By William E. Gibson, Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — “Team Rubio” — U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio’s campaign staff — is turning perceived jabs from the news media and Democrats into a fundraising tool to draw conservative money.
“For months, we’ve been warning you that the Democrats, led by President Obama himself, were gearing up to tear down Marco Rubio,” says a fund-raising email message that bears the eye-catching title: “The Campaign to Destroy Marco Rubio.”
“Marco needs your help to fight back,” the message told potential donors over the weekend.
“Everyone from President Obama’s press secretary, to Senator Harry Reid, to Obama’s liberal campaign machines funded with millions of special-interest dollars has put Marco at the top of their enemies list,” it continues. “Marco makes President Obama and his liberal allies nervous because they know he’s different. He’s not like the other typical politicians in Washington who can be bought or bullied.”
The message relies on evidence from a conservative website called The Daily Caller, which asserts that the rising Florida Republican is the victim of “a larger effort to strangle the baby in the crib — to undermine one of the few Republicans viewed to be an existential threat to the future of liberalism in America.”
As evidence, Matt Lewis of the Caller noted that White House press secretary Jay Carney recently criticized legislation co-sponsored by Rubio. The bill would ban any rule that forces employers to provide insurance coverage for contraceptive services when they oppose it because of religious belief.
Carney said Rubio’s bill takes “absolutely the wrong approach” – hardly the stuff of personal attack.
The Caller item also takes aim at a video produced by the Democratic National Committee that promotes an Obama administration rule requiring contraception coverage. “The Republicans want to take that right away,” the video says, followed by a photo of Rubio, who does not speak and is not named.
The Caller also criticizes a recent article from Reuters and an item from Politico, which raised “the searing political question of whether the talented Mr. Rubio is ready for the big time.”
Quick to take offense and “fight back,” Team Rubio included a form for donors to send money.
