February 9th, 2012

Written by Juliana Simone

Washington, D.C.  –  Florida’s junior Senator but fast rising Republican star packed the ballroom of the Marriott this morning at CPAC’s 39th event, a gathering for Conservative Republicans who meet to hear their legislators, candidates and activists speak.  With all the media seats taken, bloggers and press people took every available space on the large staircase to transcribe his words. Fans packed the aisles and crowded the back walls to even eliminate standing room only availability.

Senator Rubio took the stage in jest, with an opening remark when arranging his notes “It’s hard to get a teleprompter in this town.” Loud laughter. “There’s a guy here who uses a lot of them.” (Cheers) In remembering what it was like to be first elected to the Senate and his first few weeks in Washington, Rubio said he looked around the Senate chamber in awe of so many Senators he’d seen on television for so many years. He said he was told ‘you can be here for thirty years and you’ll still be the youngest guy.’ More laughter. Talking about liberals and how they will never admit that they are liberals if you ask them, he said, “Liberals even came up with a new word for themselves – “Progressive” – I thought this was an insurance company.” (laughter)

Reflecting on Republican candidates, Rubio noted all Republican’s like to fight over who is the most like Ronald Reagan. I never hear the Democrats fighting over who’s the most like Jimmy Carter. Applause. In addressing reform, the Senator said to his fellow Republicans, “we are the party of tax reform; Conservatism is about regulatory reform.” He then discussed the current issue of President Obama’s infringement on religious institutions that would mandate what was paid for or not paid for, to much enthusiasm among on-lookers as this has been a hot news story for over a week from columnists to network panels.

Turning to history, Rubio reminded people it wasn’t that long ago that the Nazi regime was trying to rule the world. He reflected, “Imperial Japan and the Nazi’s would have won if not for the will of the American people.” “The greatest thing we can do for the world is be America,” he said to cheers.

Saying this is what is at stake here in November, he declared Obama is a terrible President, and asked at the core of this issue is, what kind of nation will he leave behind? In terms of democracy and leading by example to help other countries achieve this, Rubio said “We don’t want Afghanistan to be another state.”

In summary and pointing out how important this next Presidential election is, Marco Rubio said it is not even a choice between a Republican and a Democrat. It’s a choice between someone who’s failed, and is asking for four to five more years, and someone who has not. CPAC attendees gave Senator Rubio a long and enthusiastic standing ovation.

Ed.: This article written and reported by Juliana Simone, also appeared on Ameriborn News Network, a CT internet news site taken down in October 2015.