Marco Rubio: ‘Stay thirsty my friends’

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I am sure Sen. Marco Rubio was reminding himself not to screw up like the others who came before him had done. "Don't say 'happy Mardis Gras' like Bobby Jindal did." "Don't talk into the wrong camera like Michele Bachmann did."

And then it happened – the only thing that people will talk about and remember from his big moment in front of the cameras – comedy gold for late night comics. U.S. Senator Rubio's water break creates a flood of jokes:

During the Republican response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, Florida Senator Marco Rubio lit up social media by awkwardly reaching off-screen for a bottle of water and taking a gulp while keeping his eyes on the camera.

Mr. Rubio's clumsy attempt at refreshment – he appeared to have a dry mouth and had wiped sweat from his temples – sparked instant jokes, including this GIF showing the sip in an endless loop.

Rubio's "watergate" moment lit up Twitter. My personal favorite:

UPDATE: Steve Benen is right. Putting the rube in Rubio: 

"[W]hile it was Rubio's dry mouth that will be remembered, I hope the political world won't completely overlook the speech itself, because the far-right senator's remarks helped prove that he's quite literally not ready for prime time, for reasons that have nothing to do with his hard-to-watch presentation.

By any sensible measure, Rubio's entire pitch was incoherent gibberish. . .

Forget ideology, subjectivity, and areas of opinion — the fact is Marco
Rubio's speech was filled with a series of claims with no meaningful
connection to reality.