NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, expected to announce his campaign for president next week, said it is time for the United States to attack radical Islam.
“Saddle up,” he told some 4,000 members of the NRA at the group’s 144th annual meeting here.
While other potential Republican presidential candidates including Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush focused on their support for the NRA and efforts to protect gun rights, Rubio turned his sights on President Obama and accused him of being too timid to take on radical Islam, overseas and at home.
In a forceful address that won standing ovations, Rubio mocked Obama for even refusing to condemn radical Islam after the terrorist killings in Paris this year.
“He still refused to mention radical Islam. Instead, he took the first chance he got to tell Christians not to get on their high horse in condemning it,” said son of Cuban immigrants.
“Let me be clear about something. When we talk about radical Islam, we are talking about an ideology that millions of peace-loving Muslims join us in condemning. We are talking about an ideology that causes children to be buried alive, and women to be enslaved, and young girls to be ritually abused, and innocent people to be executed at their desks for having the audacity to exercise the human right of free speech.
“And so Mr. President if condemning that puts us on a high horse, I say that we saddle up,” he said to cheers from the NRA crowd.
Later, Sen. Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican also considering a presidential race, also said the U.S. should “fight” radical Islam. “We’re at war with radical Islam,” he said.
Turning to domestic threats, Rubio also hit the administration’s gun control efforts, claiming that taking guns away from Americans makes them targets of terrorists.
“More gun-free zones we establish, the more tempting targets we create,” he said, adding that gun crimes should not result in gun control.
“The sins of the evil do not justify restricting the rights of the good,” he said. “Stricter gun laws will never deter terrorists.”
During his speech before the NRA, Bush described himself and his actions in Florida as governor as the most pro-NRA, even more than Perry. For example, the lifelong NRA member said that Florida has the more citizens with licenses to carry concealed weapons than any other state including Texas. “Sorry Governor Perry,” he kidded.
Perry was introduced with a movie showing him shooting. He told the group that “the best defense against crime is armed citizenship.”
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
