Top story: Let’s count the many ways this has not been a particularly good Monday for Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, and his immigration bill.
- First, there’s the fact that, when pressed, Rubio wouldn’t say for sure whether he supports his own immigration bill. (Think Progress)
- Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, a member of the immigration bill’s Gang of 8: “How do we put together a bill and then the guy who put it together says that he may not vote for it?. I just don’t get what we’re doing here.” (The Huffington Post)
- Okay, so that’s one. Then there’s the mini-controversy over the identity of an anonymous aide who said this of American workers in The New Yorker’s new article on the bill: “There are American workers who, for lack of a better term, can’t cut it.” (Ryan Lizza) and (Intelligencer)
- Mind you, it may be more non-troversy than con-troversy. Still it’s got conservatives worked up. (Big Government) and (Matt Lewis)
- Oh, and Rubio’s still hearing it from conservatives for telling Univision last week that legalization — not border security — comes first in his immigration bill (The Washington Examiner)
- The effect? Well, for starters, the editors of National Review today have a new piece called “Rubio’s Folly”. Here’s a sample: “Perhaps we can help the senator get his story straight: He should vote against the bill.” (National Review)
- And Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is promising to bring a Voter ID amendment — like the law struck down by the Supreme Court today — to the bill. (Talking Points Memo)
- Rush Limbaugh: “Does Rubio know what he’s doing to his career? I assume he does.” (Byron York)
- Dana Rohrabacher: Rubio has “given up any right to be trusted by the American people.” Ouch. “This is just a lot of weasel words” — weasel words! — “that Rubio and these people are throwing in.” (World Net Daily)
- The Weekly Standard’s Jay Cost: “Memo to Marco Rubio: That ‘wooshing’ sound you hear is your nomination prospects getting flushed down the can.” (Jay Cost)
- Rubio, for one, has nixed all opportunities since April to even appear with his fellow Gang of 8 members. (Politico)
- That’s lead some to wonder: Is it now a Gang of 7? (The Atlantic Wire)
- Oh, and guess what’s on tap for tomorrow: “Steve King & ‘Invited special guests’ are doing a *six* hour presser on immigration Wednesday. Six. Hours.” Can’t wait. (Katrina Trinko)
John Flowers