Talk radio host Rush Limbaugh praised Senator and presidential candidate Marco Rubio (R-FL) for his “serious” and “powerful” message and said Rubio is ” inspirational in a Reaganesque way” on Tuesday.
“Marco Rubio is the latest to enter the Republican presidential sweepstakes. Serious man, powerful message. I wonder if with his speech last night he was able to bring back any of the Tea Party voters that had abandoned him — Only time will tell. … One thing we know is that Marco Rubio is a serious man, he has a serious message, and he has a very unmistakable joy in spreading that message, in informing people. He knows how to deliver it. He knows how to deliver it live. He doesn’t have to announce on Twitter. He doesn’t have to announce with a series of posts on social media. He can do it live in front of real people with a real camera. And he’s an emotional speaker. In fact, at some point last night — a couple of points it looked to me like he almost might tear up” Rush stated.
He continued, “now, I know Rubio has lost a lot of luster with some people on the Tea Party side because of his flirtation with the Chuck-U Schumer gang on amnesty and immigration. And, you can maybe chalk it up to two things. Chalk it up to novice naivete, trying to get his feet wet and establish himself within the power circles of the Senate. Or another explanation for it could have been that, given his Hispanic heritage, he almost had to, in the sense of identity politics, if he had any chance at all of securing any votes from that sector, he had to come out in favor of it. But whatever, he’s walked it back now, and we’ll just see how this is all gonna play out with Tea Party people.”
Rush added, “it looks like, as you’re gonna hear in the sound bites coming up, to the extent that we can believe it, it looks like the Clinton campaign seems to be more fearful of Rubio than anybody. Now, they are admitting that, so it is doubtful. You have judge their actions, not their admissions.”
He concluded, “the one thing about Rubio, whether you disagree with him on what he did with amnesty and then walked it back or not, he does not have a likability problem. He is instantly likable. He’s motivational. He’s inspirational in a Reaganesque way because he has that family story, and he relishes telling that story. He thinks it’s inspirational. It was to him, and he wants it to be for everybody. He is a great communicator, significant communicator, has a conservative message. Just over here he has that misstep on immigration with the Tea Party. Time will tell if that can be overcome. Now, we will see also if his policies match his rhetoric. His rhetoric is great.”
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