Rubio Hits Trump On Inexperience And Un-presidential Behavior

In the Wall Street Journal, Erica Orden, writes that Sen. Marco Rubio has generally avoided attacking his GOP primary opponents, and on Wednesday Rubio said  his recent debate flub  was due to his reluctance to take down a fellow Republican. That has changed in the South Carolina street fight. Rubio went after Donald Trump Thursday morning attacking the Donald’s lack of foreign policy experience and his un-presidential behavior:

“Donald Trump has zero foreign policy experience,” Mr. Rubio, the Florida senator, told a crowd gathered at a retirement community. “Negotiating a hotel deal in another country is not foreign policy experience.” …

Referring to a recent incident in which Mr. Trump repeated an audience member’s shout-out that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was “a pussy,” Mr. Rubio told his South Carolina listeners that they should reject what he characterized as offensive behavior and language, both in their homes and from their politicians.

“Even in our political culture, I teach my kids to be respectful,” said Mr. Rubio, who has four young children.

Rubio is trying to regain momentum after former presidential candidate Gov. Chris Christie successfully ambushed Rubio in the ABC Hew Hampshire GOP Debate which the biased media wing of the Democrats’ Party continues to portray as “disastrous” and a fifth-place finish in New Hampshire primary. Rubio is focusing on his experience on the Senate’s Intelligence and Foreign Relations committees ahead of South Carolina’s Feb. 20 primary in the state, where a strong national security posture is highly valued:

“National security is the single greatest obligation of the commander in chief,” Rubio said. “There is no one left in the Republican field who has better experience . . . than I have.”

Rubio also took shots at Jeb Bush and Sen. Ted Cruz:

“Jeb Bush has no foreign policy experience, period, and I’m an incredible admirer of him and his family,” Rubio said, adding he was thankful George W. Bush had become president but that it didn’t change the fact that the Florida governor doesn’t have credibility on the international stage.

“Ted Cruz has a little bit of foreign policy experience, and it’s different than mine,” Rubio said pointing to Cruz’s vote to cut defense spending and his views on Edward Snowden, who Rubio said has harmed national security. Rubio accused Cruz of supporting the former NSA contractor who leaked a trove of national security secrets.

Rubio’s best line against the Donald today may have been when he said, You turn on the TV and you have a leading presidential candidate saying profanity from the stage. But that’s still not as good as Rubio’s July 22, 2015 comment, “We already have a president that has no class.” You can watch Rubio say that in the following video at about the 0:50 mark.

Partial transcript of the video:

RUBIO: I don’t think the way he has behaved over the past few weeks is either dignified or worthy of the office he seeks. We already have a president now that has no class. We have a president now, that, you know, does selfie stick videos, that invites YouTube stars there, you know, people who eat cereal out of a bathtub.

It is important for us to have a presidency that restores dignity and class to the White House. And I don’t believe some of the language that Trump is employing is worthy of the office. I just do not.

Rubio is right about Trump’s vulgarity. I know the Donald says a president Trump would be different than candidate Trump, but I was taught you play like you practice.

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