Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., failed to take the last page of his speech to the podium today, but he handled the moment with aplomb, using the gaffe to emphasize his point.
“I left my last page of the speech, does anyone have my last page? Did I Ieave it with you?” he asked someone in the front row. (He did.) Unembarrased, Rubio explained “This is why I needed this page” before quoting former British Prime Minister Tony Blair speaking to a joint session of Congress. Rubio quoted Blair saying:
And in some small corner of this vast country, out in Nevada or Idaho or these places I’ve never been to but always wanted to go, I know out there, there’s a guy getting on with his life, perfectly happily, minding his own business, saying to you, the political leaders of this country, “Why me, and why us, and why America?” And the only answer is because destiny put you in this place in history in this moment in time, and the task is yours to do.
When the moderator noted, after the speech, that Rubio would not have much time for questions, the senator joked again, “Maybe I should have left the last page off then.”
