Rubio hits Cruz as an 'isolationist'

[Brett85]

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/13/politics/marco-rubio-ted-cruz-isolationist/index.html?eref=rss_latest

Marco Rubio says he isn't buying Ted Cruz's tough talk on national security.

The Florida senator hammered Cruz for opposing the U.S. government's bulk phone data collection and voting against spending bills and defense authorization acts -- suggesting Cruz's voting record is that of an isolationist -- in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday.

"He talks tough on some of these issues. For example, he was going to carpet bomb ISIS. But the only budget he's ever voted for in his time in the Senate is a budget that cut defense spending by more than Barack Obama proposes we cut it," Rubio said of Cruz, his rival for the Republican presidential nomination.

"He voted against the Defense Authorization Act every year that it came up. And I assume that if he voted against it, he would veto it as president," Rubio said.

"That's the bill that funds our troops. Even the Iron Dome for Israel. So I guess my point is each time he's had to choose between strong national defense and some of the isolationist tendencies in American politics, he seems to side with the isolationist," Rubio said. "And this is an important issue to have a debate over. It's not personal."

The attack by Rubio previews a theme sure to show up in CNN's Republican presidential debate Tuesday night in Las Vegas.

Cruz, who backed the USA Freedom Act, which ended the bulk metadata program, has argued U.S. intelligence agencies can work through the courts to get any surveillance approval they need -- while Rubio says that jeopardizes U.S. security.

Cruz is known as a conservative brawler on Capitol Hill, using fights over budget bills to push for GOP-backed priorities like the repeal of President Barack Obama's signature health care law. Those fights endeared Cruz to the right -- but Rubio is now citing his votes to question Cruz's national security credentials as Americans are increasingly focused on terrorism in the wake of attacks in Paris and California.

Still, Cruz has resisted Rubio's characterizations of him as an isolationist.

Cruz has said he's open to using U.S. military strength overseas -- but told the Daily Caller earlier this year that he wants three preconditions.

"First, it should begin with a clearly stated objective at the outset. It should be directly tied to U.S. national security," he said. "Second, we should use overwhelming force to that objective. We should not have rules of engagement that tie the hands of our soldiers and sailors and airmen and Marines."

"Third, we should get the heck out," Cruz said. "It is not the job of the U.S. military to engage in nation building to turn foreign countries into democratic utopias."

In the "Meet the Press" interview, Rubio was also pressed about same-sex marriage.

He has always opposed same-sex marriage rights, but said he opposes a constitutional amendment to undo the Supreme Court's ruling legalizing it everywhere because "that would be conceding that the current Constitution is somehow wrong and needs to be fixed. I don't think the current Constitution gives the federal government the power to regulate marriage."

Instead, he said, he'd rather appoint conservative justices who would reverse it.

"It is the current law. I don't believe any case law is settled law," Rubio said. "Any future Supreme Court can change it. And ultimately, I will appoint Supreme Court justices that will interpret the Constitution as originally constructed."

 

[Liberty74]

Rubio Rubio Rubio

 

[hells_unicorn]

Everything is an isolationist to Rubio. I'm sure that bottle of mineral water that he was abusing on television was an isolationist.

 

[Jan2017]

Actively professing to use nuclear weapons with carpet-bombing, like Cruz has said in Cedar Rapids recently,
would kinda isolate the USA.


(I am gonna check if the Cruz statement (embedded video at http://crooksandliars.com/2015/12/ted-cruz-wants-bomb-isis-until-sand-glows
is gonna get some international coverage this week - maybe in Canada ?)

 

[PaleoPaul]

LOL @ Cruz being an "isolationist."

If he thinks CRUZ is an "isolationist," then...wow. He's nothing more than Dick Cheney in a 44-year-old body with darker skin and slicker hair.

 

[Brett85]

LOL @ Cruz being an "isolationist."

If he thinks CRUZ is an "isolationist," then...wow. He's nothing more than Dick Cheney in a 44-year-old body with darker skin and slicker hair.

Yep. If you're not for every single intervention and for perpetual war all over the globe, you're an "isolationist" according to Rubio.

 

[Xenliad]

Rubio might make a worse president than Clinton simply because, despite their similarities, the majority of the American right would mindlessly rally behind everything he did.

 

[PaleoPaul]

Rubio might make a worse president than Clinton simply because, despite their similarities, the majority of the American right would mindlessly rally behind everything he did.

I'm starting to think we should all just vote for Hillary if Rubio is the nominee. She's just as neo-con as he is but at least the GOP will pretend to be "opposed" to her policies.

 

[derek4ever]

Everything is an isolationist to Rubio. I'm sure that bottle of mineral water that he was abusing on television was an isolationist.

Depends! If the bottle of water was frozen, Rubio would've said: "Dang bottle, you're so ICE-olationist!"

 

[jmdrake]

Great! This gives Cruz a change to redefine the term in our favor. I'm surprised Rubio never tried the "isolationist" card against Carson and Trump.

 

[sparebulb]

 

[angelatc]

Hillary will destroy Rubio. But can you imagine having to listen to him lisp followed by her cackling in glee over his answers during the debates?

 

[sparebulb]

Hillary will destroy Rubio. But can you imagine having to listen to him lisp followed by her cackling in glee over his answers during the debates?

Hillary/Rubio 2016

If you can't be 'em, join 'em.

 

[jmdrake]

LOL @ Cruz being an "isolationist."

If he thinks CRUZ is an "isolationist," then...wow. He's nothing more than Dick Cheney in a 44-year-old body with darker skin and slicker hair.

Actually Cruz said we stayed too long in Iraq which flies in the face of the idiot conventional neocon/teocon "wisdom" that Iraq went to hell because we left too early. And Cruz didn't support arming ISIS and its allies like Obama, Clinton and Rubio did.

 

[bronc_fan23]

 

[Jan2017]

Rubio has become a neocon parody . . .




.

 

[Cleaner44]

I would paint Rubio as a young, inexperienced and naive candidate.

Two bulls stood on a hill. They looked down on a valley where a dozen cows grazed.

The young bull said, "Hey Pop, let's run down there and fuck one of those heifer."

"No, Son," said the old bull. "Let's WALK down there and fuck ALL those heifers."

 

[Brian4Liberty]

Rubio is such a good doggy for the big government neoconservatives. What would Lindsey say?

 

[limequat]

^ that pic is extremely disturbing.

 

[Jan2017]

Republican presidential campaign rhetoric is red-hot regarding Islamic terrorism,

NUKE ISIS?

As Republican presidential candidates lined up to one-up each other about how they would fight Islamic terrorism,
many mainstream pundits questioned the hysteria and took particular aim at billionaire Donald Trump for seeking
a moratorium on admitting Muslims to the United States, but Trump’s proposal was far from the most outrageous.

Getting much less attention was a statement by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, ...

Cruz suggested that the United States should nuke the territory in Iraq and Syria controlled by Islamic State militants.

the notion of a major candidate for President cavalierly suggesting a nuclear strike would normally be viewed as disqualifying

http://pontiactribune.com/usnews/