🚀 go-pugleaf

Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos was in full Obama 
talking points mode, Wednesday, grilling Marco Rubio on why he 
won't support the President's agenda. Every question the host 
offered echoed the White House's State of the Union agenda. 
Stephanopoulos lectured, "The President last night asked the 
members of Congress to promise not to shut down the government, 
not to do anything that would undermine the full faith and 
credit of the United States. Can you take that pledge?" [See 
video below. MP3 audio here.]

Rubio wouldn't be cornered, however. On the issue of 
sequestration, he shot back: "And as far as these automatic cuts 
are concerned, George, those are [Barack Obama's] ideas. He 
insisted on that. He's the one that asked for that in the deal 
that passed last year." Stephanopoulos spun, "Those were signed 
on by Democrats, Republicans and the President alike." (The 
former Democratic operative turned journalist offered this exact 
talking point to George Will on Tuesday night.) Rubio scoffed, 
"Yeah, well, I didn't vote for it."

At this point, the interview turned into more of an argument. 
Not letting go, Stephanopoulos assured viewers that Obama 
preferred an "alternative." He continued, "He wanted to have a 
broader agreement with Democrats and Republicans to avoid the 
sequester. That [Sequester cuts] was the fail safe."

Rubio mocked, "Well, we all prefer that. The question, of 
course, is if he really prefers a broader alternative, when is 
he going to offer it?"

Earlier in the interview, Stephanopoulos echoed the President's 
remarks about guns, wondering, "But do you agree with the 
President that there should be an up-or-down vote on his 
proposals?"

A bemused Rubio noted that "other issues" also deserve an up-or-
down vote, including, "We should have a real plan to grow our 
economy. We should have a real plan for tax reform."

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And joining us now, the man who gave the 
Republican response to President Obama last night, Senator Marco 
Rubio of Florida. Good morning, senator. Thanks for joining us 
this morning.

MARCO RUBIO: Good morning, George. Thank you.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So, you laid out some very clear differences 
than the President last night on the core economics. I want to 
try and tease out at where there might be common ground. Let's 
go to the issue of guns, to begin with. You said that we can't 
have any proposals that undermine Second Amendment rights. But 
do you agree with the President that there should be an up-or-
down vote on his proposals?

RUBIO: Well, I mean, you can say that on any issue in 
Washington. Certainly, if that's the way it� it has to work 
through the legislative process. There's other issues that 
should have an up-and-down vote, as well. We should have a 
budget. We should have a real plan to save Medicare. We should 
have a real plan to grow our economy. We should have a real plan 
for tax reform. All these deserve an up-and-down vote, as well. 
Now, as we said last night, we were heartbroken and we were 
sympathetic on what happened in Connecticut. And we need to 
prevent that from happening again. Unfortunately, all of the 
things the President is proposing, none of them would have 
prevented what happened in Connecticut. We need to look at the 
real root causes of violence in America.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And on the issue of immigration, the President 
said he wanted a responsible pathway to earn citizenship. You 
signed on to bipartisan principles for citizenship. But you 
didn't repeat it last night. Do you still share that goal?

RUBIO: Well, the speech wasn't just going to be about 
immigration. I'm part of that work group. And that's-- We laid 
out our principles and I remain committed to those principles. 
Ultimately, it's not good for America, to have 11 million people 
who never have a chance to be invested in the American dream. 
So, there has to be a process to get there. They have to have a 
work permit first. They are going to have to earn the right to 
ultimately earn that green card. And obviously, once you have a 
green card, you're five years away from becoming a citizen.

STEPHANOPOULOS: The big clash with the President last night on 
those core economic issues. And you know, those across-the-board 
budget cuts are coming fast, on March 1, a potential government 
shutdown at the end of March. The President last night asked 
members of Congress to promise not to shut down the government, 
not to do anything that would undermine the full faith and 
credit of the United States. Can you take that pledge?

RUBIO: No one here is talking about shutting down the 
government. And as far as the automatic cuts are concerned, 
George, those are his ideas. He insisted on that. He's the one 
that asked for that in the deal that passed last year.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Those were signed on by Democrats, Republicans 
and the President alike.

RUBIO: Yeah. Well, I didn't vote for it. Because� One of the 
reasons I didn't vote for it is because it was such a terrible 
idea. But I think it's wrong for him to insist on that. He 
actually came up with it. It originated in the White House, the 
idea of these automatic cuts, specifically hits defense and the 
military. And now, he's saying we have to get rid of them. We 
may. Don't go on acting like he had nothing to do with it. It 
was your idea.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, the President preferred an alternative, as 
you know. He wanted to have a broader agreement with Democrats 
and Republicans to avoid the sequester. That was the fail safe.

RUBIO: Well, we all prefer that. The question, of course, is if 
he really prefers a broader alternative, when is he going to 
offer it? President Obama has been president for four years and 
a month. The budgets he has offered are so ridiculous, George, 
that not even Democrats in the senate would vote for them.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Finally, I have got to ask you about the water 
bottle last night. Twitter went a little bit wild. You tweeted 
about the water bottle yourself. You got it there again. You 
know, you showed an ability to laugh at yourself. Do you have 
anything to add to that tweet from last night?

RUBIO: No. I needed water. What am I going to do? It happens. 
God has a funny way of reminding us we're human.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You have a big smile on your face. Thank you for 
joining us.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/scott-whitlock/2013/02/13/marco-
rubio-schools-obama-shill-george-stephanopoulos-reminds-host-s

--
Are you obligated as an armed civilian, to defend unarmed 
liberals while you are both under fire by foreign agents of the 
outlaw Obama administration?

No.  Shoot the liberals immediately so they can't stab you in 
the back while you are defending yourself, then return a 
controlled rate of aimed fire.  ��

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