Marco Rubio reflects on GOP debate performance
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's loudest applause line might have come at Jeb Bush's expense, with a well-prepared response to Bush's attack about his spotty Senate attendance and voting records. He revisited the issue on "CBS This Morning" Thursday.
"We're going to do the best we can to make every vote, especially those of great importance," Rubio told "CBS This Morning" Thursday, recalling his debate remarks. "But when I miss a vote, it's because I'm out there campaigning for the future of America."
And Rubio reiterated his promise not to attack his fellow Republicans, saying, "My campaign is going to be about who I am....It isn't going to change my feelings toward Jeb or anybody else in this race. I'm not running against them - I'm running for president. That's what I'm going to continue to focus on."
Other Republicans may escape Rubio's political attacks for now, but not the leading Democrat in the race, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
On the debate stage, Rubio cast Clinton as a "liar" and also accused the media of bias in their reporting of the Benghazi hearing, deriding them as Clinton's "ultimate super PAC."
Rubio continued to hammer away at Clinton Thursday, saying she had intentionally misled the public about the attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, which came amid the 2012 presidential election.
"Well, it's the truth. I mean, that is not only why she did it, that's why everyone in the administration did it," Rubio said. "The narrative of their campaign at the time, Charlie, was that al Qaeda was on the run and had been defeated. That was their narrative and this countered that narrative."
During the debate, moderator Becky Quick questioned Rubio about the way he's handled his personal finances, questioning if he had the "maturity and wisdom to lead a $17 trillion economy." Rubio seized on the query as an opportunity to show he was sympathetic to American workers, since he himself had "faced the same challenges in the past that people face now."
Still, Rubio expressed his overall disappointment in not being asked more questions on the economy.
"Instead of taking up those questions and really pressing the candidates on specifics, we had some of the other questions,...and I thought it was a wasted opportunity, and that's what made it unfair, not just to the candidates, but to the American people."