Rubio book tour begins, but no White House campaign - yet

CORAL GABLES, FL -- Sen. Marco Rubio kicked off his bus tour on Saturday with an aggressive swing through southern Florida, meeting hundreds of well wishers who told him that he is the person they would most like to see in the White House.

Sen.Marco Rubio says President Obama 'shoved immigration policy down our throats' and that it was an election-year stunt. Rep. Xavier Becerra joins Ed Schultz to discuss Sen. Rubio's comments, and the overwhelming public support for the President's action.

No, he's not running for president -- yet.  And even though the Florida senator will spend the next two weeks in swing states like Florida, North Carolina and Virginia, it is not for any campaign, but a book tour to promote Rubio's newly released memoir, "An American Son."


But that did not stop his fans in the Sunshine State from telling him how much they hope his political aspirations extend beyond the Senate.

 

 

If you ask Rubio, he's not working towards any other title than, perhaps, "best selling author."  But hopping out of a bus emblazoned with his name and picture to sign books, greet potential voters and hold babies has a distinct campaign-like quality similar to what Floridians experienced just a few months earlier when then-Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich were slugging it out ahead of the state's primary.

It may be part of the reason why many who showed up to the four book signings throughout Saturday seemed to have dual purposes: meet the senator, then tell him how much the country, not just Florida, needs him.

"The future president of the United States is here!" yelled a woman standing in line at the Miami Barnes & Noble waiting to get her copy signed.

Rubio put down his black sharpie briefly to glance behind each of his shoulders.  "Where? I don't see him," he responded.

Swatting down one of the day's many questions about the prospects of him becoming Romney's running mate, Rubio told a gaggle of reporters, "We're not here to talk about that, we're here to talk about the book."

"Talk about 2016," yelled a supporter standing by at Books & Books in Coral Gables.

The release of Rubio's memoir comes in the midst of Romney's search for a vice president.  Rubio is the only candidate that Romney has admitted is being vetted after the Republican nominee refuted reports that Rubio was not being considered.  After his election in 2010, the former Florida state legislator quickly rose to become a favorite amongst tea party conservatives, and this year has been frequently cited by members of the GOP as a top choice to join the ticket.

The autobiography was originally scheduled for release in October, but was pushed up, a move that some speculate had to do with a competing Rubio biography from a Washington Post reporter and an interest in being able to take advantage of the headlines he is drawing as a heavily talked about emerging leader in the Republican party.  But the senator countered that the earlier release was more a product of convenience based on his schedule and being able to complete the work more quickly than originally anticipated.

"When the book was ready to go, we released it.  So you release books when they're ready.  Obviously the longer I wait, the more things happen, the more I have to add to the book," Rubio said after a signing in Fort Lauderdale.

The son of Cuban immigrants said his autobiography is not meant to be a political one, rather "a tribute to the American dream." But speaking to reporters at each of the signings, he did not shy from repeating some of his recent attacks on President Obama.

"He wants to use immigration as a Republican vs. Democrat issue and vice versa," Rubio said of the president.  "That just makes it harder to solve.”

On the recent Supreme Court decision regarding the Affordable Care Act, Rubio said, "If you read what the chief justice arrived at, he's basically saying that the Congress now has the power to require you to buy running shoes as long as they tax you if you fail to buy it...If Congress can you make you buy something and penalize for you and tax you for it if you don’t, what powers does Congress not have?  Is that really the country we live in?”

But by and large, as much as both supporters and media have wanted to shift the focus from his book to his future, Rubio has tried to keep the conversation about "An American Son." He began his book tour in friendly territory around his native city of Miami.  At his final stop on Saturday in Coral Gables, he piled out of the bus with his wife Jeanette Rubio, their children and scores of cousins, nieces and nephews.  It is a family, Rubio says, that represents the best of America.

"It's not just my story," Rubio said of his memoir.  "It's the story of my grandparents and of my father and my mother and the sacrifices they went through so they could give us the chances they never had.”

 

 

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have you notice the republicans are now saying they are regular old Republicans..they leave the tea party name out of their campaign..but they let fox news use the name.all the time..for thier audience hahahaha

  • 6 votes
Reply#28 - Sun Jul 1, 2012 1:03 PM EDT

GO COWBOYS !!!

  • 2 votes
#28.1 - Sun Jul 1, 2012 1:06 PM EDT

hahahahaha i back..

  • 2 votes
#28.2 - Sun Jul 1, 2012 1:27 PM EDT
Reply

FOOL-PROOF CLUES ON HOW TO SPOT A RIGHT WING EXTREMIST REPUBLICAN/TEA PARTY TYPE ON TV WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED.
He talks, and acts rudely, in all manner and way. Thus, he uses words that makes you suspect he wants to cause the most harm or cruelty. Therefore, he endlessly puts venom into his verbiage and learned expletives. He obviously wants to make you look small or irrelevant.
He, with finality and in superlative even apocalyptic terms, predicts what would happen to you. He predicts a future he does not know or understand, claiming as well expert knowledge even though he may be an air head. (Would you hire Sarah Palin as your expert on constitutional law?).
He is almost always angry and looking unapproachable. And when he loses or you disagree with him, his anger turns to rage and rave. He feels able to simultaneously dwell on insults while still proclaiming his Christian credentials and ideals.
He is won’t, in political disagreements, to call for the most extreme measures against his perceived “enemy.” Thus, he would glibly shout, call for or threaten treason, un-American, impeachment, contempt, secession, repeal, nullification or other destructive terms.
He interrupts others repeatedly even though no one interrupts him when he speaks.
He is very belligerent and threatening in all matters: on foreign policy and nationalism (remember the word jingoism). This makes a mockery of his avowed belief as a “Christian”—because Christ is the “Prince of Peace.”
He is almost always the aggressor. Win (think 2010) or lose (think 2008 and 2012), he wants to fight you, humiliate you, threaten you. (You can never satisfy these people). He covers up everything with shouts and claims of freedom while denying it to others.
He doesn’t think it matters to be specific and instead dwells on generalities, bite sounds and unsupported assertions. He thinks that most voters are stupid and can easily be manipulated with emotive words of hates and division. (Remember “divide and conquer”). Thus, many of the voters they manipulate end up working against their own interests—so long as they find somebody else to blame for their own failures and inadequacies.
He is very self-righteous on religious matters, wants to impose his personal beliefs on the whole society even while decrying government “overreach” in our personal lives. And he spouts in frightening speed all kinds of conspiracy theories. (The brains are different).
He projects his myths, conjectures and conspiracy theories as “facts” and treats objective facts as irrelevant and dangerous. He treats his routine lies, prevarications and misrepresentations as a “business plan.”
He shouts honor and country and wants America to easily go to war against other nations even though he usually finds a way to avoid military service. He feels he is more “patriotic” than any one else while in fact he is a paper tiger.
He doesn’t really believe in democracy, human rights, civil rights and human dignity (except for the unborn). So you will hear him describing women’s rights, gay rights and civil rights as a threat to the economy and the nation. He, like the Taliban, wants particularly to lord it over women in any way he can, including using public policy to interfere in the bedrooms of the nation.
He doesn’t believe in helping the poor, the elderly and the weak in our society, even though Christ said doing these things gives you a right to heaven. So he is wont to accuse any one who dares as a socialist. He even denounces Canadian and European-style capitalism as “socialism.” (Do these people read and use their brain at all)?
He believes in winning by cunning, intimidation and other unfair means, even if it means disenfranchising thousands of legitimate voters. (Remember Florida 2000 and now 2012). (Their big daddies in the Supreme Political Court will surely help out as needed).
He doesn’t think that the court should be activist except for the causes they believe in or in courts they control. When they are in control, they want to take every matter of state for decision in their favor. Note the flood of Republican-pioneered cases to the John Robert’s Supreme Political Court. Roberts and Co. have usually obliged, seriously tarnishing the reputation of the Court. However, Roberts disappointed them in the ACA challenge. So they are threatening, huffing and puffing—as usual! Paper Tigers barking!

  • 10 votes
Reply#29 - Sun Jul 1, 2012 1:25 PM EDT

and you said it nicely..

  • 4 votes
#29.1 - Sun Jul 1, 2012 1:28 PM EDT

He covers up everything with shouts and claims of freedom while denying it to others.

Best sentence out of that enjoyable read.

  • 3 votes
#29.2 - Sun Jul 1, 2012 3:40 PM EDT

Dr. Sam,

Brilliantly stated.

  • 1 vote
#29.3 - Sun Jul 1, 2012 11:00 PM EDT
Reply

where are the tea nuts today

  • 3 votes
Reply#30 - Sun Jul 1, 2012 1:38 PM EDT

elvis payne - The tea nuts are busy sewing new tea bags to their $3.99 Walmart straw hats - since they used the old tea bags - Waste not Want Not!

They will be getting some free Hot Dogs and Budwieser's from the Koch Bros to waddle out and protest this 4th of July- against something like "Affordable Health Care" which benefits each and everyone

And the beat goes on - "stupid is as stupid does" - Thank you Forest Gump

    #30.1 - Mon Jul 2, 2012 9:52 PM EDT
    Reply

    stop the religious Reich from taking over our nation..before its to late..remember the history of the dark ages

    • 5 votes
    Reply#31 - Sun Jul 1, 2012 1:59 PM EDT

    Isn't he a sitting senator? What is he doing moonlighting on the taxpayer dime?

    • 3 votes
    Reply#32 - Sun Jul 1, 2012 2:04 PM EDT

    Rubio loves to point fingers but , alas, he has too many skeletons in his closet. He is the male Palin!!!!

    • 2 votes
    Reply#33 - Sun Jul 1, 2012 3:17 PM EDT

    Palin with a peni$??

      #33.1 - Mon Jul 2, 2012 12:06 PM EDT
      Reply

      Most all of the well-wishers of the 99% American people in Florida we know want him in THE OUTHOUSE, NOT THE WHITE HOUSE! He's just another corrupt Republican corporate political puppet.

      How in the hell does he have TIME to write a book if he's a Senator! He couldn't be doing his job! Just more corruption!

      • 2 votes
      Reply#34 - Sun Jul 1, 2012 4:06 PM EDT

      A book on autobiography! Is that SELF-CENTERED or what! Why doesn't he write a book on how the corrupt Republican corporate MONARCHY has STOLEN the American way of life and MADE SLAVES of the 99% American People! Then, and ONLY THEN, would we, the American People, care to read it! Nothing but another POLITICAL PUPPET looking for a handout from the 99% American People! We're broke from bailing out your corrupt Republican FINANCIAL corporates and paying for your corrupt Republican OIL corporates' ridiculous gasonline prices! We don't have ANYMORE TO GIVE YOU!!!

      • 3 votes
      Reply#35 - Sun Jul 1, 2012 4:15 PM EDT

      GOP are grooming a lot of soon to be Lobbyist who will make millions working for the 1% - too bad they can't come up with Ethical Electable Officials.

      R-money/R-unethical are a great Republican Presidential Campaign team - for me to poop on.

      • 3 votes
      Reply#36 - Sun Jul 1, 2012 4:19 PM EDT

      Another GOP rock star so maybe he and Scotty Walker can headline for Mittens.

      Can be a new bus tour "Scotty & Marco for Mittens!!"

        #36.1 - Mon Jul 2, 2012 12:05 PM EDT
        Reply

        Let's see...Liar, not too bright, can only speak talking points. Definitely meets criteria for a rising star in the GOP. And now members can say: "I'm not a racist; See, I have a friend who is Latino."

        • 4 votes
        Reply#37 - Sun Jul 1, 2012 4:19 PM EDT

        Folks all ya Heard from da TeaBilly’s for the past few years is:

        We want our Country Back.

        We Cleaned up or Rally really Nice.

        Now all ya hear is:

        Anybody but Obama.

        It Shows ya how they have no Leadership, Direction, Solutions or Substance and have Lowered all Expectations and Standards.

        You Bet Cha….Fer Sure.

        • 6 votes
        Reply#38 - Sun Jul 1, 2012 4:24 PM EDT

        GOP are feeding their "cattle" real good, & spook em a bit with a kickin donkey.

        • 1 vote
        #38.1 - Sun Jul 1, 2012 4:31 PM EDT
        Reply

        Rubio is nothing more than a Political Puppet being used by da Republican TeaBilly Conservatives.

        You BetCha....Fer Sure.

        • 2 votes
        Reply#39 - Sun Jul 1, 2012 4:25 PM EDT

        Mitt is about as Real as a Plastic Bananna!

        Is it Mitt ____________Romney?

        “Country Club”

        “Middle Class Warfare”

        “Not To Much..Out of Touch”

        “Cheap Labor is Our Future”

        “Outsourcing is Awesome”

        “Profits Over People”

        “Corporations are People Too”

        “F da Poor”

        “Let Detroit go Bankrupt”

        “Pray da Gay Away”

        Mitt Romney’s Solution to all Problems…….Prayer and a Moment of Silence.

        • 3 votes
        Reply#40 - Sun Jul 1, 2012 4:26 PM EDT

        By the way….. I wonder if these Republican and Tea Billy Politicians think their Socialized Health Care that they receive, which also Includes “Birth Control” (Paid For By Our Tax $$$$$$$$) is Illegal and Unconstitutional?

        • 2 votes
        Reply#41 - Sun Jul 1, 2012 4:26 PM EDT

        Romney has 5 adult sons and not one son in the military.

        Enough said.

        • 4 votes
        Reply#42 - Sun Jul 1, 2012 5:42 PM EDT

        We need to Pass a New Law:

        For Any Future Wars or Invasions: All Politicians have to send a Son or Daughter to the Front Line. If it is Truly something that we have to do, they should no problem with that.

        You BetCha….Fer Sure.

        Do ya know what is Really Irresponsible? Invading Countries, Policing da World at the U.S. Taxpayer Expense, and giving away Billions of $$$$$$$$ to Foreign Countries like Pakistan …just to be “Our Little Friend”.

        You Bet Cha…….Fer Sure.

        • 4 votes
        #42.1 - Sun Jul 1, 2012 5:45 PM EDT
        Reply

        I am going to keep posting this until it soaks in with the RWNJ's.

        http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/06/health-care-law-mandate-tax-how-many-people-affect/

        The health insurance mandate upheld by the Supreme Court will impact roughly 26 million Americans, or 8 percent of the population, according to a recent study by the Urban Institute and an independent analysis by MIT economist Jonathan Gruber, who advised both Mitt Romney and President Obama on health care law.

        Those individuals will be required to obtain coverage or pay a fine starting in 2014.

        Not everyone will be forced to pay out of pocket, however. Here’s how it breaks down – courtesy of the Urban Institute:

        – 8.1 million will be eligible for free/close-to-free insurance through expansion of Medicaid under the law.

        – 10.9 million will have to purchase coverage but receive subsidies to help with premiums

        – 7.3 million (2 percent of population) will not be eligible for any assistance and will simply have to buy a plan or pay the penalty.

        Look at it the other way, the mandate will not directly impact most Americans. Two hundred fifty million out of 268 million non-elderly folks, or 94 percent, of Americans already have insurance coverage through an employer or the government and don’t face the penalty or having to buy a new plan.

        • 3 votes
        Reply#43 - Sun Jul 1, 2012 10:04 PM EDT

        It doesn't matter who gets into office at election time. They are all crooks. Everything is going to stay the same for the general public.

        If voting really changed anything, they would make it illegal.

          Reply#44 - Sun Jul 1, 2012 10:34 PM EDT

          And that my friend is exactly what the republicans are doing as we speak.

          Just like in Florida where the governor was throwing people off the voter roles and it turned out most were democrats or independents. Many have found to not only be citizens but war veterans from World War II who have been voting since the war.

          They did this same type of voter purge in Florida before the supreme court selected bush for his first term because we were not allowed to recount the votes. The amount of people on the first voter purge was 10 times the amount that bush won Florida by.

          Yes voting does make a difference and the 1% are going to be hitting you hard with their propaganda to elect the republicans that have promised them permanent tax cuts. Romney has been bragging how his money doesn't come from the people but the rich pushing their agenda that is not for the best good of the people.

          That is just what they want you to believe that your vote doesn't count so why bother.

          VOTE FOR FAIRNESS...VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT 2012

          • 4 votes
          #44.1 - Sun Jul 1, 2012 11:59 PM EDT
          Reply

          Book tour? About what? About his lies of his fake escape from Cuba? Presenting him as the poor Cuban that had to flee from Castro when all of this is fake and untrue? How can this fake present any Latino in this country, a wannabe who has nothing to show, no achievements, except that he claims to be a Refugee from Cuba. The guy is as fake as the party he has a membership in, for big money, against the people.

          • 2 votes
          Reply#45 - Sun Jul 1, 2012 10:55 PM EDT

          Is the book about how his family fled from the Castro regime after it's takeover in Cuba? Oh wait, that happened only in his little tea soaked mind. Or maybe it's an collection of his favorite Pinto Bean recipes.

            Reply#46 - Mon Jul 2, 2012 1:35 AM EDT

            It's not pinto beans...it's black beans and rice.

              #46.1 - Mon Jul 2, 2012 11:59 AM EDT
              Reply

              Is there much of a market for paint by number books?

                Reply#47 - Mon Jul 2, 2012 9:03 AM EDT

                Why are so many teatards convinced people want to read about their lives?

                  Reply#48 - Mon Jul 2, 2012 10:52 AM EDT

                  Did Rubio ever get his BS life story straight? Talk about the cons getting conned by someone...they elected a lying lightweight cuban american which makes him more cuban than american...keep up the flag waving losers

                    Reply#49 - Mon Jul 2, 2012 10:55 AM EDT

                    Wow, if this isn't right out of Newtie's playbook I don't know what is!

                    I guess you could say he's multi-tasking... campaigning and book touring... What talent!!!

                      Reply#50 - Mon Jul 2, 2012 11:41 AM EDT

                      Anyone familiar with Rubio's record of accomplishments in Florida will realize he has done a lot TO Florida but little if anything FOR the state. If he is so concerned about people being forced to buy insurance, I ask why he hasn't done anything about the inequities in Florida's insurance market. He's just a little pi$$$ant with a bad combover and he's going to play up to the Cuban bloc because they are usually pretty stupid about things like that, voting for someone just because they're cuban.

                        Reply#51 - Mon Jul 2, 2012 11:57 AM EDT
                        ContemptMeDeleted

                        Rubio fibbed repeatedly about his family having fled Cuba to escape Castro when, in fact, they'd left Cuba years before Castro took over. But that's not very important. Everybody polishes their resume a bit. It was wrong for a potential presidential candidate to make that claim but it's not a critical flaw in his personality.

                        What's bothersome is the different way that the extreme right has reacted to Elizabeth Warren's unsubstantiated claim that she is 1/32nd Cherokee. They're outraged by it, while Rubio's claim is never brought up.

                        And Rubio's claim is demonstrably false, while Warren's may in fact be true. A lot of native Oklahomans claim Cherokee ancestry. The recently elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation is 1/32nd Cherokee.

                        My grandmother (not GREAT-grandmother) was from Czechoslovakia, or so I've been told since childhood. She died long before I was born. If, like Elizabeth Warren, I were asked to prove that my ancestry included a Czech I couldn't do it. If there were ever any birth certificate or wedding announcements, they're long gone. The only reason I believe it is that my family mentioned it once in a while casually. No big deal.

                        I would guess that's precisely how Elizabeth Warren learned that there was a Cherokee in her family, probably some unimportant man who married an unimportant woman in the post-Civil War Midwest.

                        Yet the zealots on the right oppose her and insult her at every opportunity because she's a "liar" and a "phony" because the documentation (by a Boston newspaper) is suspect. She's running for Senator from Mass and has a record of protecting the middle- and working class from exploitation by the extremely wealthy. She'll probably lose.

                        Senator. The right hates her bitterly. And there's not a peep about Rubio's lie about HIS family back in the 1950s. And, if things fall Rubio's way, he may wind up president of the United States, representing the very people that Warren is doing her best to protect us from.

                        • 3 votes
                        Reply#53 - Mon Jul 2, 2012 3:02 PM EDT

                        Robert Maxwell - My grandmother and grandfather came from Lithuania and my grandmother told me as a baby she crawled to the family pond and a horse seeing her in the water pulled her to shore and saved her life

                        She also said as a child in the town of Vilnius they paraded a "mermaid" in a fish tank through town

                        I will believe what my grandmother said until the day I die - why? Because she was my GRANDMOTHER!

                        • 1 vote
                        #53.1 - Mon Jul 2, 2012 10:07 PM EDT
                        Reply
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