Macro Rubio apparently feels that he has already ceded a great deal of ground by agreeing to support a pathway to citizenship, so including any form of rights for gay persons is absolutely out of the question.
“If this bill has in it something that gives gay couples immigration rights and so forth, it kills the bill. I’m done,” Rubio said Thursday during an interview on the Andrea Tantaros Show. “I’m off it, and I’ve said that repeatedly. I don’t think that’s going to happen and it shouldn’t happen. This is already a difficult enough issue as it is.”
The idea that you would kill a bill that is already going to affect tens of millions of people, alter the political landscape, and fundamentally change the economy just because it includes rights for gay couples is absurd.
It’s so grossly out of touch and nonsensical that it defies explanation.
But this only Rubio’s latest excuse for why may not support his own bill. He has also declared that he won’t support the bill if it allows immigrants to participate in Medicaid even though they would be paying taxes for it. Many of them already do.
It seems clear to me that Rubio’s future political ambitions are driving both his support and his opposition. He wants to have his cake and eat it too by offering his rhetorical support for immigration reform while managing the expectations of the Lunatic Base of the Republican party by singling out components that would kill the bill.
When Rubio looks at immigration reform, what he sees is a Republican presidential primary nightmare, but he also knows that failure will make the next general election that much more difficult. He has to manage expectations by offering his general support while not-so-quietly hoping the bill fails.