Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio took aim at “stale” politicians Monday during a visit to Atlanta, casting himself as the Republican presidential candidate with fresh ideas for a new generation of voters.
The 44-year-old Republican warned a crowd of a few hundred supporters at a Buckhead hotel that “America is on the road to decline” because of a Washington establishment that is increasingly out of touch with the rank and file.
“If you keep electing the same people, we’re going to get the exact same results. And I wish I could tell you that the people disconnected from your lives are all Democrats. And they are. But it’s not just Democrats,” Rubio said. “There are even people in my party as well.”
Rubio didn’t name names, but he said some others in the 16-candidate field of Republicans “have lost touch with what it’s like to owe student loans, what it’s like to live paycheck to paycheck, how hard it is to survive in business today.”
Rubio's supporters have tried to reinforce that message in recent days. An introductory TV spot from the Conservative Solutions Project, the group pushing Rubio's candidacy, took not-so-subtle aim at fellow Floridian Jeb Bush.
“If ever there has been an era in human history tailor-made for us as a people, it is the 21st century,” the ad says. “What is standing in the way are outdated leaders that refuse to let go of the past.”
During Monday's speech, the senator earned the sharpest applause when he outlined what he said would be a more muscular approach to foreign policy. He repeated his pledge to reverse the Iranian nuclear deal his first day in the White House and check the ambitions of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, whom Rubio called a "thug" and a "gangster."
It was Rubio's foreign policy chops that helped the candidate net his biggest Georgia endorsement yet. U.S. Rep. Austin Scott said Rubio's debate responses to questions about the spread of the Islamic State and other growing threats helped swing his decision.
“The one person that would make the best president for my children, and that means for your children as well, was Marco Rubio. His answers were dead on with regard to foreign policy and economic policy,” said Scott, R-Tifton. “I am looking forward to having a man of action at the White House.”
As for the other contenders, Scott said, “a lot of them are just full of talk.”
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