Marco Rubio appeared on CBS' Face The Nation for all of six and a half minutes Sunday morning, part of three different guests devoted to the rise of the Tea Party in several key states this fall.
Host Bob Schieffer did get around to asking the question that those closely following the U.S. Senate race in Florida would hope he would have began his interview with, but only at the very end of their exchange. That would be asking about the reports that Rubio spent thousands of dollars in home improvements on the Republican Party of Florida's credit card. That charge was made last week by CL contributor Chris Ingram. Rubio has invited such speculation because of his adamant refusal to issue out credit card receipts from the time that he served as House Speaker from 2005-2007.
But that exchange only came after the 68-year-old veteran newsman asked Rubio questions that even a national political audience surely most know by now – such as, did Rubio consider himself a "Tea Party " candidate? Did he fault Republicans for some of the problems in Washington, did he want to privatize Social Security (he said he doesn't), and what did he think of Arizona's illegal immigration bill (he said he didn't want such a law to be spread nationally). But finally, saving the "high hard one" until the end (as taught by some interview experts), Schieffer finally asked the #1 question being asked from the last week:
Schieffer: You preach fiscal responsibility. But your opponents say you don't live it. They say you've been deeply in debt for much of your life, they that sometimes you put your own personal expenses on your Republican party credit card, how do you answer those critics?
Rubio: They're false. The Republican Party of Florida has never paid for my personal expenses, and as far as debt is concerned, you know what they call debt? A mortgage. Yes, I bought a home using a mortgage, I bought two homes, one here and one in Tallahassee. A vast majority of Americans watching this program would be shocked to learn that buying a home with a mortgage is somehow irresponsible. And the other debt I have was a student loan. My parents worked very hard but they couldn't save enough money to send me to law school so I had to borrow money and I paid my student loans every month that provided me my education.
But I think my opponents say that because they're wrong on the ideas. They have absolutely no ideas on the critical issues facing our country, so they want to make personal attacks against me, the centerpiece of their campaigns. But this election is too important. Because at stake is the very identity of our country. Are we gonna remain exceptional? Or are we going to become like everybody else? Americans want to remain exceptional, and they're looking for candidates that will fight for them.
This article appears in Sep 23-29, 2010.