Now that he’s a presidential candidate, Marco Rubio just doesn’t issue press releases on items like the Obama administration’s announcement that they will remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
No, now the Florida senator now delivers his choice comments — or at least this one — via videotape.
“Well, the decision made by the White House today is a terrible one, but not surprising unfortunately,” Rubio said. “Cuba is a state sponsor of terrorism. They harbor fugitives of American justice, including someone who killed a police officer in New Jersey over 30 years ago. It’s also the country that’s helping North Korea evade weapons sanctions by the United Nations. They should have remained on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, and I think sends a chilling message to our enemies abroad that this White House is no longer serious about calling terrorism by its proper name.”
But the Democratic National Committee says Rubio’s old-fashioned stance on maintaining hostile relations with the Communist government is just another version of him touting himself as someone ready to bring American into the “new century,” while maintaining old, hardliner attitudes.
“For a guy who just yesterday said he wanted to be a new leader and usher in a new American century, it sure sounds like Marco Rubio is clinging to an outdated foreign policy relic from the Cold War,” responded DNC spokesman Mo Elleithee.
Yesterday, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz said that it was important to have human rights at the core of any negotiations between the countries, and was confident that the Obama administration believes that as well.
“Senator Rubio’s views are that we shouldn’t be talking at all,” she said.
