Marco Rubio's Apology Tour
The Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor MD. Sen Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) addresses the conference on March 6, 2014.
Photographer: Mark Peterson/ReduxMarco Rubio glided through a group of 40 or so Republican insiders at Lisa Van Riper’s South Carolina home, shaking hands and making jokes. “We are a nation of immigrants,” he told the group at one point, the closest Van Riper could recall him coming to the topic of immigration reform.
At one point, Rubio’s personal history as the son of immigrants was his most potent political attribute. But that was before he co-sponsored a Senate immigration bill, including a path to citizenship, that was supposed to be a general-election killer app—and it blew up in his face. Now, Rubio says the word “immigrant” as if he’s gingerly salving a wound.