Republican presidential candidate Florida Senator Marco Rubio argued that “there’s a legitimate issue in this country…with minority communities in general, that feel like they’re targeted or they have a bad relationship with local law enforcement,” but also criticized the White House and media for not paying enough attention to the deaths of police and “groups and rhetoric out there now that is encouraging people to demonize law enforcement, to target law enforcement” on Tuesday’s “O’Reilly Factor” on the Fox News Channel.
Rubio said off the rise in violent crime, “It isn’t because of laws per se. It’s illegal to do these things already. We have a societal issue in America that’s very serious. The most important institution in society is the family, and the family breaks down and values aren’t being taught, the result is going to be expressed both economically, and through these circumstances that you’re highlighting. And until we’re honest about the fact that we have some significant societal breakdown in this country and family breakdown in this country, we can’t begin to address it. And of course, government is limited in what it can do about this, but if we have a president and we have leaders that are willing to tell us not to overeat because it causes diabetes, and not to smoke because it causes cancer, we also need political leaders, and people with a bully pulpit to be willing to tell us that at the end of the day, it’s what happens in our homes and our communities and our what kids are not learning from strong families, that’s having an impact on their behavior.”
Rubio, when asked about President Obama’s relationship with the police and his responsibility for the increase in crime, stated, “Well, look there’s a legitimate issue in this country with especially young African-American males, with minority communities in general, that feel like they’re targeted or they have a bad relationship with local law enforcement. But there is another issue at play here, and that is the overwhelming and vast majority of law enforcement officers in this country are just trying to do their jobs. They’re the only thing standing between my family and danger. They’re the first people we call when we get in trouble, and it is troubling that there are groups and rhetoric out there now that is encouraging people to demonize law enforcement, to target law enforcement, or in some cases, quite frankly, to misrepresent what law enforcement is trying to do.”
He added, “I think it’s unfortunate that the White House has not acknowledged that enough. For example, we’ve had a another of police deaths here in the last few weeks, it hasn’t received nearly as much attention from this White House, or quite frankly from the media, that some of the civilian shootings have received. And some of the civilian shootings, they raise strong questions about whether the police individual involved in that case did the right thing, there’s no doubt. But what about the men and women in uniform across this country, that are the thin blue line between us and danger? They’re losing their lives, too, and there’s not been enough attention paid to that.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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