On Tuesday, Florida Senator Marco Rubio took to Twitter to sarcastically endorse a Washington Post hit piece against him entitled “Rubio faces backlash from students, gun control advocates after shooting.” The Republican lawmaker came up with a more fitting title as he mocked the paper: “Truly insightful must read by @WashingtonPost:’Rubio faces backlash from liberal groups that have long opposed him.’”
“Now, Marco Rubio has become the face of congressional inaction on tougher gun restrictions, especially to the students who survived the deadly Valentine’s Day shooting at a Florida high school,” Post reporter Sean Sullivan sanctimoniously proclaimed at the top of the article. He fretted that since the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, “Rubio has largely adhered to orthodox GOP positions on guns, resisting several efforts to tighten laws.”
The piece continued by touting a “liberal advocacy group” attacking the Senator:
The state’s highest-profile Republican lawmaker has faced an intense backlash from Americans demanding new regulations on firearms.
“Shame on you Marco Rubio & NRA,” read a banner that was flown over the South Florida coastline.
The liberal advocacy group Avaaz parked three trucks with large red and black signs near a local Rubio office in a nod to the Oscar-nominated movie “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”
“Slaughtered in school. And still no gun control. How come, Marco Rubio?” the mobile boards asked.
“I think he’s the symptom of a problem, and he represents an opportunity,” Avaaz Deputy Director Emma Ruby Sachs said.
While Sullivan acknowledged Rubio’s support for a number of legislative proposals to address mass shootings, the journalist derided those positions as “cautious” and “confusing,” lecturing:
He has not explicitly embraced the more-assertive actions that gun-control advocates have demanded and has underscored his commitment to gun rights. At times, he has sounded somewhat open to new limits — a tactic reminiscent of his presidential campaign, when he often appeared to advocate two positions at once, leaving his stance open to interpretation.
Citing an anonymous “Rubio associate” who labeled the Senator’s approach to the issue as “all over the place,” Sullivan claimed: “This strategy is similar to how Rubio has navigated other contentious debates in his career — and it’s one that even some of his allies find troubling.”
One of those alleged “allies” was liberal CNN pundit Ana Navarro, who Sullivan laughably labeled a “Republican strategist.” Navarro was quoted ranting against Rubio: “He’s got thin skin. It shows in the Trumpesque Twitter rants he’s gone on against the media in recent days.”
The reporter lamented: “Throughout his career, Rubio has shown flashes of a willingness to buck his party’s conservative base. Often, however, he pulls back, rejoining the bulk of the GOP.”
How dare a Republican not abandon his principles to appease Democrats and the liberal media, what was he thinking?
