Florida Sen. Marco Rubio redeemed himself during the Saturday GOP presidential debate. All eyes had been on Rubio following his disastrous debate performance ahead of the New Hampshire primary, which made him appear like a robot who could only repeat talking points.
Rubio was able to speak specifically and intelligently on a range of issues from foreign to domestic policy. His opening answer about the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and the need to nominate a new justice who is a strict constitutionalist, reminded everyone why he was once seen as the eventual nominee even when he wasn’t leading in the polls.
“Someone on this stage will get to choose the balance of the Supreme Court, and it will begin by filling this vacancy that’s there now,” Rubio said. “And we need to put people on the bench that understand that the Constitution is not a living and breathing document. It is to be interpreted as originally meant.”
Rubio was not asked as many questions as some of the other candidates, which had been the norm in previous debates, but when he did respond, he showed he had actual knowledge of the subject matter, like on foreign policy and the threats America is facing.
“I think there are three major threats that you want to immediately get on top of. No. 1 is, what are we doing in the Asia-Pacific region, where both North Korea and China pose threats to the national security of the United States,” Rubio said. “No. 2 is, what are we doing in the Middle East with the combination of the Sunni-Shia conflict driven by the Shia arc that Iran is now trying to establish in the Middle East, also the growing threat of ISIS.”
He added: “And the third is rebuilding and reinvigorating NATO in the European theater, particularly in Central Europe and in Eastern Europe, where Vladimir Putin is now threatening the territory of multiple countries, already controls 20 percent of Georgia and a significant percentage of Ukraine.”
He also inserted himself into issues he wasn’t asked about, and got one of the biggest applauses of the night when he defended former President George W. Bush from Donald Trump’s allegation that he was responsible for the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
“I just want to say, at least on behalf of me and my family, I thank God all the time it was George W. Bush in the White House on 9/11 and not Al Gore,” Rubio said.
Most importantly, Rubio never uttered the phrase “Barack Obama knows what he’s doing,” which was the beginning to the repetitive talking point that got him in so much trouble during the last debate.
The narrative coming out of this debate will be about Rubio redeeming himself. Whether that will help him enough in the polls and primaries won’t be known for another week or so.
Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
