GOP Debate: 3-Way Race to the Bottom

Remaining Republican Party presidential candidates will mouth off face off this evening in Texas at the Houston Fat Stock Show University of Houston at 7:30 PM Central (8:30 PM ET). Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz will get down in the mud with TV reality star, wrestling promoter, and frontrunner Donald J. Trump and grapple for the heavyweight GOP champeen belt. Comic relief will be provided by Governor John Kasich and hibernating retired surgeon Ben Carson. Sit down with some popcorn and watch on CNN, Telemundo, or CNN.com.

Marco Rubio has to score in tonight’s debate to get more voter attention. Conventional wisdom says a big loss in next week’s “Super Tuesday” primaries may be the swan song for Senator Rubio. Fittingly, tonight’s debate will be held in the UH Moore Opera House.

Marco Rubio is Not a Robot. Robots Are Smarter.

In the recent GOP debate in Manchester, New Hampshire, Chris Christie pointed out that Marco Rubio keeps mechanically repeating a few rehearsed phrases over and over. Critics and protesters are calling the Florida Senator “Robot Rubio,” “Marcobot,” Rubio Bot,” and “Robo-Rubio.” That’s unfair.

Marco Rubio is not a robot. Robots are smarter than that.

If you’re a registered Republican, you’re probably old enough to recognize what Mr. Rubio really is. He’s not a robot and not a broken record. He’s Chatty Marco.

In 1960, Mattel Inc. introduced the Chatty Cathy doll. It had a pull-string voicebox; when the string was pulled it “spoke”and played back one of a dozen pre-recorded phrases at random. Cathy was not designed to respond to changing circumstances with new utterances. Robots, however, can do that through AI, and they are constantly learning new responses.

See? Marco Rubio is not a robot.

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Short Link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-nbx

Image (“Chatty Marco”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Senator Rubio: ‘I’m Not an Absentee, I’m an Outsider!’

First-term Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), congressional quitter and presidential candidate, has missed more votes than any other senator in the current Congress. Telling Jeb Bush that other people missed votes years ago doesn’t change that.

Besides, Mr. Rubio says, he isn’t playing hooky, he’s a rebel, an outsider.

“When pressed on CNN’s State of the Union about why he’s missed so many votes, the senator explained a lot of them ‘won’t mean anything’ and will ultimately go nowhere or get vetoed by Obama. But isn’t that a bit hypocritical, since Rubio just declared that federal workers who don’t perform their jobs should be able to be fired? ‘Voting is not the only part of the Senate job. The most important thing a senator does is constituent service,’ Rubio explained, adding that he still attends intelligence briefings. ‘I’m not missing votes because I’m on vacation,’ he said. ‘I’m running for president so that the votes they take in the Senate are actually meaningful again.'”

— “Marco Rubio Is Skipping Senate Votes Because He’s a Washington Outsider,” Margaret Hartmann, New York Magazine

Pataki Joins the Umpteen Other Contenders for the 2016 GOP Nomination

Last week former New York Governor George Pataki announced that he is running to be the 2016 Republican Presidential candidate. He’s got three big problems. Number three is the big crowd of contenders ahead of him. His second-biggest problem: Since he left office in 2006 the Republican Party has run away from his social positions, veering quite far to the Right. His number 1 problem? No one knows who he is anymore.

Marco Rubio Takes to Drink

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) was stuck with the Republican response to President Obama’s State of the Union Address last night. His dry-mouthed dive for a drink was the highlight of his dismal desperation demo:

@AlbertBrooks: I didn’t see Marco Rubio’s speech but I just got a residual check.

“Marco Rubio’s ‘water bottle-gate’ moment,” Lucy Madison, CBS News

“Marco Rubio’s Nervous Sip of Water Is the Only Thing Anyone Will Remember About His State of the Union Response,” Leah Beckmann, Gawker

“Botella de agua de Marco Rubio inunda las redes (Marco Rubio’s bottle of water flooded the networks”), La Opinión

Sen. Marco Rubio’s swig of water during GOP rebuttal goes viral,” Marc Caputo, Miami Herald

“Water under the bridge? Rubio slips and sips; his GOP speech response goes viral,” Ken Thomas, AP via Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Everyone On Twitter Made The Exact Same Joke About Marco Rubio’s Water Break,” Andrew Kaczynski, BuzzFeed

“Marco Rubio’s Gulpgate,” Alex Rogers, TIME blog

“How Marco Rubio is trying to turn his sip slip into a political win,” Sean Sullivan and Aaron Blake, Washington Post

“Marco Rubio’s Water Break: Jokes Not Drying Up Online,” Alyssa Newcomb, ABC News blog

Senator Rubio made light of the episode, but a question remains: Awkward pause or product placement?