The Week in Pictures -- Debate Throwdown Edition

From the guys at Powerline Blog:

Politifact Tries to Retcon the Ending of the 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis

From Powerline Blog via H/T at Ace of Spades HQ:

Reagan had absolutely nothing to do with it you see.

We flagged Rubio's comment as a misleading framing of history. Reagan's inauguration in 1981 may have coincided with the release of the hostages, but historians say it did not cause it. Instead, the Iranians had tired of holding the hostages, and that the administration of Jimmy Carter did the legwork to get the hostages released.

...It's a GOP talking point we've debunked before. In 2012, Republican candidate Mitt Romney said, "I believe the right course is what Ronald Reagan called peace through strength ... There's a reason why the Iranians released the hostages on the same day and at the same hour that Reagan was sworn in." We rated his claim Pants on Fire.

...Despite the showy announcement, scholars of the period say that Reagan did not play any significant role in freeing the hostages.

Well except for his very existence, his implied threats of military force against Iran, and his imminent control of the White House and the US military.

And Steven Hayward points out that even the Washington Post editorial page the day after the hostage release gave Reagan's reputation credit:

"Who doubts that among Iran's reasons for coming to terms now was a desire to beat [Reagan] to town?"

Did Rubio deal a mortal blow to ObamaCare?

From Hotair:

If so, it was a remarkably mundane demand that punctured the ObamaCare balloon. Two years ago, Marco Rubio won a fight during the budget battles to include a requirement for HHS to maintain budget neutrality in its risk-corridor programs. Rubio had pushed back against this program for months, claiming — as it happens, accurately — that it was a back-door bailout of the insurance companies that had cooperated in the effort to pass ObamaCare. Instead of allowing HHS to dip into general funds for risk-corridor payments, Rubio’s rider restricted those payouts to funds collected from taxes on insurers.

The move forced HHS to cut expected risk corridor payments to pennies on the dollar, and prompted the closure of more than half of the co-ops launched by HHS to provide supposedly low-cost coverage. Now that United Healthcare has signaled that it may cut its losses and get out of the ObamaCare market, The Hill credits Rubio with starting the death spiral many predicted when Democrats first passed ObamaCare in March 2010.

The risk corridors program was designed to be a temporary stopgap against high insurance claims during the first three years of the new federal program.

If an insurer had more expenses than it planned, the federal government would cover the remaining balance using cash collected from companies that paid out fewer claims than expected.

The program was almost certain to need extra money in the first few years, when there were fewer healthier customers signing up. But Rubio’s provision in 2014 severely limited any new spending by requiring the program to become budget neutral.

The damaging effects of the budget-neutral requirement became clear in October.

May the death spiral hasten the demise, sooner rather than later.

Rubio -- Hillary Clinton Has The Ultimate Super PAC Called ‘The Mainstream Media’

From The Daily Caller:

Marco Rubio blasted Hillary Clinton’s ultimate super PAC: “the mainstream media.”

At Wednesday’s CNBC GOP debate, Rubio argued that the Benghazi hearing exposed Hillary Clinton as a “liar” but the “mainstream media” spun it as the “greatest week in Hillary Clinton’s campaign.”

Marco Rubio: You know the Democrats have the ultimate super pac, it’s called the mainstream media, who every single day… And I’ll tell you why. Last week, Hillary Clinton went before a committee, she admitted she had sent emails to her family saying, “Hey, this attack in Benghazi was caused by al Qaeda-like elements.” She spent over a week telling the families of those victims and the American people that it was because of a video. And yet, the mainstream media is saying, “It was the greatest week in Hillary Clinton’s campaign.” It was the week she got exposed as a liar. It was the week that she got exposed as a liar. But she has her super pac helping her out. The American mainstream media.

Possibly the best shot by Rubio ever.

CBS Host Baffled That Rubio Would Say Clinton Lied About Benghazi

From The Daily Caller:

“CBS This Morning” host Charlie Rose was shocked Thursday morning when Florida Sen. Marco Rubio stood by his stance that the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton misled Americans about the cause of the 2012 Benghazi terror attack.

“[Last night] I said Hillary Clinton lied about Benghazi,” Rubio said in a post-debate interview. “There’s no doubt about that, Charlie.”
.................

Rose was baffled as to why the former first lady would lie about Benghazi.

“If you’re calling her a liar by saying she perpetuated a lie, then why do you think she did that? What was her motive?” Rose asked.

Rubio laid blame for her lying on the 2012 re-election and how President Obama was trying to avoid any narrative that he wasn’t strong on terrorism after claiming al-Qaida was on the run.

The CBS host remained stunned: “You are saying, senator, that Hillary Clinton lied because she wanted to help Barack Obama in his re-election campaign. That’s a serious charge.”

Charlie, it's time to retire and join Dan Rather is the home for crazy old CBS reporters in denial.

EXCLUSIVE — Donald Trump Rights Ship on Immigration -- Demands Disney Rehire Workers Replaced by Cheap Foreign Labor, Calls Rubio ‘Silicon Valley’s Puppet’

From Breitbart's Big Government:

BNN: Hundreds of workers at Disney were forced to train their foreign replacements. But while Florida Senator Nelson rallied to their cause, Senator Rubio did not. While Nelson has called for an investigation, Rubio has not. While Nelson has called to reduce H-1Bs, Rubio has demanded more. Senator Rubio has been the top promoter in Congress for expanding the H-1B program even though millions American tech workers are out of jobs. Rubio’s new bill triples H-1Bs and has zero protections for American workers. Advocates for tech workers said Rubio’s bill would “destroy” the U.S. tech workforce. Rubio’s bill is even endorsed by the CEO of Disney. What do you think of Rubio’s bill?

DT: It’s a disaster. It would allow any company in America to replace any worker with cheaper foreign labor. It legalizes job theft. It gives companies the legal right to pass over Americans, displace Americans, or directly replace Americans for good-paying middle class jobs. More than 80 percent of these H-1Bs are paid less than the average wage. Senator Rubio works for the lobbyists, not for Americans. That is why he is receiving more money from Silicon Valley than any other candidate in this race. He is their puppet.

Wow!

It's All She Has -- Hillary Clinton PAC Accuses Marco Rubio of "Mansplaining"

From Ace of Spades HQ:

She hasn't done anything, she hasn't accomplished anything, and she has nothing to her credit, except for four dead Americans and a thick passel of lies.

So all she has is the But I'm a Girrrrrl card.

And she'll play it forever. And ever. And ever.

The quote her PAC takes out of context was an anodyne statement from Rubio, explaining his finances to Becky Quick, who interrogated him about them, that he'd had to "explain" to his wife why Sally Mae was taking $1000 out of his account every month.

Right on cue.

Quote of the Day III

From Ace of Spades HQ:

Barack Obama's not a failure because he was a first-term senator, or even for lack of experience. He's had seven years of presidential experience and, in my mind, he's still failing. Barack Obama has failed as president because his ideas don't work. And they wouldn't have worked if he'd been in the senate for 40 years. And they wouldn't have worked if he was the CEO of a major company. And they wouldn't have worked if he was a governor. His ideas do not work. They don't work in America, they've never worked anywhere in the world. Here's what works: free enterprise, a limited government, a strong national security. That's what we need from our next president.

---- Marco Rubio

Boom!

Revealed - The Rubio “luxury speedboat”; Update: About the “luxury” house …

From Hot Air:

Earlier today, the New York Times clucked its tongue over Marco Rubio’s “penchant for luxury,” embodied primarily in the purchase of an $80,000 “speedboat.” One man’s luxury is another man’s … fishing boat. The Rubio team sent Dylan Byers a link to the model of the boat Rubio bought, which ain’t exactly a yacht: ..................

This is Marco Rubio’s ‘luxury speedboat’ http://t.co/XvMaUJo02m pic.twitter.com/FIWI29pm46

— Blake Hounshell (@blakehounshell) June 9, 2015

A “penchant for luxury,” eh? Compare and contrast:

@blakehounshell @EdMorrissey Here's John Kerry's. Looks like Rubio should have picked a sugar momma like the Poodle. pic.twitter.com/ZUTHouLYda

— Sheepherder (@chrismcm66) June 9, 2015

The NY Slimes has also made much about Rubio's home and all of his "luxury" upgrades. Ok. let's do a comparison, as Bill Sanderson has:

Left: Marco Rubio's house. Right: Hillary Clinton's house. Clearly, Hillary can identify with the common man. pic.twitter.com/3gLEXcpdmW

— Bill Sanderson (@mrgeology) June 9, 2015