As
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio grows as a threat to Democratic aspirations, liberals seem to be taking any and every opportunity to try to cut the Florida Latino down to size. Left-wing cable news network MSNBC started mocking the rising conservative on Tuesday night after his
State of the Union response and seemed fixated on a video clip of Rubio taking a sip of water during his speech.
While rebutting President Barack Obama's address, Rubio awkwardly reached for a small bottle of water off camera, took a sip for half of a second, and continued his argument, his eyes never leaving the camera.
The clip went viral and led to a barrage of mocking remarks on social media that overshadowed Rubio's speech in which he accused Obama of hurting the middle class with his policies.
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MSNBC had replayed the clip 155 times as of 6 a.m. Thursday, according to the
Daily Caller.
MSNBC host Al Sharpton mocked the Tea Party favorite during "Politics Nation." In a 90-second clip, Sharpton mimicked the senator, repeatedly reaching for an off-camera water bottle.
"With the Republican’s savior [Marco] Rubio’s big night — and what a night it was," Sharpton shouted, interrupting his introduction to retrieve a small bottle of water.
Sharpton continued, "OK, OK, where was I?" and took a sip of water, adding, "Sen. Rubio laid out the right-wing vision for America. And oh, what was I saying? Rubio bent the truth last night."
He then took a drink from a larger bottle, exclaiming, "I’m hydrating just like the senator. Yep, we’re having some fun, like the rest of America, with Marco Rubio’s epic water fail. And it lit up Twitter — 9,200 tweets per minute."
Sharpton continued with the joke; “Sen. Rubio’s in on the fun himself, tweeting out a picture of his famous water bottle. But what Rubio was saying before and after his water cooler moment wasn’t so funny. That’s coming up, right after I finish my drink."
The MSNBC host went as far as lifting a five-gallon Poland Spring water container above his head for a swig.
MSNBC poked fun at the clip, calling it phrases like “Zero Dark Thirsty,” “Parch Madness,” “Tough Swallow,” “Just Add Water,” and “Water Under the Bridge."
CNN played the video clip 34 times for its viewers, while Fox News played it just 12 times, the Daily Caller reports.
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