimes—and I'm not pointing fingers at anyone—the way the message is communicated is harmful and has hurt Republicans."

Last July one of America’s biggest TV networks craved to interview Senator Marco Rubio. Univision is the biggest Spanish-language network in the U.S., reaching thirteen and a half million households, (95 percent of the “Hispanic” total) making it 4th biggest in the U.S., just ahead of NBC. Mexican-Americans make up most of its viewers so the network’s editorial tone essentially echoes that of the Democratic-controlled Hispanic Congressional Caucus. Univision’s owner is actually an Egyptian-born Israeli-American named Haim Saban, who ranks among the Democratic party’s most lavish benefactors "I don't say this lightly," said Democratic National Committee head Terry McAuliffe back...

Important constitutional issues regarding Rubio: does a child of political refuges have split allegiance? ....Prominent birther, Orly Taitzrecently met with Sen. Rubio’s staff during a visit to Washington. “We need the court to finally adjudicate this issue, who is a natural born citizen,” Taitz, a California dentist and lawyer told the St. Petersburg Times. … Yesterday I was interviewed at length in regards to Marco Rubio and other issues by Alex Leary, reporter from St. Petersbug times. I have to say, that he was very well informed and respectful during the interview, far outcry from many other reporters and I...

On May 12, 2009, Marco Rubio, then a candidate for the U.S. Senate from Florida, arrived in the U.S. Capitol for a pivotal meeting with Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina. Florida’s Republican leaders wanted the seat for then-Gov. Charlie Crist, then considered a shoo-in, and DeMint’s job was to persuade Rubio to drop his campaign. Instead, Marco Rubio made grown men cry. “He was young and eager to make his case,” writes DeMint in his book The Great American Awakening (Rubio wrote the foreword). “His parents had fled Cuba as refugees, coming to America with great hopes of a...

Say what you will about the birthers, but don’t call them partisan. The people who brought you the Barack Obama birth-certificate hullabaloo now have a new target: Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a man often speculated to be the next Republican vice presidential nominee. While they’re at it, they also have Bobby Jindal, the Republican governor of Louisiana and perhaps a future presidential candidate, in their sights. The good news for the birthers is that this suggests they were going after Obama, whose father was a Kenyan national, not because of the president’s political party. The bad news is that...

The Miami Herald’s Marc Caputo casts a wary eye on the Washington Post report on Marco Rubio, and suggests the senator may be guilty of a lesser offense than deliberately misleading the public: sloppiness.

In Florida, where Cuba and Fidel Castro can be highly combustible political issues, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio is defending himself against allegations he embellished his family's story in saying his parents left the island after Castro came to power. So far, prominent members of the Cuban American community are standing by him, including the head of one of Miami's oldest and most respected exile groups, who said Friday he is willing to give the rising GOP star a pass. The 40-year-old freshman senator has always publicly identified with the exile community and has a strong following within it. Rubio's biography...

Sen. Marco Rubio is firing back at a Washington Post report that claims he embellished his Cuban family’s history. *** “To suggest my family’s story is embellished for political gain is outrageous,” he said in a written statement. “The dates I have given regarding my family’s history have always been based on my parents’ recollections of events that occurred over 55 years ago and which were relayed to me by them more than two decades after they happened. I was not made aware of the exact dates until very recently. “What’s important is that the essential facts of my family’s...

During his rise to political prominence, Sen. Marco Rubio frequently repeated a compelling version of his family’s history that had special resonance in South Florida. He was the “son of exiles,” he told audiences, Cuban Americans forced off their beloved island after “a thug,” Fidel Castro, took power. But a review of documents — including naturalization papers and other official records — reveals that the Florida Republican’s account embellishes the facts. The documents show that Rubio’s parents came to the United States and were admitted for permanent residence more than 21 / 2 years before Castro’s forces overthrew the Cuban...

Unable to prevent Barack Obama from becoming president, rigid followers of the Constitution have turned their attention to another young, charismatic politician many think could one day occupy the White House. The birthers are calling for U.S.Sen. Marco Rubio, the budding Republican star from Florida. "It's nothing to do with him personally. But you can't change the rules because you like a certain person. Then you have no rules," said New Jersey lawyer Mario Apuzzo. Forget about allegedly Photoshopped birth certificates; the activists are not challenging whether Rubio was born in Miami. Rather, they say Rubio is ineligible under Article...

In March, Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) was urging President Barack Obama to better define the U.S. military’s role in Libya and seek Congress’s approval to use force in the north African nation. But after a day touring the streets of Tripoli and meeting rebel leaders who overthrew the regime of Col. Moammar Qadhafi, Kirk praised Obama’s handling of the Libyan conflict as a undeniable “success.” “This is a victory for the United States military, for our British and French allies, for NATO, for the president of the United States, but most importantly for the Libyan people. …” Kirk said in...

When asked at the Washington Ideas Forum at the Newseum in Washington DC, Rubio repeated twice for emphasis, “I am not going to be the Vice Presidential nominee. I am not going to be the Vice Presidential nominee.” Asked during the forum if he would turn down an offer if the Republican presidential nominee asks him to, Rubio responded, “Yea, I believe so,” adding again, “the answer is gonna be no.” ... As he has in the past when asked, today Rubio spoke about the seriousness with which he takes his job as a U.S. Senator, held up as his...

A report over the weekend said that Univision tried to strong-arm Senator ... Republicans have long loathed NBC/MSNBC for perceived bias as have Democrats ...

....The Miami Herald on Sunday reported that network employees and staff members from Rubio’s office claimed Lee offered to soften or kill the story if the senator gave the network an interview. Univision spokeswoman Monica Talan was not immediately available to comment Tuesday. According to the Herald, Univision’s assistant general counsel called the reported deal absurd and stated that Lee would not step down. In their letter, the three lawmakers state: “This attempt at extorting a respected Republican elected official like Senator Rubio, who is also a proud American of Hispanic descent, is offensive and unacceptable. The lack of journalistic...

The Univision-Marco Rubio flap over whether the network tried to strong-arm the Florida Senator is widening. On Tuesday, presidential candidates Rick Perry and John Huntsman said they were boycotting an upcoming televised debate on Univision, scheduled for January 29th, because they say the network treated Rubio unethically, according to The Miami Herald. A short while later, Michele Bachmann and Mitt Romney joined the boycott, Fox News Latino confirmed.

Marco Rubio said he is meeting with publishers over the next weeksU.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican and tea party favorite, says he's writing a memoir. The 40-year-old Rubio told The Associated Press on Monday that he wants to tell his story and articulate his policies. He expects to meet with publishers over the next few weeks. He will be represented by Washington attorney Robert Barnett, whose clients include President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush. Rubio has often been cited as a potential vice presidential candidate for 2012, but he says the book is not a...