It’s not surprising, to be sure, that Marco Rubio keeps trying to distance himself from the Gang of Eight immigration bill and those inevitable references to Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, a liberal co-signer. What is surprising is that he can’t hone a better response. Something that might make the establishment wing nod without enraging the base.
Something like: “As the son of immigrants, I’m not apologizing for showing compassion in the context of doing something pragmatic to protect our country. It wasn’t workable. I moved on. But I tried. Some might even see the effort as ‘compassionate conservatism,’ a term our party hasn’t disowned. Nor should it.”
Well, maybe the approach will change in the general, if Rubio gets that far. We’ll know it when we hear it–again and again and again.