Sen. Marco Rubio has been viewed with suspicion by the anti-immigrant Right ever since he helped craft a bipartisan immigration reform bill backed by President Obama. Now, a super PAC aligned with Ted Cruz is looking to exploit that episode with a brutal online video and companion radio ad set to air on talk shows.
The ad from Courageous Conservatives PAC called "The Gang" reminds Republican primary voters that "Marco Rubio teamed up with John McCain, Chuck Schumer, Lindsey Graham and Bob Menendez" to "push" an "amnesty scheme."
Glossing over the fact that the final compromise included billions of new funds for border security, the narrator slams Rubio for rejecting harsher amendments supported by Cruz: "...he said he wanted to secure the border. But then Rubio voted against every border security amendment Ted Cruz and Jeff Sessions proposed. Every one! It was part of the deal Rubio made with Obama – no amendments, even on border security."
After Rubio voted for the bill in the Senate, he abandoned it once it met resistance in the House. But Cruz's allies take that as an opportunity to prove Cruz's leadership abilities are superior. "Ted Cruz was only in the Senate a few weeks, but it was his leadership that stopped the Obama-Rubio Gang of Eight Amnesty Bill ... Marco Rubio betrayed our trust, failed us and he’s done nothing since coming to Washington but push for amnesty."
Ending on a fear-mongering note, the narrator urges, "Ted Cruz for President. Now. Before it’s too late."
The ad is much rougher than almost anything else lobbed in the Republican primary so far, outside what comes from the Donald Trump campaign. With more than more two months until the Iowa caucuses, this probably won't be the last of the intra-party attacks.
The ad from Courageous Conservatives PAC called "The Gang" reminds Republican primary voters that "Marco Rubio teamed up with John McCain, Chuck Schumer, Lindsey Graham and Bob Menendez" to "push" an "amnesty scheme."
Glossing over the fact that the final compromise included billions of new funds for border security, the narrator slams Rubio for rejecting harsher amendments supported by Cruz: "...he said he wanted to secure the border. But then Rubio voted against every border security amendment Ted Cruz and Jeff Sessions proposed. Every one! It was part of the deal Rubio made with Obama – no amendments, even on border security."
After Rubio voted for the bill in the Senate, he abandoned it once it met resistance in the House. But Cruz's allies take that as an opportunity to prove Cruz's leadership abilities are superior. "Ted Cruz was only in the Senate a few weeks, but it was his leadership that stopped the Obama-Rubio Gang of Eight Amnesty Bill ... Marco Rubio betrayed our trust, failed us and he’s done nothing since coming to Washington but push for amnesty."
Ending on a fear-mongering note, the narrator urges, "Ted Cruz for President. Now. Before it’s too late."
The ad is much rougher than almost anything else lobbed in the Republican primary so far, outside what comes from the Donald Trump campaign. With more than more two months until the Iowa caucuses, this probably won't be the last of the intra-party attacks.