Frank Gaffney: Does Rubio Want To Be President or Just The Next John McCain?

In his June 4 column in The Washington Times, Frank J. Gaffney Jr. asked if Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) is serious about running for president in 2016–or if he’d rather just be an accepted fixture in the Washington establishment. 

In other words, Rubio’s vote on the immigration overhaul is going to tell us whether he plans on being president or if he’s happy just being the next Senator John McCain.

Here’s how Gaffney put it:

If Mr. Rubio is content with merely paying lip service to the safety and security of the American people, he will continue to enable the adoption of this 1,077-page monstrosity….If, on the other hand, Mr. Rubio actually does take seriously his responsibility as a federal lawmaker to provide for the common defense, and if he seriously aspires to the presidency, there is simply no way he can enable this bill’s enactment in anything remotely like its present form.

Gaffney fears that Rubio “wants it both ways” at present, but that’s simply not going to work. He backs this up by showing that “bill’s present structure makes a mockery of claims that border security comes first.”

In fact, according to Gaffney, the current Gang of Eight immigration overhaul is “an amnesty-first, border-security whenever formula” that will justify a vote of “no confidence” in Rubio should he support it.

How important is this focus on Rubio? It’s important because of his aspirations to the presidency and because this bill cannot be passed without Rubio’s support, according to Gaffney’s calculations. 

As it now stands, illegal immigrants are flooding over the southern border hoping that Rubio votes their way and amnesty is granted. Among these immigrants are many OTMs–“other than Mexicans”–who are getting in while the getting’s good. These include persons from “Iran and other Islamist-ruled nations,” and persons associated with terror groups like Al Qaeda and Hezbollah. 

What will Senator Rubio do? Will he put the security of our nation first and oppose amnesty by voting no on the Gang of Eight’s immigration bill or will he choose the path McCain took long ago–the path of going along to get along with the Republican establishment and the Washington elite?