Marco Rubio's "water bottle-gate" moment

Updated 9:55 a.m. ET, Feb. 13

In the official GOP rebuttal to President Obama's State of the Union speech Tuesday, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., made a passionate case for the limited role of government in American society. But the gist of his message was lost on the Twittersphere about 11 minutes in, when the visibly overheated senator broke away for a quick sip of water.

Rubio, who had mopped his brow a few times previously during the speech, was in the midst of maligning what he called "false choices" Mr. Obama laid out between big government and big business. But he interrupted his thought to grab a small water bottle apparently at his side, ducking down and nearly out of of the camera frame, before taking a sip and continuing with his remarks.

• Obama: "Thriving middle class" key to finishing economic recovery
• Rubio: More government breeds more problems
• Complete coverage: The State of the Union 2013

Commentators immediately pounced: On CNN, Wolf Blitzer was captured saying, "uh oh" as Rubio put the water bottle down again, and gifs of the moment immediately popped up on Twitter.

Rubio, however, acknowledged the incident in a lighthearted post-game tweet of his own -- with a picture of the water bottle in question, along with the hashtag #GOPResponse.

On "CBS This Morning" today, Rubio said he's "just glad the water was nearby. I don't know what I would have done without it."

[raymailhot]

Amazing what limited intelligence our journalists have. At one time they tried to lead the country with real investigative reporting, now they have become political hacks at best!

[Mitteemo48]

It would be interesting to go over the characterizations of all the past presidents by their opponents for office. Marco Rubio is being touted as a future presidential candidate. I would vote for him because he is Hispanic and I am not Hispanic, it is just time to elect another person because he is different than what we have. Why not waste my vote again, it made no difference the last time. The country is full of stupid people who worship a personality not the best of the best. I remember the talk when Reagan became president. A person said, Boy, they are scraping the bottom to have a grade B actor become president. I voted for him and was glad I did. The funny thing is he became president any way and nobody could get rid of him, like Barry, ha. Not that I wanted to because it doesn't seem to matter who runs for president or congress, nothing seems to change. Washington screws the common man working or not. The lower class is not talked about except as a way to get sympathy with voters before the election. The news media keeps it all going to keep sponsors and keep the money going one way. Once the government has taxed you, it is not your money. No power here, the sideshow is the main show and it goes on and on, free admission but no prize. Taking a drink has been criminalized by the idiot media. Not too far from the endless use of the word 'gravitas' used so frequently by the media and liberals to sound intelligent. Of course they only convinced themselves like the prep school Eastern grads they all are. We got sick of it and they moved on when it did not go anywhere, idiots all. By the way, no personal attack here, since it is a group not a named individual who is being lambasted, ha.

[dutch-mill-68]

DUTCH-MILL-68 says:It's always interesting when facts come along - a person with an opinion is no match for one with facts.
OFFICIAL 2012 PRESIDENTIAL GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS
http://www.fec.gov/pubrec/fe2012/2012presgeresults.pdf
Obama 65,899,660 51.06%
Romney 60,932,152 47.21%

And the opinions indicate people think he won by a landslide and has a mandate.

Now, since Romney was such slug and scumbag (according to Dems), if he can come this close Rubio will do much better.

[eroteme2]

Democrats and their mainstream media are obviously eager to destroy him. But I don't believe bombasting him for sipping a little water will go by itself, they may just be praticing for the next more juicy item to downgrade him. Previous practice they have had, accusing Romney of being a murderer, a liar, a felon, a tax cheat, a dog torturer, a bad actor when he was in high school, etc.

[indvfreedomliberal]

Boy you can sure see how shallow and bigoted democrats are if taking a drink of water is attacked like this. Thgat's why the vote for losers like Obama they look for style over substance.

[Forty-Four]

What, people are not allowed to be nervous in their first national TV appearance?

[Jgarcia828]

What is the big deal with hi. Reaching to bet a sip of water ? Most debates i have seen in the podiums they have a glass of water... Can someone explain to me whats the big deal?

[Think4times]

Boehner has a Rum and Coke

[snafoo972]

The big deal is that this is supposed to be a 'rising star' in the Republican party and someone that can help shore up support among Latino voters. But contrasted against Obama's relatively strong speaking skills, he falls flat and demonstrates how badly Republicans are struggling to find compelling candidates.

He also didn't say anything to grab people's attention and get the media talking, so that made the slip-up the most notable part of the speech. Definitely a missed opportunity in his career and an embarrassing gaffe for Republicans.

[smittyontheright]

I would much rather watch Rubio drink bottled water than listen to Barry speak...was that elitist??....make that tap water....

[TimeToEvolve]

All the idiot Rubio did was criticize Obama, he had nothing to say of substance (typical Republicon?). All he did was repeat the same tired old ideas that Robbed Me and other failed, fake, free market righties have been saying.

How stupid does Rubio think his audience is anyway? Does he think they all listen to Limbaugh and Fox Stupid Channel? Seriously.

[dj4240]

The liberal media mocking Rubio because he took a drink of water during his powerful rebuttal..while there are 23 million people who can't find work in the slowest recovery in this country's history and the 10's of millions who are on some sort of welfare,and now a 17 trillion dollar national debt just proves how out of touch the liberal media is with reality,and that the liberal media is nothing more then a tool for white house propaganda, and like school kids mock who they fear.

[dj4240]

Gecko.......How you liberals are forming over Rubio taking a sip of water,is laughable...Why don't focus on something important like the 17 trillion dollar national debt and all the people who are out of work and suffering...And if mocking Rubio for drinking water is the best that liberals can criticize Rubio for then he'll be the next POTUS...Go Rubio.