Governor Chris Christie posted an online attack-ad built on former Senator Rick Santorum’s inability to name a single accomplishment of Sen. Marco Rubio in the U.S. Senate.
After scoring 1 percent in Iowa, and dropping out of the race, Santorum endorsed Marco Rubio. He went on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” show on Thursday morning to tout Rubio’s candidacy. But it was an appearance that both he and Rubio likely regret because a clearly uncomfortable Santorum fumbled badly.
Asked to name Rubio’s top accomplishment in the Senate Santorum said, “There’s a guy who’s been able to number one win a tough election in Florida.” Santorum went on to say Rubio can bring people together and “wasn’t a divider.”
Santorum ran in 2016 as a champion of blue-collar Americans, and as an opponent of mass-immigration that adds so many workers to the U.S. blue-collar and white-collar labor market. In contrast, Rubio used his time in the Senate to champion an immigration bill that would have added 33 million foreign nationals to the labor market over the next 10 years.
Asked a second time about any accomplishments, Santorum said, “My feeling on Marco is someone who has tremendous potential, tremendous gifts.”
Santorum did say Rubio won elections, and did cite spending curbs on Obamacare that Rubio supported, but could add nothing more.
Perhaps the most damning statement in the interview, now featured in the Christie ad, came when Santorum told Scarborough, “The bottom line is, there isn’t a whole lot of accomplishment.”
Santorum quite plausibly explained that the four years of Rubio’s Senate tenure were a time of gridlock and “there were no [legislative] accomplishments for anyone.”
By then the damage was done and the Christie team was likely already cranking out a comical ad that showcases a line of attack in coming days.
Marc Caputo of Politico Tweeted out this afternoon, “Santo’s appearance on Morning Joe, Rubio World admits “he took a sh*t” & he didn’t say he was going on. They woulda said no if they knew.”
Follow Austin Ruse on Twitter @austinruse
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