Marco Rubio opened the 2010 CPAC Conference today in Washington DC.
The conservative Republican running for the open Senate seat in Florida offered the crowd plenty of the red meat they were craving.
Here’s the first part of his speech today:
Video via The Right Scoop.
Marco Rubio talked about the radicals in charge of Washington DC today:
“They have used a severe economic downturn, a severe recession, as an excuse to implement the statist policies they have longed for all this time. They are using this as cover not to fix America but to change America. To fundamentally redifine the role of government in our lives and the role of America in our world… From tea parties to the election in Massachusetts we are witnessing the single greatest political pushback in American history.”
It was a terrific speech.
The Washington Post reported:
Marco Rubio, the 38-year-old son of Cuban immigrants and candidate for an open Senate seat in Florida, electrified thousands of conservative activists Thursday morning with an impassioned defense of American exceptionalism.
In the opening address at the three-day Conservative Political Action Committee conference in Washington, Rubio delivered a fiery assault on President Obama’s economic policies and his administration’s handling of national security.
“They are using this downturn as cover, not to fix America but to try and change America, to fundamentally redefine the role of government in our lives and the role of America in the world,” Rubio said. “The good news is it didn’t take long for the American people to figure this out.”
A crowd hungry for new conservative leaders repeatedly interrupted Rubio’s speech with standing ovations. The former Florida House speaker has become a darling of the conservative “tea party” movement during his underdog primary campaign against Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) for the Senate, and this speech served as his debut on the national stage…
He drew rousing applause and shouts of “Amen!” when he criticized Obama’s record on national security…
…Rubio said his parents came to America from Havana with “no English, no money, no friends,” but only a hope to build a better life for their children.
“I was not born to a wealthy family and yet I never felt limited,” Rubio said. “I am privileged to be a citizen of the single greatest society in all of human history.”
Sammy Benoit was at Rubio’s speech and describes the scene.
