YOU HAVE TO ASK YOURSELF, WHAT’S MARCO RUBIO SO AFRAID OF???

So what is it, do you think, that Chuckie Schumer’s buddy, presidential candidate Marco Rubio, might be so afraid of?  And, really, the only reason I ask is because Rubio canceled what as to be an appearance at the recent Conservative Review Conference in South Carolina, five minutes before he was supposed to appear.  Was it because Louie Gohmert had taken him to task, and pretty harshly, on his amnesty positions right before he was supposed to go on stage.

Rubio’s campaign was is said to have offered the following explanation: “FYI – Because of a delay in today’s schedule, Marco is unable to make the event below tonight. Senator Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and Congressman Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) attended to represent the campaign. Tomorrow’s schedule remains unchanged,” the Rubio campaign said in a statement. Now personally speaking, that’s sounds rather lame and something that we might expect to hear from Hitlery.

And it was Rick Tyler, a communications adviser to Rubio’s fellow candidate Ted Cruz, who said, “This is a final admission that Marco Rubio isn’t even going to try compete for the votes of conservatives in South Carolina or anywhere else. And who can blame him? Rubio isn’t a conservative.”  Tyler went on to say, “Instead Rubio and his campaign would rather hide behind their deceptive campaign tactics and liberal record on amnesty for illegals and voting to nominate John Kerry.”  I would tend to agree.

According to those who were there on the ground at the conference, had Rubio chosen to appear at this particular venue, he likely would not have been all that well-received.  Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, and Donald Trump supporters were there in droves, but there was little discernible enthusiasm for Rubio.  Cruz reportedly received a thunderous ovation when he took the stage.  So perhaps sensing a level of political hostility, Rubio likely took what he saw as being the easy way out!

However there seemed to be more than enough time ‘before’ the conference for Rubio, Tim Scott, and pro-Rubio South Carolina governor Nikki Haley to take a photo-friendly trip to the Beacon Drive-In in Spartanburg, S.C..  According to a Conservative Review spokeswoman, the organization that was sponsoring the event, Rubio was scheduled to speak at 8 p.m. and sent Bobby Jindal, Tim Scott and Trey Gowdy to the event as well as several campaign staffers.

Moments before he was set to take the stage, the spokeswoman said, Rubio’s team informed the Conservative Review team that he would be late. The team offered to adjust the schedule, and do whatever it took to accommodate Rubio so he could speak with the conservatives gathered there. But, like I said, Rubio ultimately saw retreat as being the better part of valor and eventually ended up being a no show.  Which made it clear that he’s not someone able to defend his position.

Rubio’s campaign attempted to argue that it sent Gowdy, Scott and Jindal as Rubio surrogates to the event, but the rule from Conservative Review, which was set months ago, was that campaigns couldn’t send surrogates unless the candidate himself came.  The campaign of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, for instance, also asked to send a surrogate instead of him since he’s doing the CNN Town Hall this evening and Conservative Review refused that request as well.

Rep. Louie Gohmert, who criticized Rubio directly before the candidate was slated to speak, said that he made it very clear to those in the conference crowd that Rubio had chosen to betray his Tea Party roots during the “Gang of Eight” immigration debacle. Gohmert said, “I think originally I was going to speak between Marco Rubio and Carson. I said I’m supposed to go after Marco, and the guy said Marco needed to move until later so now he’s going on before Carson.”

Gohmert also went on to say, “I didn’t mention his name, I didn’t mention any of his supporters. I just pointed out that we were really excited because we had been fighting Boehner’s amnesty and McCain-Schumer’s amnesty and we were so excited when we had a great tea party senator elected from Florida and then he joined the Gang of 8 bill.”  Which is exactly how I felt.  When I saw Rubio standing there next to Schumer, all smiles, I was left feeling more than just a little betrayed.

Gohmert said, “I met with Rep. Steve King (R-IA) and other House conservatives at least once a week, sometimes in Ted Cruz’s office, sometimes on the House side, and we were strategizing about how to slow the bill down. I think the great work that Ted Cruz and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) did in slowing down the bill really paid off, and Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA) got elected thankfully and that’s when it finally died. I didn’t get into all that detail at the conference but I did point out that there was absolutely nothing that Ted Cruz ever did but help the cause of slowing the bill down.”

Gohmert didn’t choose to speculate as to why it was Rubio that might have canceled on his speech right after his remarks referring to Rubio.  He simply said, “Well, see I don’t know, I certainly don’t want to speculate, the old judge in me says you don’t want to assume facts not in evidence.”  He also noted the fact that Steve King had missed the event because his wife was taken to the hospital, and perhaps Rubio had a similar problem. Thankfully, he said, King’s wife is doing fine.

To be honest, I’ve been disappointed with Rubio, even after having voted for him and donating to his campaign back when he was running for the Senate.  I couldn’t believe it when I heard how he had teamed up with that sleazy hack Schumer.  That act alone was enough to tell me that I had been badly fooled by this guy.  The only saving grace, I suppose, is that it wasn’t Charlie Crist that Florida sent to the Senate.  But I have to wonder, if things would have turned out any differently had we done that.  

FOR THOSE WHO MAY CHOOSE TO ENDORSE MARCO RUBIO, A LIST OF HIS ‘ACHIEVEMENTS’…

Since Rick Santorum seemed to have some level of difficulty in being able to name a single ‘achievement’ that would justify, in some weird way, his endorsement of Marco Rubio, I decided to spend some time, like maybe Rick should have, to find out for myself if there was anything that could be called an ‘achievement’ of Mr. Rubio’s that was accomplished during his brief time in the Senate.  Although I am not, personally, a supporter of Rubio I decided to take it upon myself to throw Santorum, and anyone one else who might choose to support the very smooth Mr. Rubio, to prevent him, and others, a rope to keep all from being stymied the next time that question may be posed.  Because while he was unable to name a single ‘achievement’ of the man he thought to be worthy of his endorsement, I managed to find several noteworthy ones.

Listed below are but a few of the ‘achievements’ that, had he bothered to go looking, Rick Santorum could have easily identified as being credited to the recipient of his recent endorsement, the honorable Senator Rubio:

(1) The Rubio-‘Chuckie’ Schumer Gang of Eight ‘Amnesty’ Bill:

The Washington Examiner’s Byron York has described the 2013 Rubio-Schumer bill as Rubio’s “signature accomplishment.” Although Santorum seemed reluctant to mention it, Rubio’s immigration bill is probably the first accomplishment that comes to mind when anyone thinks of Rubio’s very brief career in the U.S. Senate.  Rubio’s immigration bill would have tripled the issuances of green cards, doubled the dispensation of foreign worker visas, and granted citizenship — and, thereby, welfare access and voting privileges — to illegal immigrants.

Reports ranging from the The National Review, to the Tampa Bay Times, to the Washington Post, to the New Yorker have all suggested that the “Gang of Eight” bill would have likely not passed the Senate if not for Rubio’s tireless efforts. Indeed, Rubio was the key salesman of the Barry “Almighty”-backed immigration agenda.  As Ryan Lizza of The New Yorker reported at the time, Rubio served as “the Gang’s official ambassador to the right,” and was able to convince prominent conservatives to promote the open borders legislation.

It was also Mr. Lizza who wrote: “[Democratic Senator Bob] Menendez told me that Rubio’s role was to ‘work over the conservative universe, particularly the conservative opinion-maker universe,’ in order to ‘neutralize them’ and, in some cases, ‘proselytize them.’ Schumer said, ‘He’s the real deal.’”  Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin told Lizza, “[Rubio] has been invaluable… He’s willing to go on the most conservative talk shows, television and radio, Rush Limbaugh and the rest.”

Moreover, Rubio was also able to successfully strike down all conservative amendments to the “Gang of Eight’s” proposal. As Sen. Rand Paul pointed out, “Marco and Schumer basically had a secret deal to block all amendments.” Indeed, Rubio joined Chuck Schumer in voting down an amendment offered by Sen. Thune, which would have required the completion of a double-layer border fence. He also successfully defeated an amendment offered by Sen. Vitter, which would require the implementation of an exit-entry tracking system in order to prevent foreign nationals from illegally overstaying their visas.

(2) Obamatrade:

It was also Rubio who cast the 60th and deciding vote to fast-track the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. By giving Barry fast-track powers, Rubio essentially helped to ensure the passage of not only the TPP, but all subsequent trade pacts, which are now liberated from Senate filibuster, amendment process, and constitutional treaty vote.  This represents a significant legislative victory for the young Senator, who previously endorsed TPP and described Barry’s trade deal as the “second pillar” of a President Rubio’s three-pillar foreign policy strategy.

Moreover, Rubio was also successful in promoting foreign currency manipulation by helping to vote down a provision to crack down on the illicit practice that had been proposed by Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman.

(3) Blocking Curbs to Muslim Immigration:

Rubio told Sean Hannity he’d “hate” to block funding for Barry’s refugees, and suggested that curbs on Muslim migration would be unconstitutional. This pro mass-migration offensive helped give House Speaker ‘RINO Paul’ Ryan the space he needed to wave in a vast new group of Muslim migrants.  Rubio further lent aid and comfort to ‘RINO’ Ryan by joining a large group of Senators in voting down a proposal offered by Sen. Rand Paul to curb Muslim migration. Sen. Paul’s amendment would have suspended visa issuances to more than 30 Muslim countries with active Jihadist populations.

Oh, and by the way Rubio has also been one of the most ardent champions for increasing Muslim migration. The U.S. has admitted roughly 1.5 million migrants from Muslim countries since 9/11 on a permanent lifetime basis. Yet Rubio has sought to grow that number vastly. In 2015, Rubio introduced an immigration bill which would have allowed for an unlimited increase in Muslim migration.

(4) Enabling His Corporate Backers to Replace Americans With Foreign Workers:

In 2015, Florida Disney laid off scores of Rubio’s constituents and replaced them with low-wage foreign workers brought in on H-1B visas. However, before terminating their American employees, Disney forced those same constituents of Mr. Rubio’s to train their lesser-skilled foreign replacements.

If Rubio had spent his political capital in 2013 trying to reform the H-1B program, instead of massively expanding it, he could have saved the careers of these Disney workers, instead of enabling their termination by leading the charge for more foreign workers. In 2013, Rubio’s aide even told Ryan Lizza that “There are American workers who, for lack of a better term, can’t cut it. There shouldn’t be a presumption that every American worker is a star performer. There are people who just can’t get it, can’t do it, don’t want to do it. And so you can’t obviously discuss that publicly because–.”  And it was at this point that another Rubio aide jumped in, asserting, “But the same is true for the high-skilled worker,” to which the first Rubio aide replied, “Yes, and the same is true across every sector, in government, in everything.”

Shortly before the Disney workers got the axe, Rubio introduced legislation in January of 2015 to massively expand the H-1B program. Rubio’s 2015 Immigration Innovation Act would have tripled the number of H-1B visas. Interestingly, the bill was endorsed by Disney’s CEO Bob Iger via his immigration lobbying group, the Partnership for a New American Economy. According to Open Secrets, the Walt Disney Corporation is one of Rubio’s biggest financial backers, having donated more than $2 million.

Unfortunately, Rubio’s success in protecting his corporate backers’ ability to increase their bottom line has gone virtually unreported by our state-controlled media. This perhaps explains why so few are able to list his Senatorial achievements.  For instance, Julia Preston of the ‘New York Times’ has written numerous articles about the Florida Disney’s H-1B scheme. Yet Ms. Preston fails to mention the fact that Rubio introduced legislation to triple the H-1B program, nor does Preston like to mention the fact that Disney is one of Rubio’s financial backers.  And in an effort to prove my point, here are several stories in which Preston writes about Rubio’s corporate backer replacing Rubio’s constituents with H-1Bs, yet makes no mention whatsoever of Rubio nor Rubio’s H-1B legislation:

a) Pink Slips At Disney, But First Training Foreign Replacements

b) In Turnabout, Disney Cancels Tech Worker Layoffs

c) Lawsuits Claim Disney Colluded To Replace U.S. Workers With Immigrants

d) Disney Has No Comment On The Recent Reversal of Layoffs

e) Senator Seeks Inquiry Into Visa Program Used At Disney [The Senator mentioned here in Preston’s story is Florida’s Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.  In contrast to Sen. Rubio — who provided cover to Disney’s cheap-labor practices by pushing to expand H-1Bs — Sen. Nelson joined Sen. Jeff Sessions to propose legislation that would reduce the number of H-1Bs and eliminate visas for low-wage jobs. Preston’s story makes no mention of Sen. Rubio nor his desire to expand H-1Bs.]

(5) Blocking Food Stamp Reform:

In 2011, Rubio voted against a Republican proposal which the Congressional Budget Office projected would save the U.S. government $10 Billion by reining in the abuse of the food stamp program. The measure was backed by almost all Republicans and opposed by virtually all Democrats. The measure, as Sen. Jeff Sessions explained when he proposed it, would have eliminated what is known as the “categorical eligibility” for food stamps, which makes people “automatically eligible” to receive government benefits even if that household has “substantial assets.” Rubio was one of only seven Republicans to oppose the measure, but his no vote helped stall momentum for food stamp reform– which remains elusive.   Rubio’s campaign did not respond to requests for explanation as to why Rubio voted against the 2011 food stamp reform.

(6) Benghazi:

As George Will has pointed out, Rubio gave his “enthusiastic support of the Barry “Almighty”/Hitlery Clinton intervention in Libya.” And it was the Washington Examiner that reported at the time in a piece by Bill Kristol, entitled “Rubio takes the lead to support Obama’s war in Libya:” “Rubio proposes that the Senate authorize the president’s use of force in Libya, and that the authorization state that the aim of the use of force should be the removal of the Qaddafi regime.”  And it was Will who also noted that “Rubio supported this third adventure in regime change in the Muslim world since 9/11, perhaps on the principle that practice makes perfect.”  The destabilization and chaos that resulted from the overthrow of Qaddafi not only provided an operating ground for ISIS, but also provided the conditions that led to the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi.

(7) Worst Attendance Record:

Reports note that Rubio has amassed one of the worst attendance records in the Senate, which is quite an achievement in itself. The Washington Post writes, “Since the beginning of the year, Marco Rubio has cast votes about two-thirds of the time he could have — the worst attendance of any senator seeking a presidential nomination.” The Sun Sentinel editorial board noted, “Rubio has missed more votes than any other senator this year. His seat is regularly empty for floor votes, committee meetings and intelligence briefings. He says he’s MIA from his J-O-B because he finds it frustrating and wants to be president, instead… But two other candidates — Sens. Rand Paul and Sen. Bernie Sanders — have missed only 10 Senate votes during their campaigns for the White House. You, on the other hand, have missed 59, according to a tally by Politico.”

By contrast, Iowa’s Sen. Chuck Grassley set the record for the “longest temporal stretch of perfect attendance in senatorial history,” as Roll Call reported earlier this month. Roll Call notes that the Senator has “not missed a recorded vote in 22 years, six months and six days.

Now since you’d be pretty hard-pressed to find any of his ‘achievements’ being reported upon anywhere in the state-controlled media, perhaps it’s understandable that Mr. Santorum has a difficult time in coming up with any.  And although the state-controlled media seems to be more than a bit hesitant to report it, Rubio has been one of the most ardent and successful champions of the donor-class’s open borders trade and immigration agenda.  While other establishment Republicans have been unsuccessful in promoting the donor-class’s priorities, Rubio has repeatedly demonstrated his rather adept ability to deliver for his donors.  This perhaps explains why Rubio’s campaign has been enthusiastically embraced by some of the most powerful mass migration advocates, like Paul Singer and Larry Ellison.

So, I guess my point here is that if it was easy for me to track down these ‘achievements’ of candidate Rubio, then why was it that Mr. Santorum was unable to come up with even one.  Or is there, perhaps, another reason that he chose not to mention any of these ‘achievements’?  And as if Santorum’s decision wasn’t bad enough, I was very disappointed to hear how it was that former Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal has also now decided to throw his support behind Rubio.  Jindal is apparently another who, while he makes a great deal of noise about being a ‘conservative’, is very obviously, not a conservative.  Santorum and Jindal, and Rubio as well, appear to be little more than posers, so would it be fair to ask if we actually have a bona fide conservative anywhere on our list of remaining candidates?  

RUBIO RIGS FOR SILENT RUNNING?

Well now, we certainly haven't heard all that much from Marco Rubio of late, especially when it comes to the amnesty bill that he helped push through the Senate. But I don't suppose it matters all that much really, because the damage to any future political aspirations has been done. And, sadly, to most conservatives, Rubio has proven himself to be nothing more than a great disappointment. After allowing himself to be talked into becoming the face of the Senate's immigration bill, Rubio has said nary a word about it since it passed more than three weeks ago, and hasn't bothered to come to the bill's defense even when other Republicans have repeatedly attacked it.

As the National Journal noted, Rubio didn't even respond when House Republican leaders "trashed" the bill as being like Obamacare, in both its length and complexity, as recently as just last week. The publication notes that Rubio'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." Rubio, a seminal "Gang of Eight" member, was instrumental in pushing the legislation through the Senate and, as a result, has seen his support among Republicans and conservatives plummet. One wonders what it was that he was thinking.

I suppose one could say that it's been quite some time since someone came to Washington with such high hopes, and then proceeded to fall the distance that Rubio has. He disappointed a great many people in deciding to join the ranks of Chuckie Schumer, 'Little Dick' Durbin as well as the two clowns from the GOP, McCain and Graham. But there's certainly no turning back now, and as far as I'm concerned, he can remain silent from now until 2016, but it's not going to matter. He's done! He quite literally pissed away what should have been a very bright political future. But instead, he's now gone from being mentioned as a 2016 contender, to barely being mentioned at all.

RUBIO'S 'TEA PARTY' LUSTER NOW PRETTY MUCH GONE...

Well folks, I think it's safe to say that when talking about Marco Rubio, you can file this one under, 'WHAT THE HELL DID HE THINK WAS GONNA HAPPEN?' Because, you see, Rubio's popularity has pretty much tanked among most Tea Party supporters, of which I am definitely one, who say the Florida Republican, who helped ignite the Tea Party movement with his 2010 Senate bid, has failed, and pretty miserably, to live up to all of the hype after having made a seriously wrong turn by deciding to join up with RINO John McCain in the push to provide amnesty to illegal immigrants.

Tea Partyers say their beef is not so much that Rubio is trying to fix the nation’s immigration system, but that the bill he helped write does nothing to repair the nation’s porous borders, even as it offers all manner of special pork to some lawmakers and expands the size of the federal government. And it does a lot of the things that he once said that he was against. Which at least gives the appearance, that this bill, which rivals Obamacare in both its complexity and length, is more about politics than it is about actually fixing an immigration system that many agree is badly broken.

The criticism is a major change for a man who was intricately entwined with the Tea Party. The movement enthusiastically backed Rubio early on as he chased establishment candidate Charlie Crist from the Republican primary en route to his 2010 general election victory. "I have heard repeatedly from people in Florida that they are ready to look for primary challengers, and I have heard from people around this entire country that they don’t want him to be the presidential nominee in 2016," said Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots. I, for one, will never vote for him again.

This entire immigration 'discussion' is but one example of how the entire immigration debate is already playing into the 2016 presidential sweepstakes. Rubio's potential rivals, some of whom also serve in the Senate, took a rather different tact. Sen. Rand Paul, for instance, of Kentucky flirted with supporting a broad immigration bill but ultimately backed off, saying he wasn’t convinced the borders would be secure. He voted against the final bill. So did Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who has repeatedly bashed the bill Rubio helped craft as part of the "Gang of Eight." Both make a great deal more sense than Rubio.

Rubio's bill now faces what many are calling some pretty dim prospects over in the House, where his reputation could be further tarnished if his conservative colleagues reject, as they should, his legislation. "The thing that is most baffling for me is that this man is willing to lose millions upon millions of votes he could have had from Tea Partyers for illegal votes that he will not get because he is not a Democrat," said Ken Crow, an Iowa activist who formed TeaPartyCommunity.com. Obviously, Rubio was able to fool a great many of us, but he'll not be able to do so again.

And Amy Kremer of Tea Party Express said Rubio has been hurt by his stance and that mending fences will be nearly impossible. "People are more angry about immigration than they were about Obamacare," she said. "It is disheartening to work so hard to elect these conservatives and then see their base turn on them." Actually, it's so disheartening when you vote for someone who claimed to be a conservative, and to believe in the same things that you do, only to find out after they're elected that it was all just a ploy, and that you might as well have chosen to vote for a Democrat.

Rubio decided to take his big gamble this year when he chose to sign on with three fellow Republicans and become one of the 'bipartisan' gang. He said Republicans must embrace a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants if the party hopes to compete for Hispanics’ votes. The 'Gang of Eight's' bill would legalize illegal immigrants but, theoretically, withhold full citizenship for more than a decade, giving the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) time to spend more money on border security. But as we now know DHS could, and at any time, simply declare that the border is secure.

The final Senate vote was 68-32, with 14 RINOs voting in favor of the bill and all 32 opposing votes coming from the rest of the chamber’s Republicans. Just ahead of the vote, Rubio took to the Senate floor to defend himself and his bill. But he really accomplished nothing more than to further embarrass himself. He said he is convinced it will secure the borders and prevent another round of illegal immigration. Well then, he's either very naïve or very stupid. Neither of which being a quality that one often looks for in one's Senator. Unless you happen to be someone like former senator, John Kerry-Heinz.

He said millions of illegal immigrants have been living in the U.S. with little chance of being deported, amounting to a de facto amnesty. And he claimed to be bothered by the division with many of his former supporters. "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," he said. "I know they love America, and they are deeply worried about the direction this administration and the political left are trying to take our country." And he's helping move us in that direction.

Many in the Tea Party, myself included, question the political motivation of Rubio for his choosing to become one of the 'Gang of Eight' members. Mr. Crow also mentioned, "I will give you the quote I hear most often, ‘He got to Washington D.C. and drank the Potomac Kool-Aid,’ and he is now regarded with disdain in the tea party community. He is regarded in the same light that we now regard Sen. John McCain." Old 'Maverick' McCain, as well as fellow 'gang' member, Lindsey Graham have become the poster children, for many, when it comes to the many RINOs that we now have in Congress.

The backlash has taken a toll on Mr. Rubio, whose favorability rating in polls has dropped pretty significantly. Rubio, however, said this "certainly isn’t about gaining support for future office." Gee, no shit Sherlock! He'll be lucky if he gets re-elected in 2016, so he better enjoy things while he can. Personally, I'm hoping that Allen West can be talked into running against Rubio the next time around. I could be wrong, but I just don't see us having to worry about Col. West deciding to make the same journey over to the dark side as we have been made to watch Rubio do. He’s actually a conservative.

MARCO RUBIO: HE LIED TO US ALL!

A LETTER TO SENATOR RUBIO...

Dear Senator Rubio,

I remember asking myself, back in 2010 just as the senatorial campaign was beginning to ramp up and after Charlie Crist had officially throw in hat into the ring, that, my God, am I really going to be saddled with Crist as being my choice to vote for as a Republican. I even wrote letters to the editor that attempted to make the point of how this guy was in no way a conservative. Then I started hearing about this young upstart, some young guy by the name of Marco Rubio. So I started listening to some of the things you were saying and I thought, gee this guy sounds like just what I've been looking for.

While, as I remember, you weren't given much of a chance, at least at first, of being able to defeat Crist, but I thought, you were somebody who I could actually vote for without having to dash home and take a shower immediately after leaving my polling place. I loved how it was that you described America, and in listening to your various speeches, it sounded as if you genuinely loved this country as much as I do. And I did something that I hadn't done in a very long time, I actually gave money to your campaign. I wasn't exactly a huge some of money, but at least I felt as if I was assisting in something special.

Well I guess, in a way proving that miracles do happen, over the course of the campaign you came to take a rather sizeable lead over Crist, to the point where he decided to drop out of the race only to return in what has become typical Crist fashion. He decided to run as an independent, appearing quite desperate to get to the Senate. But luckily, or so I thought, his efforts we all for naught, and I could not have been happier on election night to hear that Florida would be sending Senator Rubio to Washington. I felt that slowly but surely we were getting more of the right people into Congress.

And I thought that maybe, just maybe that by sending you into the fight as a conservative, that there was still hope that maybe other voters in other states would be able to recognize the fact that conservative are not what liberals make us out to be. We love our country, we want to see everyone succeed and we want the playing field to be level for all. And we want this country to return to those values on which this country was founded and that make it truly unique among all others. This, I thought, could be mark the beginning of our long road back to restoring America to its rightful place.

Well, sadly less than three short years after arriving on the floor of the U.S. Senate I watch you teaming up with the likes of Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin, and now find myself wondering what the Hell happened. And I hear you saying so many things about this immigration that simply are not true It does nothing to secure our borders and contains far too many amendments that have nothing whatsoever to do with immigration. And yet you and 14 other Republicans have absolutely no problem in continuing to support it. It’s a sham, you know it and those of us who have been paying attention, also know it.

To say that I am disappointed in you would be a gross understatement. I feel like I was lied to, convinced to vote for you, and to donate money, under what were false pretenses. Now I know I shouldn't be surprised by the fact that you essentially stabbed me in the back, you are a politician after all. I suppose it's my fault really, I screwed up, I trusted you. But, Senator Rubio, here's something that you can take to the bank. I'll not forget this act of political treachery, and it will be a very cold day in Hell before you ever get another dollar of mine or another vote from me. Simply put, I'm done with you.

And it is my fervent hope, that come 2016 we here in Florida will be able to convince someone like Allen West to go up against you in a primary. You have demonstrated that you are no longer worthy to represent those who put you their faith in you and who you are supposed to be working for. You've now shown your true colors, Mr. Rubio, and I feel like such a sucker. It just seems as if there are just so few people in government who are worthy of the trust placed in them and you, sir, are not one of them. As much as it pains me to say this, you, Senator Rubio, are a liar. It pains me, because I fell for your lies.

In voting for you I feel I was sold a bill of goods. It's my own fault, I suppose, because, as they say, if something sounds to good to be true, it usually is. And in this case, while you sounded too good to be true, I voted for you anyway. And with twenty/twenty hindsight being what it is, maybe I should have asked more questions or been a little less eager to vote for someone who sounded so much like me on the important issues. Because in the end, we're not so much alike after all. So enjoy your remaining years in the senate, because hopefully they will be your last to be spent in any kind of public service.

Yours very truly,

Betrayed.

THE CONTINUING SAGA OF RUBIO'S AMNESTY FOLLY...

So, my friends, just when you thought you had all the reasons that you needed not to support this "Gang of Eight" immigration/amnesty legislation, along comes yet another nutty Democrat who is proposing an even nuttier amendment. It seems that on this past Wednesday, Sen. Brian Schatz, a Democrat who hales from Hawaii, that liberal island paradise which, according to Barry, is part of Asia, filed an amendment for the immigration bill that would actually allow stateless people in the U.S. to seek conditional lawful status if their nations have been made uninhabitable by...climate change. Hey Marco, you going along with this lunacy too? Probably, nothing would surprise me at this point!

As it currently stands, the Senate’s immigration bill now being debated already recognizes that people who come to the U.S. may have no country to return to for a variety of reasons and allows them to come forward to apply for legal status as a stateless person. About the only cause for displacement that seems to have remained overlooked in the current law is how the effects of mythical "climate change" has caused people to lose their homes and their nationality. So our enterprising senator from Hawaii has attempted to rectify that obvious little oversight. Making the claim that climate change is not some "abstract challenge," but is already displacing people across the world, Schatz explained:

"The amendment I am proposing is quite simple. If enacted, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, may designate individuals or a group of individuals displaced permanently by climate change as stateless persons.

Again, let me be clear about what this amendment does. It simply recognizes that climate change, like war, is one of the most significant contributors to homelessness in the world. And like with states torn apart and made uninhabitable by war, we have an obligation not to deport people back to a country made uninhabitable by sea level rise and other extreme environmental changes that render these states desolate. It does not grant any individual or group of individuals outside the United States with any new status or avenue for seeking asylum in the United States."

If you choose to believe those environmental extremists who insist upon perpetuating that which has been proven to be bogus more times than I care to count, it was during last year alone that more than 32 million people all across the globe who were supposedly forced to flee from their homes because of climate-related disasters. If you believe that then I have some prime oceanfront property in Arizona that I can let you have real cheap, and I'll even throw in this bridge I own in New York City. We are told that we can expect this climate refugee problem to only grow significantly worse. Theories that foretell of all manner of doom and gloom abound. There's just one thing wrong, it just ain't so!

We're continually told by these climate change alarmists that climate’s impact reach further than just the rise in sea levels, which, they claim, already threatens the very existence of certain islands like Kiribati and the Marshall Islands. And we're also told how agriculture could be made to fail on entire continents as a result of what they call climate-induced desertification. This is the level of insanity that we get from those who identify themselves as being experts in the area of climate change. All an expert is, really, is nothing more than a drip under pressure. Anyway, and this is the sort of pure bullshit that this moron Schatz bases the need for his amendment to what is already an insane piece of legislation.

Supposedly, Schatz’s amendment also requires a federal study of the impact of climate change has on 'internal migration' within the U.S., an issue that is said to affect his home state of Hawaii. The Pacific Islands Regional Climate Assessment (PIRCA) has noted that in the short term Hawaii will see increased likelihood of coastal flooding and erosion, while "mounting threats" to food, water, infrastructure and safety will eventually cause people to migrate from low-lying islands to high. For those unfamiliar with PIRCA it is yet another little work of climate change propaganda essentially put together with the assistance of over 100 scientific 'experts' and practitioners of the climate change religion. It's BUNK!

So I guess my point here is that while we cannot have an amendment that actually deals specifically with the tightening of border security, we do have time to seriously discuss an amendment that is pretty far removed from reality. And I'm pretty sure that there are more than enough Democrats, and maybe even some Republicans, in the senate who would be more than willing to vote for Schatz's idiotic amendment. Which brings me back to my previous question. Is this, too, something that Marco Rubio is now willing to support in an effort to get his amnesty legislation passed? I mean, up to this point he's been pretty willing to go along with just about anything. Enjoy your one term Marco, it'll be your last!

Just one last thing. Suppose the Democrats are right, that Republicans, by voting against this thing, are cutting their own political throats and that for decades to come will be made to walk the political wilderness because Hispanics will desert them in droves. Well I tell ya what, if that does come to pass at least we went down to defeat standing for something. It's not much, but it's something. And another thing, in about five years, assuming Hitlery gets elected in 2016, when this entire country implodes, I wonder how many of those folks now here illegally will be headed back to their homeland? Because the sad fact is, their little gravy train here ain't got that much track left. And maybe that's what's needed anyway.

MARCO RUBIO...NOTHING MORE THAN A LIAR...

It seems that with each passing day I find myself being just a little more embarrassed for having fallen for the promises made by Marco Rubio during his campaign for the senate back in 2010. I was sucked in by his portrayal of America and of his vision of what America should, and could once again, be. But it was all just a ruse. Because when I compare what I heard then to what I see coming from him today, with him playing essentially the starring role in the midst of this horrendous piece of immigration legislation, I recognize that what was said then was intended for no other purpose than to get him elected.

Further proof, as if I needed any, of Rubio's deceit, came on Tuesday when the senate decided to reject building the 700 miles of double-tier border fencing that Congress had authorized seven years ago. A majority of the Senate said they didn’t want to delay granting illegal immigrants legal status while the fence was being built. Well now that makes loads of sense. By a vote of 54-39 they decided to reject the fence. The vote broke mostly along party lines, although five reliable RINOs, including Rubio, as well as the rest of the bill’s authors, chose to vote against the fence, while there were two Democrats who voted for it.

Republicans had offered the fence as a way to build the confidence of voters who remain skeptical that the government can be trusted to enforce its laws, but opponents offered up the rather lame excuse of saying that the building of more fencing is simply too costly, would take too long, and shouldn’t be dictated by Washington. RINO John McCain said, "I think we should leave that to the best judgment of the Border Patrol." McCain, as you may or may not know, is one of the RINO members of the "Gang of Eight" who concocted this complete disaster of an immigration bill currently being 'discussed.' War hero or not, this guy is a disgrace on so many levels.

It was Sen. John Thune, South Dakota Republican, who proposed the border fence amendment, which would have prevented the administration from granting any illegal immigrants legal status under the bill until at least 350 miles of double-tier fencing has been erected, and would withhold full citizenship rights until 700 total miles have been built. Minutes after the border fence, senators also voted to further weaken current law that requires the government to have biometric checks such as fingerprints or eye-scans for every visitor to the U.S., a recommendation that actually came from the 9/11 commission

Senators said it is too expensive to check fingerprints at all air, land and sea ports of entry. So out of the Billions of dollars that are literally wasted by our government every single day, nothing can be spent to keep out those who should not be in this country. I feel like I'm in the "Twilight Zone." Instead, this bill calls for photographic checks at air and sea ports, but excludes land ports. Mr. Thune, sponsor of the fence proposal, then asked, what I thought was, a very reasonable question. He simply asked, "When is our federal government going to keep its promises when it comes to the issue of border security?"

Rubio made the idiotic claim that he supports building a border fence, and pointed to $1.5 Billion included in his bill for more infrastructure, which he said will go to a fence plan. But Rubio's excuse for not supporting Thune's amendment was because it didn’t lay out the details for "a specific border plan." Rubio added, "Therefore, I will oppose his amendment and instead continue to work with my Republican colleagues to arrive at a new measure that improves on the significant border security measures already in the bill." He's such a hypocrite! And it pains me no end that not only did I vote for him, but I gave him money.

The border now has 651 miles of barriers, but only 36 miles are at least double-tier fencing. Another 316 miles are single-tier pedestrian fencing, and the rest, 299 miles, are vehicle barriers that still allow wildlife, and people, to cross. The border fence vote was one of several key showdowns expected as the Senate works on its immigration bill, which grants what is essentially nothing more than amnesty to most, if not all, of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants currently residing in the U.S.. Now the supporters of this bill, including Rubio, can deny that fact until the cows come home, but that's what it is!

I think it's pretty obvious here what the true motives behind this "Gang of Eight" debacle really are. And the fact that RINOs Graham and McCain have teamed up with 'Little Dick Durbin, 'Little Chuckie' Schumer and Bob ‘Love Underage Hookers’ Menendez should come as no surprise. Also it should come as no surprise that the entire design of this bill is to, not only, grant outright amnesty to over 11 Million people here illegally, but also to weaken the security of our border to the point where it simply becomes nonexistent. Oh, and also what this bill essentially does is to create 11 Million new Democrat voters. And Rubio seems to be just fine with all of that.

What's going to happen here is that this Rubio inspired amnesty bill will most likely pass the senate with what some are saying, will be as many as 70 votes. It will then move on to House. And this is where things really get dicey, because then we're going to be forced to rely on Speaker Boehner to do what's right for the country and not just what's politically expedient. And these days I don't trust Boehner anymore than I trust Barry. So here we sit, completely at the mercy of those whom we continue to think, when we elect them, will do those things that convinced us to vote for them in the first place. I feel so used.

RUBIO IS NOT DOING HIMSELF ANY FAVORS...

It may actually turn out that before this whole immigration thing is over that Marco Rubio, through no fault of his own and with the help of some of his fellow senators, may just end up dodging a rather sizable electoral bullet. At least as far as his 2016 presidential aspirations are concerned. You see, at the present time, Rubio, a fella whom I voted for, doesn’t believe the Gang of Eight immigration bill, which he authored, has enough votes to break a possible filibuster on the Senate floor. When asked on "Fox and Friends" Tuesday whether the bill has 60 "yes" votes, Rubio replied: "No, and I think even the Democrats would concede that."

"There’s a few reasons for it, but one of the things we’ve learned over the last few weeks through the open process that happened through the committee process and all the public input that we’ve gotten is how little confidence people have that the federal government will enforce the law," Rubio continued. You know, as much as I hate to admit this, Rubio seems to be more than just a little naïve. But regardless, the full Senate will now begin considering the legislation, which passed the Judiciary Committee last month on a 13-5 vote with the help of three Republicans, Lindsey Graham, Jeff Flake and Orrin Hatch, starting next week.

Rubio, considered critical to the success or failure of immigration reform, is mulling a measure that would put Congress, rather than the Department of Homeland Security, in charge of drafting the border control strategy that is tied to the pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants in the United States. Personally I don't know what would be gained by such a measure, as it would really be nothing more than a matter of semantics. How, exactly, is Congress to be considered, by the American people, as being more trustworthy than the Department of Homeland Security? No offense here, to the good senator here, but that's just plain nuts! And he should know better.

But according to Rubio, "We don’t want to be back here in two years, in five years, 10 years dealing with another 5 or 10 million illegal immigrants." And he added, "And so that’s the key. And people don’t trust the Department of Homeland Security to do this job or to come up with a plan that will do the job." Look, something that I think he should be quite aware of is the fact that what people don't trust, at least people with a brain, is the government as a whole. We've been lied to and screwed over too many times to believe what anyone in government tells us. We're constantly being told nothing more than what it is they think we want to hear.

Rubio's fellow Gang member and a Democrat from New Jersey, Robert "I Like Underage Hookers" Menendez, has also said that the bill’s backers did not yet have 60 votes in its favor, but he was optimistic that they would get there. And 'Dingy Harry' Reid is apparently quite confident he has 60 votes to clear the bill. "Dingy' went so far as to say recently on a Nevada television show that at most he’ll only lose two or three of his fellow Democrats. But with four of the bill’s sponsors being Republicans, Reid also made the claim that it would be "pretty easy" to pick off enough GOP votes to be able to reach the necessary 60-vote threshold.

But now that old Frank Lautenberg has finally departed this world and moved on to that fiery repository for corrupt old liberals where he will no doubt get to spend an eternity hobnobbing with the likes of Teddy Kennedy, there are 54 Democrat votes in the Senate. Which means that six Republicans will now have to be willing to join with all of the Democrats in order to get this thing passed and moved onto the House. Which I suppose, taking into consideration some of those we have on our side, is not that far outside the realm of possibility. But I’ll tell ya, Rubio would be doing himself a huge favor if he were to remove this potential albatross from around his neck.

WHERE’S THE MARCO RUBIO I VOTED FOR?

As I have said on several previous occasions, I have become more than a little disappointed in my junior senator from here in Florida, Marco Rubio. I had some pretty high hopes for him when I marched off to the polls back on 2010 to proudly cast my vote for him and even before that, when I cheerfully wrote a hefty check, by my standards, to his campaign. Those once high hopes have, sadly, pretty much evaporated. I feel like, maybe, I was led on, and told what it was thought I needed to hear before offering my support. That’s not likely to happen again.

So now with the Senate Judiciary Committee having approved the controversial ‘Gang of Eight’ immigration reform bill, by a vote of 13-5, it now moves on to the full Senate. And arguably the most instrumental supporter and spokesman of the bill has been my senator, Marco Rubio. And it’s fair to say that that support has come at a price, with many of his ardent supporters deserting him, with some even going so far as to state that they will no longer support him at all because of his backing an immigration bill they feel is simply "amnesty" for illegal immigrants.

Rubio, quite stubbornly, will contend that his bill is not "amnesty" and that he never has or would support a blanket amnesty for illegal immigrants. Rubio has gone as far as to call the current immigration system "de facto amnesty." But there are many conservative critics, of which I am one, who disagree with him on that point and believe that the bill itself is tantamount to "de facto amnesty" regardless of how tough the border security and enforcement measures text reads in the bill. We’ve heard it all before. To use Barry’s phrase, there’s no there, there.

While the other co-authors of the bipartisan immigration reform bill do not have nearly as much to lose as Rubio, should this bill ultimately fail in any number of regards, Rubio has everything to lose. And has actually lost much already. Senators Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) have picked apart the provisions of the proposed legislation, and Sessions has pointed out the fact that the bill would indeed grant federal benefits for illegal immigrants who become eligible to legally work in the U.S. if the bill were to become law.

"One of the things we identified a year or two ago was that large numbers of [illegal immigrants] have become eligible immediately for the earned income tax credit. The average person who qualifies for earned income tax credits gets about $2,000 a year… It’s actually a direct check from the United States government…

EITC is generally available to anyone that has a Social Security number… As these [registered provisional immigrants] are all established and get a Social Security number, they will qualify, it appears under the law, for earned income tax credit. I’m not sure the sponsors understood that, because they’ve insisted that RPI aliens will not receive any federal benefits under the bill. But [their legislation] would grant such benefits to millions and be a substantial burden on our country’s finances…"- Senator Jeff Sessions

Rubio has aggressively tried to dispel this very notion that federal benefits would be granted to illegal immigrants while they are allowed to legally reside and work in the country. With other conservative Republican 2016 presidential hopefuls paying close attention to the outcome of this immigration bill, Rubio’s potential presidential candidacy could hinge on whether or not he heeds the advice of many prominent conservatives who are urging him to withdraw his support of the bill. I truly do hope that he will come to his political senses.

Other members of the U.S. Senate such as Chuck Grassley, remember voting for a similar "amnesty" bill back in 1986, and according to CBS, Grassley said that the 1986 bill, like Rubio’s bill, "promised to crack down on illegal immigration, but said that it had failed to do so." So what makes us all so sure that we want to head down that very same road yet again, Rubio or no Rubio? Ya know, and something else makes me in no big hurry to support this thing. The Democrats want it way too much! And that always makes me very nervous.

It is hard to grasp that a single ‘Yea’ or ‘Nay’ vote on a Senate bill could tremendously impact the political career of one of the most likeable politicians in recent history, but the sober truth for Rubio is that it very likely will. For better or worse, Rubio’s vote will cast him as either a supporter of amnesty for illegal immigrants or as a leader who tried to do the right thing for the country but was forced to drop his support for a bill that became too flawed to support. So, Senator Marco Rubio’s decision point has now arrived. Do I hear a distant drum roll?