Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) had an exceptional performance in the debate against Democrat midterm challenger Congresswoman Val Demings on Tuesday, hammering her for her extreme position on a variety of issues as the moderators continued to show their biased hand.
During one particular biased moment at the debate, the moderator pressed Rubio to state if he supports any exceptions for abortion while not once pressing Val Demings on if she supports any restrictions for the practice. Even though Rubio said that he has always supported federal abortion bans that provide exceptions regardless of his personal pro-life positions, the moderator kept pressing him on the question.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) refuses, for the second time, to answer the moderator's question about whether he would support a national abortion ban with no exceptions for rape and incest:
“We’re never gonna get a vote on a law that doesn’t have exceptions.” pic.twitter.com/D5f3U3QNCc
— The Recount (@therecount) October 18, 2022
Despite the biased questioning, Rubio continued his attacks on Val Demings and noted that she holds an extremist position on abortion, such as her support for taxpayer-funded abortions and the fact that she could not admit to sponsoring any restrictions.
“The extremist on abortion in this campaign is Congresswoman Demings,” he said. “She supports no restrictions, no limitations of any kind. She’s against a four-month ban, she voted against a five-month ban. She supports taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand for any reason at any time up until the moment of birth. That’s what she supports, that’s the extreme position here.”
In the opening question, debate moderator Todd McDermott showed his biased hand by characterizing the recent disastrous Hurricane Ian as a product of climate change.
“Three weeks ago tomorrow, Hurricane Ian hit Florida as one of the five most powerful storms to make landfall in the U.S. What federal action is needed, starting now, to protect Florida from sea levels projected to rise a foot or more in less than 30 years while more frequent monster storms threaten our lives and livelihoods?” asked McDermott.
“Climate change is real. If we don’t do something about it, and we’re going to pay a terrible price for it. More intense … storms like we’ve seen. As the waters in the ocean continue to warm up, more intense storms, more flooding, more just devastation,” she explained, failing to state how, exactly, Democrat policies would help control the weather.
Later, when the debate shifted toward voting rights, Rick Christie, executive editor of the Palm Beach Post, appeared visibly miffed when the moderator moved the discussion along after Marco Rubio had publicly stated he would support the results of the 2022 election and that he opposed a federal takeover of elections.
“I will support it because Florida has good laws,” said Rubio.
“Fair enough! Let’s move on to the next question,” responded McDermott.
“Uhh… I don’t think we gave Congresswoman Demings the chance-” interjected Christie.
“We’re going to move on to the next question,” said McDermott.
As the other moderator proceeded to ask a question, Christie audibly sighed as he shook the moment off.
On the issue of the Second Amendment, Marco Rubio stood firm on his support for gun rights as Val Demings attacked him for allegedly doing nothing to protect Floridians from mass shooters. Most notably, Rubio voiced his support for a certain type of “Red Flag” law that would not allow citizens to petition left-wing judges.
“One of the first things I did when I got back to Washington is I sponsored a bipartisan red flag law styled after Florida, not the crazy one they just passed,” said Rubio. “A real red flag law that would allow the police department to go before a judge and remove your guns if they can prove you are a danger. The one they passed allows some co-worker that doesn’t like you to go to some liberal judge and take away your second amendment rights.”
