Senator Marco Rubio delivered a response to what some thought was to be the State of the Union address, but instead responded to a speech nobody heard. And he laid down some whoppers in the process. Let us go through it together:

The State of the Union address is always a reminder of how unique America is. For much of human history, most people were trapped in stagnant societies, where a tiny minority always stayed on top, and no one else even had a chance.

Problem here is that the policies endorsed by the GOP would impose this very state on to the United States, through economic slavery.

But America is exceptional because we believe that every life, at every stage, is precious, and that everyone everywhere has a God-given right to go as far as their talents and hard work will take them.

This is a dog whistle regarding abortion.

It comes from a vibrant free economy where people can risk their own money to open a business. And when they succeed, they hire more people, who in turn invest or spend the money they make, helping others start a business and create jobs.

Businesses do not hire due to tax incentives, they hire due to customer demand. Basic economics.

That the economic downturn happened because our government didn’t tax enough, spend enough and control enough. And, therefore, as you heard tonight, his solution to virtually every problem we face is for Washington to tax more, borrow more and spend more. This idea – that our problems were caused by a government that was too small – it’s just not true. In fact, a major cause of our recent downturn was a housing crisis created by reckless government policies.

This is not only false, but this is not what was discussed in the State of the Union Speech.

And the idea that more taxes and more government spending is the best way to help hardworking middle class taxpayers – that’s an old idea that’s failed every time it’s been tried.

Like the recovery from the Great Depression, leading to the largest continual growth period in the history of the United States…..

For example, Obamacare was supposed to help middle class Americans afford health insurance. But now, some people are losing the health insurance they were happy with. And because Obamacare created expensive requirements for companies with more than 50 employees, now many of these businesses aren’t hiring. Not only that; they’re being forced to lay people off and switch from full-time employees to part-time workers.

Unfortunately for Rubio, costs have gone down, not up.

There are valid reasons to be concerned about the President’s plan to grow our government. But any time anyone opposes the President’s agenda, he and his allies usually respond by falsely attacking their motives.

Unfortunately for Rubio, Obama has overseen the smallest federal government since the Eisenhower administration.

When we point out that no matter how many job-killing laws we pass, our government can’t control the weather – he accuses us of wanting dirty water and dirty air.

Sometimes you must call a cigar a cigar. Attempts to undermine the ability to prevent pollution is a direct attempt to create more dirty water and dirty air. You can’t paint it any other way.

When we suggest we strengthen our safety net programs by giving states more flexibility to manage them – he accuses us of wanting to leave the elderly and disabled to fend for themselves.

Yes, actually, you are Senator. Flexibility means risk, which means that you are in effect leaving those who are at the weakest point in their life to survive based on their diminished ability. You may as well stick grandma on an ice flow with a club and say she’s on her own.

And tonight, he even criticized us for refusing to raise taxes to delay military cuts – cuts that were his idea in the first place.

Actually he criticized you for wanting to delay military cuts without any revenue to off-set it. Very different. The fight against the cuts is on the GOP’s, not Obama’s, head.





But his favorite attack of all is that those who don’t agree with him – they only care about rich people.

Name a single policy which helps those who make $250k a year or less a year which was endorsed by the Republican Party in the past 10 years.

Mr. President, I still live in the same working class neighborhood I grew up in. My neighbors aren’t millionaires. They’re retirees who depend on Social Security and Medicare. They’re workers who have to get up early tomorrow morning and go to work to pay the bills. They’re immigrants, who came here because they were stuck in poverty in countries where the government dominated the economy.

Senator Rubio lives in the enclave of West Miami, Florida, 1.8 square kilometers carved out of Miami when the city enacted anti-gambling laws. His neighbors, all 5,862 of them, tend to be immigrants, young families, not retirees.

And it will hurt seniors because it does nothing to save Medicare and Social Security.

Neither needs saving.

Economic growth is the best way to help the middle class. Unfortunately, our economy actually shrank during the last three months of 2012.

Rubio fails to mention that this was caused by Republican Policies.

Tax increases can’t do this. Raising taxes won’t create private sector jobs. And there’s no realistic tax increase that could lower our deficits by almost $4 trillion. That’s why I hope the President will abandon his obsession with raising taxes and instead work with us to achieve real growth in our economy.

Higher taxes encourage investment rather than cashing out. This would grow businesses, encouraging growth, hiring, and expansion.

One of the best ways to encourage growth is through our energy industry. Of course solar and wind energy should be a part of our energy portfolio. But God also blessed America with abundant coal, oil and natural gas. Instead of wasting more taxpayer money on so-called “clean energy” companies like Solyndra, let’s open up more federal lands for safe and responsible exploration. And let’s reform our energy regulations so that they’re reasonable and based on common sense. If we can grow our energy industry, it will make us energy independent, it will create middle class jobs and it will help bring manufacturing back from places like China.

The Solyndra code-word, another dog-whistle for their base. Of course the fact that it was driven out of business due to the dumping of cheap solar technology from China does not make for a good light for the GOP, which dismantled the trade protections to prevent this during the Bush administration.

And we agree with the President that we should lower our corporate tax rate, which is one of the highest in the world, so that companies will start bringing their money and their jobs back here from overseas.

A high rate is pointless if companies don’t pay it, as thanks to numerous loopholes most companies pay some of the lowest taxes in the world, right here in the United States.

We need to incentivize local school districts to offer more advanced placement courses and more vocational and career training. We need to give all parents, especially the parents of children with special needs, the opportunity to send their children to the school of their choice.

This is a dog whistle, the old Lee Atwater trick, nothing but disguised racism. A politician can not say the N-word today, so they switch it up. In the 1970’s it was “school bussing” but today the code words are “school of their choice.”

Every dollar our government borrows is money that isn’t being invested to create jobs. And the uncertainty created by the debt is one reason why many businesses aren’t hiring.

This is quite untrue, because a dollar spent by the government is as stimulative as a dollar spent by a normal consumer. Government spending is one of the few guaranteed methods to stimulate the economy, to create jobs. Unless, of course, Senator Rubio believes that magical pixie dust, or Invisible Obama sitting in a chair, builds all of those planes, tanks, and ships the US Military loves so dearly.

The President loves to blame the debt on President Bush. But President Obama created more debt in four years than his predecessor did in eight.

Bush’s first budget began with a federal debt of $5.7 trillion. His last budget Ended with a federal debt of $12.9 trillion. Obama is now sitting on a debt of $16.1 trillion. Senator Rubio’s math fails him.

The real cause of our debt is that our government has been spending 1 trillion dollars more than it takes in every year. That’s why we need a balanced budget amendment.

The current US budget deficit is not $1 trillion as claimed but is only $884 billion.

Republicans have offered a detailed and credible plan that helps save Medicare without hurting today’s retirees. Instead of playing politics with Medicare, when is the President going to offer his plan to save it? Tonight would have been a good time for him to do it.

He fails to mention that this plan works by shafting future beneficiaries, by in effect ending Medicare.

Of course, we face other challenges as well. We were all heart broken by the recent tragedy in Connecticut. We must effectively deal with the rise of violence in our country. But unconstitutionally undermining the 2nd Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans is not the way to do it.

As Obama has endorsed policies previously pushed by Ronald Reagan, is Senator Rubio saying that Ronald Reagan undermined the United States Constitution? By now, Senator Rubio must have been sweating under the pressure of having to invent so much material in such short notice.

The choice isn’t just between big government or big business. What we need is an accountable, efficient and effective government that allows small and new businesses to create middle class jobs.

At this point Marco Rubio has either declared himself a Democrat, or has no idea what these words mean, because the policies of the GOP do not do any of this.

We don’t have to raise taxes to avoid the President’s devastating cuts to our military. Republicans have passed a plan that replaces these cuts with responsible spending reforms.

By gutting Medicare, slashing Social Security, and hurting the poor.

In order to balance our budget, the choice doesn’t have to be either higher taxes or dramatic benefit cuts for those in need. Instead we should grow our economy so that we create new taxpayers, not new taxes, and so our government can afford to help those who truly cannot help themselves.

Then why has the Republican Party fought so hard for years to prevent economic growth?

Despite our differences, I know that both Republicans and Democrats love America. I pray we can come together to solve our problems, because the choices before us could not be more important.

Prayer will not bring together anyone. Solutions, real ones, not ones drafted by a Russian immigrant with sociopathic tendencies, that will bring people together.

And if we do not, we will forever be known as the generation responsible for America’s decline.

Senator Rubio neglects to mention that it is the Republican party which is responsible for America’s decline.

But we Americans have always known better. From our earliest days, we embraced economic liberty instead. And because we did, America remains one of the few places on earth where dreams like these even have a chance.

Another dog whistle. The GOP cares nothing about economic liberty, and would not grasp what it was anyways.

Rubio’s antics tonight were no different from Clint Eastwood at the Republican Convention. The rebuttals he gave were against a speech the president never made, one imagined by Senator Rubio where the president called for policies he’s never endorsed. While the president spoke of smaller government, Rubio attacked him for calls to increase the size of government. When the president called for common sense, Rubio heard insanity. Rubio responded to the speech he imagined, not one given, and as such, he was arguing with an empty chair.

So pull up a drink:



And watch Rubio’s retort to the empty chair for yourself here:

For those of you who speak Spanish:



Nathaniel Downes is the son of a former state representative of New Hampshire, now living in Seattle Washington.

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