Marco Rubio said it again Sunday.
Hours after repeatedly saying during Saturday evening’s Republican debate that President Obama “knows exactly what he’s doing,” Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio was back it Sunday, suggesting that the Democratic commander in chief is living up to his promise of “change” for the U.S., but not for the better.
Appearing on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday morning, the Florida senator was told by host George Stephanopoulos that the Democrats are circulating a video of Rubio’s seemingly rehearsed statement and was asked, “What went wrong?”
“Well, actually, I would pay them to keep running that clip because that’s what I believe passionately. It’s one of the reasons why I’m not running for re-election to the Senate and I’m running for president,” Rubio said. “This notion and this idea that somehow, oh, this is an accident — Obamacare was not an accident. Dodd-Frank was not an accident. The deal with Iran was not an accident —”
Stephanopoulos pressed Rubio, positing that he’s getting “pounded for repeating that speech.”
Rubio denied he miscalculated. He claimed his campaign actually benefited from his debate performance
“We raised more money last night in the first hour that debate than any other debate. As far as that message, I hope they keep running it and I’m going to keep saying because it’s true,” Rubio said.
Rubio added that Obama, who ran for the White House on the platform of “hope and change,” is living up to at least one of his campaign promises.
“But when it comes to the — what he’s trying to do to America, it’s part of a plan,” Rubio continued. “He has said he wanted to change the country; he’s doing it in a way that is robbing us of everything that makes us special.”
Stephanopoulos tried one last time: “But even after [New Jersey Gov.] Chris Christie called you out for what he called canned speeches, 25-second canned speeches, you repeated again, he says, ‘There you go again,'” said Stephanopoulos. “That was not a good moment for you, was it?”
“It’s what I believe. And it’s what I’m going to continue to say because it happens to be one of the main reasons why I am running,” said Rubio. “I — this is the greatest country in the history of mankind because of a certain set of principles.”
“The reason why I’m running is if we elect someone like that for the next four years, I think it may be too late for America to turn around,” said Rubio.
