In Adam Smith's column in Sunday's St. Petersburg Times, the paper's political editor writes that on the campaign trail, Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio "managed, for instance, to imply Obama had a socialist agenda without ever to our knowledge using the "S" word."
The occasion for that thought is because of a recent Republican National Committee fundraising e-mail from Rubio thad the Senator referring to "the damage the socialist Democrats have made." Smith wrote that it appeared uncharacteristic of the former Florida House Speaker, who you'll recall was quickly adopted by the Tea Party in 2009-2010, but has always deflected that characterization. Smith writes that upon review, the RNC took responsibility for the word socialist being placed in that e-mail and said it was their bad, because Rubio had "expressly edited out the use of the words 'leftist' and socialist.'"
That's all fine. But for the record, Marco Rubio definitely threw out the "S" word when referring to the President as he began his quest for the Senate.
In an interview that I conducted with Rubio back in the spring of 2009, when he had just announced his candidacy, Rubio told CL:
“The tax plan that the President and the Democratic Congress want this country to adopt is one that will distribute wealth," he began, energized to discuss a favorite topic. ”One in which more than 50 percent of the country won’t pay income taxes, and where a small bracket will pay more than 60 percent of all taxes. That is distribution of wealth. I don’t think that’s the purpose of the tax system … that’s a socialist concept.”
This article appears in Mar 17-23, 2011.