Marco Rubio had a rough night at Saturday’s GOP debate and Twitter showed no mercy.
At first things looked good for the junior senator from Florida, who was hot off of a better-than-expected performance in Monday’s Iowa caucuses. Early in the debate he managed to get in one of his key talking points about the Obama administration during a question about his record. “Let’s dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn’t know what he’s doing. He knows exactly what he’s doing,” Rubio charged. “Barack Obama is undertaking a systematic effort to change this country, to make America more like the rest of the world.”
Canned as it was, the line played well with the conservative crowd in the room and Rubio seemed confident with his performance. But things went downhill when Rubio got into a heated exchange with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Rubio once again tried to pivot to the same line about President Obama. “But I would add this. Let’s dispel with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn’t know what he’s doing. He knows exactly what he’s doing. He is trying to change this country.”
Christie jumped on the opportunity. “This is what Washington, D.C., does,” Christie said “The drive-by shot at the beginning with incorrect and incomplete information, and then the memorized 25-second speech that is exactly what his advisers gave him. See, Marco, the thing is this: When you’re president of the United States, when you are a governor of a state, the memorized 30-second speech where you talk about how great America is doesn’t solve one problem for one person.”
Rubio made some effort to parry before returning to the exact same line for a third time, prompting Governor Christie to call him out yet again.
But it wasn’t just Chris Christie who chided the Senator for his repetitiveness. Twitter was its usual ruthless self as Rubio continued to try and deploy the line for an unbelievable fourth time.
Democrats also got in on some of the fun. Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, who was having her own rough day on twitter, used the opportunity to take a shot at Rubio tweeting that he was “#notreadyforprimetime.” Correct the Record, a Super PAC supporting Hillary Clinton, made their own supercut of Marco Rubio on repeat. By the end of the night, Marco Rubio Glitch even had its own twitter account.
As the night went on, Rubio seemed to show visible signs of nervousness. Needless to say, Twitter noticed that as well.
Next time, the senator might want to bring some water and keep it close by.
