IS THIS THE GUY WE WANT MANAGING TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN SPENDING?
One of the most underreported stories related to the recent rise of U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida involves his disastrous personal financial history. GOP frontrunner Donald Trump has popped him on it, saying Rubio has a “very bad record” when it comes to managing money – and the narrative is expected to play an even bigger role in the 2016 campaign as Rubio enjoys a bump in the polls.
Can Rubio continue to sidestep the questions? Or does this issue have the potential to blunt his momentum?
It depends …
During the most recent “Republican” presidential debate – in which Rubio shone – he swatted away criticism of his poor personal fiscal record as “discredited attacks from Democrats and my political opponents.”
Is that true, though? Eh … not really.
Rubio is vulnerable here … very vulnerable. Well, assuming his GOP rivals figure out how to exploit the opening … which they have yet to do.
***
“CHARGE IT …”
Much of the controversy centers around Rubio’s use of an American Express card provided by the “Republican” party of Florida during his tenure as the Sunshine State’s Speaker of the House. During the late 2000s, Rubio put more than $100,000 on this account – routinely co-mingling personal and political expenses.
Defined by party officials as “a corporate card” meant to be used exclusively “for business expenses,” Rubio nonetheless charged all sorts of personal items on the card – including repairs to his family minivan, grocery and wine purchases and expenses related to a family reunion.
Oh, and a $133 haircut … (Rubio claims the trim was $20, with the rest of the money going to a silent auction).
Rubio successfully defended himself against allegations that he spent party funds on personal expenses during his 2010 U.S. Senate race.
“Here’s what they don’t tell you, it’s my money,” he said at the time. “It’s a card that was secured under my credit and I made payments out of my own pockets directly to American Express. It’s ridiculous. It’s not true and it is being put in the worst possible way to divert attention from the central issues of this campaign.”
Okay … but is that true?
No. PolitiFact has rated Rubio’s response “mostly false,” going into great detail as to how the $16,000 worth of reimbursements he paid into the account did not align with all of the personal expenses he put on the card.
“There’s little evidence that it was ‘his money,'” the website noted.
Complicating matters? Many of the records related to the Florida GOP credit card scandal have yet to be released. In fact Rubio refused to release several years of records during his 2010 U.S. Senate race.
***
RUBIO’S REAL PROBLEM …
Why was Rubio charging personal expenses on a party credit card? Well, at the time he was still struggling financially – and in considerable debt. It wasn’t until he broke onto the national stage as a Tea Party darling (and started writing books to capitalize on his fame) that Rubio achieved financial stability.
At every stage of his political evolution Rubio has been able to pivot away from those attacks, using his “I came from nothing” narrative to deflect criticism – all the while relying on the goodwill and understanding of millions of Americans who have also struggled with debt.
In fact Rubio’s deft deflection – on display during the last debate – has thus far kept the issue at bay.
“The image of Rubio as a poor money manager with massive debt isn’t as damaging as his opponents and the press might think,” noted Simon Maloy of Salon. “Pretty much everyone in the country has trouble handling debt, and far too many people are carrying way too high a balance on their credit cards.”
That’s true …
“Framing it in these terms just allows Rubio to make the point that he’s not wealthy and he copes with the same financial difficulties as everyone else,” Maloy added.
Rubio’s real vulnerability – which has yet to be exploited – is that he should have never been given a political charge card in the first place. And that even if he accepted the card, he never should have used it for personal expenses.
That’s the real scandal here: Not that Rubio’s incapable of managing his finances, but that he’s susceptible to corruption. Or a “corruptible sneak,” according to Maloy.
Our beef with Rubio? He’s not who he says he is. He burst onto the scene as a limited government guy, but like so many of those swept into office in 2010 he’s since evolved into a status quo “Republican” hack.
“This website once viewed Rubio with tremendous promise, but by the time he got around to announcing his presidential bid back in April we were done with him,” we wrote recently.
55 comments
You guys are actually going to nominate Trump or Carson, aren’t you?
Man, this going to be hilarious when they have to attempt to answer a real, hardhitting question during a debate with the Democratic nominee. Can’t wait!
a real, hardhitting question…Like…
Was it a video, terrorists (or you) responsible for the ambassador you sent and assured, being tortured and raped as you ignored his phone calls, because Obama wanted to get re-elected by stupid people?
I cannot WAIT….LMAO…
Or, do you really have a plan?
Sure. Like that. Even you republicans don’t believe in any of these candidates. You can only tear them all down. That’s our job.
If the TRUTH tears them down…that’s YOUR fault for exalting such flawed “Leaders.”
Stevens wasn’t tortured or raped. If you’re basing that off a photo that’s still being circulated online, it has been proven to be someone else. A poor soul in South America and it happened years before Stevens even thought about going to Libya.
Truth ain’t a big thing to T.
No, he was just murdered. I sure his heirs find comfort in that.
He actually died from smoke inhalation.
So it was an “accident”?
You ALWAYS lie when caught…don’t you? Ashamed of who, and why, you are…
I’ve got some potentially bad news for you….Trump very much appeals to the base electorate, & has some cross over appeal.
He’s the demagogue’s demagogue. He’s far more dangerous & electable than most Dems give him credit for…you may not like that fact…but that’s really the case. (and this is not an endorsement of Trump, I’m just sayin’)
Rubio is like that Illinois Rep who resigned, Aaron Schnock, except the Tea Partiers were dumb enough to overlook Rubio’s living high on the hog. There are plenty of stories out there about Rubio and his wife’s spending of other people’s money. 10,000 for a family reunion?
The top is beginning to implode – Carson making up stories about being a badass thug when he was a kid…when he in reality he was Urkel. SMH.
And, since you posted, Carson has been outed for lying about being accepted to West Point.
Looks like that autobiography was fiction.
My sister the librarian hates the two years before the Presidential election, when everbody in the running is releasing a new book. They start off by filing them under, “Biographies”, then have to move them to the “Fiction” section as the truth begins to come out.
That is so true !
The Art of The Deal is still under the “how to ” dept.
“He was not only totally committed— he was in that room with us,” Schumer told CNN, when asked how “committed” Rubio was to the “Gang of Eight” immigration effort. “His fingerprints are all over that bill. It has a lot of Rubio imprints.” – that’s Chuck, Chuck Shumer – the Shuminator.
Liberal LOCKSTEP MUCH?
Keep whining loser, every last retard in the Republican race has a mountain of issues under their belt. Don’t like the heat? Get the fuck out of the kitchen boy!
We’ve known from the start we’ll have to Beat the FUCK out of the media. Because carping little SHIT Eaters, like you, gorge yourself on the feces they ladle to their low-rent bastards…
If we cannot take you filthy immoral, and nasty, creeps out, we’ll lose. America loses…I’m prepared to fight PRETTY Fucking hard to keep that from happening…so you might better stay the fuck away from me…if you are going to perpetuate Smut…you smarmy little dirtball…
“using his “I came from nothing” narrative to deflect criticism”
The reason that doesn’t work is because his “success” was only as a result of politics.
In fairness, many of those in the upper level of governance were just barely making it before becoming anointed parasites of the ruling class:
Obama (credit card rejected when renting a car)
Nikki Haley (bookeeper nobody with small time crook parents)
Harry Reid (who made ALL his money via politics and never held a real job in the private sector all his life)
and now we have Rubio of course.
It’s no news that many pols in the upper levels suddenly become rich as a result of their access to the goodies government can give away via taxpayer money- (speaking fees, boardroom seats, consulting firms,etc.)
But what’s particularly disgusting is when someone who has had little to no success outside of being a government stooge claims they “came from nothing”, suggesting they made it in some respectable way(living on the backs of others).
They really show who the are, disgusting little people with no grasp of what real success looks like(and that is always financial either)- in other words, your typical pol.
Obama, Michelle, Bill and Hillary …..
I did list Obama…and I agree- I kept the list short for brevity and used both sides of the aisle purposely to show it’s not limited by partisan labels.
Haley…
Thumper
THAT is the truth! Very well said.
Senator James, a famous politician, died. His wife offered the minister a $10,000 donation to the church if, at her husband’s funeral, he’d say that the man was a saint.
“Your husband lied, cheated, and stole,” answered the minister. “I could never say he was a saint.”
“Then I’ll ruin YOUR reputation,” she threatened.
Fearing for his job the minister began the service with these words, ” Senator James was a liar, a cheat, and a thief ….. but compared to his wife he was a saint.”
?
IF, the big IF, Rubio was elected President, what would be the source of and authorization to use Federal dollars? The answer is the Congress not the Executive Branch. Folks needs to return to Civics 101.
Eight presidents became insolvent at one time or another during their adult lifetime. Thomas Jefferson filed for bankruptcy several times in his life. None of this has anything to do with being a good president or the price of tea in China.
Trump … four bankruptcies.
Meh…. They were corporate not personal. He has a fiduciary responsibility to do what is in the best interests of his company with in the bounds of the law. No harm no foul..
unless you are a shareholder..then plenty of harm.
or a creditor.
Plus, he recovered with a vengeance! He knows how to regroup and come back on top, from his mistakes. Our last four or so Presidentisl failures only continued the failz.
Please stop trying to destroy Folks’ narrative with facts.
I thought we had a wealthy elite that was running the nation through corruption? Now Rubio is too poor to be president?
The issue is not Rubio being poor
It’s Rubio buying a $80k boat, a 2nd house, charging personal stuff on a credit card that wasn’t his, & being poor as a result.
But he’s not poor now so who cares?
Because ostensibly the money he’s made makes him beholden to special interests, he’s spent his adult life in politics.
“Thomas Jefferson filed for bankruptcy several times in his life. None of this has anything to do with being a good president ”
Hmmm….not so sure(not that I don’t think the “job” of President is ridiculous anyway, but that’s not your point or mine)-
You’ve heard the suggestion before that Jefferson and several others rabble roused against the King because of their prodigious debts, no? (not to mention Hancock the bootlegger and the implications surounding the Tea Party)
There was no scandal in Florida, it was investigated and Rubio cleared by state investigators.
What is scandalous is that FITS uses an uber left-wing attack organization to earn the Trump (crony capitalist extraordinaire) check routed to him via Nancy Mace.
Those damn credit cards all look the same.
A Florida man filed an ethics complaint against Rubio in 2010, and in 2012 the state ethics commission cleared him, though an investigator said the level of “negligence” exhibited by Rubio’s confusion between the GOP American Express and his own MasterCard, and failing to recognize the error on monthly statements, was “disturbing.”
Yeah, not recognizing separate bills will screw you up every time.
He should of went to ” The South Carolina School for GOP ers.
I see we have some people here who don’t think there’s anything wrong with putting personal expenses on the company credit card and not paying it back until they’re caught stealing…but, a crook is a crook is a crook.
That same year, Trikki Nikki Haley finally released her tax records just before the GOP primary, the press belatedly started doing its job and we learned she had never paid a county, state or federal tax on time, incurring penalties and requiring prodding via liens to get her to pay up. Did the SC voters notice, much less care?
And, in Florida, just like we learned here in the 2010 midterm year elections, when it’s a majority of Republicans who choose senators and governors, all they care about is that the candidates are pandering to them, parroting the Rushbo and Fox talking points, and disregard the rest.
But, the GOP claims to be the party that cares about character and family values…
…yeah, right.
Yeah lets put this guy in charge of the national finance..brilliant idea. What could go wrong?
Do you think he will double the National Debt too?
When Willy Sutton was asked why he robbed banks, he replied “That’s were the money is.”
Same thing for a politician wanting higher office.
Somewhere there must be SOMEONE clean and honest in the GOP.
Is it really dumb to beg, borrow, and steal (without repercussions) your way to a legitimate chance to become president? Sounds pretty damn economically rational to me.
Lawyers cannot commingle personal and client funds. It’s a good rule for everyone. Keep your own money personal to you and be able to account for funds over which you have been placed in trust. Never mix the two.
“i mistakenly pulled the wrong card out of my wallet when paying a bill for several thousand dollars”. that happens to me all the time. because i’m a lying sack of shit.
Wonder if that’s his Lewinsky in the pic?