Joel Award: Marco Rubio

It is time to give out another Joel Award. The award is given to a blogger, politician or pundit whom makes glaringly obvious contradictory statements.

In January, Marco Rubio signed a Club For Growth pledge and promised that if elected Senator, he woul vote to repeal the entire health care reform bill.

"As a U.S. senator, I will sponsor and support legislation to repeal any federal health care takeover passed in 2010, and replace it with real reforms that lower health care costs without growing government," Rubio said.

The National Review's Jim Geraghty interviewed Rubio in a coffee shop. Rubio told Geraghty and other conservative writers that he would keep the ban on insurance companies from not covering people with preexisting conditions. Rubio would also allow child to be under their parents' insurance coverage until he or she is 26. That is a radical departure from Rubio's earlier pledge. That might have something to do with poll numbers threading to support to the health care reform bill signed by President Barack Obama.

Republicans will never be able to repeal the entire health care bill. Democrats will just point to parts of the legislation that are popular and use that against Republicans. The GOP has tried to get rid of Medicare and Social Security and failed. RNC Chairman Michael Steele actually attack Obama for proposed cuts in Medicare. It was weird seeing the RNC Chairman defend an entitlement program.

Personally, I don't think Rubio has thought about the policy implications. I don't remember him as being wonky during his tenure as Florida House Speaker. I have seen evidence he doesn't understand foreign policy. The NWF Daily News editorial board was shocked about how ignorant Rubio was about the issues surround drilling for oil off of Florida's coast. If Rubio has been a politician in Florida and hasn't studied offshore drilling than I doubt he knows anything about health care.