EMAIL DETAILS

Marco Rubio's Awkward Joe Biden GOP Debate Joke Falls Flat | Bustle

http://www.bustle.com/articles/140160-marco-rubios-awkward-joe-biden-gop-debate-joke-falls-flat

Marco Rubio's Awkward Joe Biden GOP Debate Joke Falls Flat

The eighth GOP debate was a fiery affair that saw two candidates face off
almost immediately. Moderator David Muir asked Florida Sen. Marco Rubio
about his accomplishments, leading into the question with a quote from
fellow candidate Chris Christie questioning Rubio's experience. The New
Jersey governor was making the case that his added experience overseeing a
state made him more qualified than Rubio. Rubio responded by listing his
accomplishments while serving the state of Florida, including passing the
Girls Count Act and protecting his constituents from eminent domain. Oh,
and Marco Rubio made a terrible Joe Biden joke in the process
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/02/06/transcript-of-the-feb-6-gop-debate-annotated/>
.

Joking that the vice president has been around "thousands of years," Rubio
used the jab as a way to explain why experience doesn't always equate to
mastery. "If the presidency becomes electing the people who have been in
Congress the longest, we should rally around Joe Biden," Rubio said dryly.
"He's been around a thousand years and passed hundreds of bills..."
Needless to say, the joke didn't really go over that well, appearing to
make more of a case for Biden's candidacy than that of Rubio.

Biden, looking good for 1,000+ #GOPDebate
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/GOPDebate?src=hash>
— Katie Watson (@kathrynw5) 8:31 PM - 6 Feb 2016
<https://twitter.com/kathrynw5/status/696144200472010752>

Joe Biden: passed 100s of bills

Marco Rubio: ??? of bills#GOPDebate
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/GOPDebate?src=hash>
— Juan Escalante (@JuanSaaa) 8:33 PM - 6 Feb 2016
<https://twitter.com/JuanSaaa/status/696144610251243520>

Rubio just said any GOP candidate would be a better President than Joe
Biden. He couldn't be more wrong. #GOPDebate
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/GOPDebate?src=hash> pic.twitter.com/Q4QPCNqvRu
<https://t.co/Q4QPCNqvRu>
— Florida Democrats (@FlaDems) 8:34 PM - 6 Feb 2016
<https://twitter.com/FlaDems/status/696145054922985472>

Rubio says Joe Biden has been around for 1,000 years.
Our fact-check finds that's *literally* false. #GOPDebate
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/GOPDebate?src=hash> pic.twitter.com/6FRh06r4yF
<https://t.co/6FRh06r4yF>
— AJ+ (@ajplus) 8:34 PM - 6 Feb 2016
<https://twitter.com/ajplus/status/696144861984980994>

Outside of experience, Christie's consistent criticism of Rubio is an
alleged scripted to response to the issues. Christie's political persona is
built on bluntness and his campaign slogan is "telling it like it is," thus
it's unsurprising that the presidential hopeful take aim at a potentially
more polished candidate. The New Jersey governor recently released a
playlist of sorts of Rubio's "scripted" responses
<http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/02/05/chris-christie-releases-scripted-playlist-of-marco-rubio-answer/>.
It's a rather ridiculous move but then again, former candidate Mike
Huckabee did drop a faux Adele track leading up to the Iowa Caucus.

Rubio's way of standing out and going off script was apparently trying to
evoke all the bad qualities of Biden. The move instead appeared to both
baffle and backfire. While there are plenty of ways to play off a lack of
experience being something beneficial in the Republican race, it does
little good to focus on fellow politicians in high positions whose voting
records and work span volumes compared to the likes of newcomers. What
followed was a highly heated exchange between Rubio and Christie
<http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2016/feb/06/republican-debate-new-hampshire-primary-2016-election>.
That battle appears to show no signs of slowing down. Perhaps Rubio
should've called on Biden before the debate. In his thousand or more years
of wisdom, surely he could help the candidate as he fumbles his way through
another debate.


Eric D. Schwerin
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com

Sent from my iPhon