Anti-Gay Sen. Marco Rubio Announces for President

MIAMI - U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio announced his candidacy for president on Monday in Miami promising to usher in a "new American century.”



In April, Advocate Magazine suggested that the Florida Republican, 43, might be the most anti-gay presidential candidate yet.



Whether the issue is marriage equality, immigration, adoption, or ex-gay "therapy," Marco Rubio has made his position on LGBT people clear: He doesn't like them.



Politico Reports:



Rubio’s soaring rhetoric and the venue he chose – the iconic Freedom Tower, known as the “Ellis Island of the South” – underscore the intensely personal nature of his campaign, an effort that’s as much about biography as it is about ideas and inspiration.



Rubio’s mother was a maid. His father was a bartender. And, he hopes to persuade voters, he’s therefore an embodiment of the American dream.



“My father stood behind a small portable bar in the back of a room for all those years, so that tonight I could stand behind this podium in the front of this room,” he said in a speech that hop-scotched from the crushing debt of college loans, to the burdens of taxation, and the mandates of Obamacare.



He earned applause for speaking of the need to protect “all life” and, going off script, to fight the totalitarian governments in Venezuela and Cuba.



Starting slowly, Rubio lit up the crowd when he called for a “new American century.” Building to a crescendo, he officially announced his candidacy, and the crowd in the Mediterranean-style building chanted his name, which echoed off the arched ceilings buttressed by gilded Corinthian columns.



Rubio is viewed as an energized, telegenic presence in the crowded Republican presidential field that has already seen formal declarations from Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul. He’s positioning himself in the overall race as a break from the political dynasties of former Florida governor Jeb Bush and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Clinton formally announced her run on Sunday.



“Just yesterday, a leader from yesterday began a campaign for President by promising to take us back to yesterday,” Rubio said, without mentioning Clinton by name. “But yesterday is over, and we are never going back.”



His announcement on Monday also marks a political comeback for the first-term senator after his unsuccessful effort in 2013 to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill damaged his standing with conservatives.



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