The Anatomy of a Lie, Marco Rubio Edition

That's my view on the subject, but don't quote me.

An interesting exchange the other night had Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz in a "Did not! Did so!" moment. Cruz wanted to bust Rubio for supporting a path to citizenship, or "amnesty," as he put it. Rubio equivocated until you couldn't tell what he supported. Of course, we all know he advocated for a path to citizenship in a bill he co-sponsored with the so-called Gang of Eight (when they're bipartisan they're called gangs).

Cruz, for his part, had advocated for making undocumented workers wait a long time before being granted green cards, which, um, is a path to citizenship, right? So, Ted, which is it? Ted then made a big deal yesterday of saying he never supported amnesty and never will, whatever that means. I tried seeing what the factcheckers of America think, and they don't know what to think because Cruz is sorta dodgy.

But back to Rubio. First, there's this WaPo article about how it's hard to tell what Rubio believes because he's generally Etch-A-Sketching his ass off.

Then there's this NYTimes article on how conservative sorta kinda remember Rubio's original position and are mad at him:

WASHINGTON — Senator Marco Rubio made a big bet on an immigration overhaul that failed — and he has been running away from it since. Now his past is catching up with him, stoking old grievances from conservative rivals who are reopening one of the most vulnerable episodes in his past.

The anger toward Mr. Rubio on the right has only grown in recent days as he has taken to aggressively questioning Senator Ted Cruz’s toughness on illegal immigration, a line of attack that some Republicans say they find disingenuous.

On talk radio, on the campaign trail and on television in states like Iowa, Mr. Rubio is suddenly facing a torrent of criticism from his own party unlike anything he has faced so far in the presidential race.

Oh no, how's he going to get out of this one!? Ted Cruz, who, let's not forget, has his own problems, has launched a counterattack. Even though Rubio's original bill was aimed at helping Hispanics to remain in the U.S., what Cruz is really concerned about is all the ISIS terrorists hanging out in Juarez waiting to destroy our way of life!

Of course, with talk like that, Cruz doesn't leave much freedom in our wonderfullest country of all time. San Bernardino changed everything, at least on the GOP campaign trail.

(We'll get over San Bernardino someday, just like we stopped being afraid of anthrax. Remember that?)

The people over at très conservative Townhall.com are exercised about Rubio's lies equivocations:

However, when the Gang-of-Eight bill rolled around, the Republicans involved were Jeff Flake, Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio AND John McCain. Furthermore, you cannot forget that many of Rubio’s establishment backers are behind him specifically because they are expecting him to break his word again and back an immigration plan similar to the Gang-of-Eight bill.

That’s all worth keeping in mind because Marco Rubio wants to be President and he’s promising to get tough on illegal immigration. If he’s telling the truth, he might be a decent candidate. If Rubio’s lying, it doesn’t really make much of a difference over the long haul whether you elect him or Hillary because his immigration policies would permanently cement liberals in power without securing the border or doing anything of significance to stop illegal immigration.

Put another way, if Marco Rubio becomes the President of the United States, the future of our republic depends on Rubio telling the truth this time after he already lied about the same thing to people who walked over broken glass to get him elected.

So now, are you ready to walk over broken glass to get Marco Rubio elected? Choose wisely because if Rubio becomes President and he’s lying about immigration again, it will be the end of the road for conservatism in America.

Ouch! Marco, what have you done? I think it's called suffering a serious smackdown on the road to the GOP nomination. After all, you just might signal the end of conservatism. That's not good for the GOP!

Here's Rubio getting YouTubed:

Marco Rubio got elected by pandering to the tea party, then once in the Senate he starts joining gangs. Now he wants to be the Republican candidate for president when his party has turned so far to the right he might just have to change his name to Mark Rube and insist he's not Cuban and he's not in favor of a path to being Cuban. Once he gets the nomination (fat chance now), he changes his name back to Marco Rubio and hopes he gets some love from the Latinos, who are so alienated by his shenanigans that they're as likely to vote for him as the conservatives, who are pretty alienated by his shenanigans, too.

Poor Marco. But that's what happens when your pander machine is running on all eight cylinders.

Some people busted Rubio back in real time. Here's Laura Ingram on Fox:

And here's Glenn Beck on the radio:

Wow, don't sugarcoat it, Glenn.

I can just see what the DNC is planning for Marco Rubio, should he get anywhere near the nomination. Still, there's hope for Rubio in the primaries. Donald Trump is proving that the GOP base is capable of believing just about anything. Just say it the right way, Rubio. Oh, right. That's what you've been doing that's gotten you in this mess.

Well, good luck then.