Rubio should resign

Major Florida newspaper editorial board: Marco Rubio should resign

By Daniel Strauss

The editorial board of one of Florida's most prominent newspapers has a recommendation for Sen. Marco Rubio: just resign already.

The editorial in the Florida Sun-Sentinel follows an interview the senator did with The Washington Post where he said he was "frustrated" with his chamber. The story also quoted a "longtime friend from Florida" who said "he hates it."

Well, the Sun-Sentinel editorial board has had enough. The Wednesday editorial said that the 2016 presidential candidate "has missed more votes than any other senator this year. His seat is regularly empty for floor votes, committee meetings and intelligence briefings. He says he's MIA from his J-O-B because he finds it frustrating and wants to be president, instead."

So, the editorial continued to Rubio, "If you hate your job, senator, follow the honorable lead of House Speaker John Boehner and resign it."

Boehner announced in September that he would step down from his position. He has opted to remain as speaker until his successor is elected.

A popular criticism among Rubio's critics is that he misses far too many votes in the Senate. A recent NBC News analysis found that Sen. Ted Cruz had missed 57 votes, Sen. Lindsey Graham missed 39 votes, Sen. Bernie Sanders had missed seven and Sen. Rand Paul had missed four. The same analysis found that Rubio had missed 59. All those senators are 2016 presidential candidates.

"Everyone needs to run their own campaign," Rubio said Sunday in an interview with CNN's Jamie Gangel. "I'm not missing votes because I'm on vacation."

Rubio, in that interview, went on to say "voting is not the only part of the Senate job, adding "the most important thing a senator does is constituent service. We're still involved in looking out for Florida's issues."

The Sun-Sentinel editorial team called out Rubio for that comment.

"It is unpersuasive — and incredible, really — that you say your vote doesn't matter," the editorial said.

"Either do your job, Sen. Rubio, or resign it," the editorial concludes.