SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
"Can you tell me right now that you will not accept a single donation from the NRA in the future?" student Cameron Kasky asked, sparking cheers from the audience. (Photo: CNN/Screengrab)
'People Buy Into My Agenda': Watch Marco Rubio Refuse to Swear Off NRA Cash on National Television
The Florida senator said he will "always accept the help of anyone who agrees with my agenda."
Feb 22, 2018
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) received over a million dollars in donations from the National Rifle Association during his successful 2016 reelection bid, and--in the aftermath of last week's school shooting in his home state that left 17 dead--the senator appears reluctant to ditch this reliable source of campaign cash.
During a CNN town hall Wednesday night, Rubio was pressed by Cameron Kasky--a survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting--to swear off donations from an organization that opposes even minor and widely popular gun control measures, while also suggesting that teachers should be armed.
"Can you tell me right now that you will not accept a single donation from the NRA in the future?" Kasky asked, sparking cheers from the audience.
After a few moments of ducking and dodging, Rubio essentially rejected Kasky's plea, saying people "buy into" his agenda and that he will "always accept the help of anyone who agrees with my agenda."
Watch:
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) received over a million dollars in donations from the National Rifle Association during his successful 2016 reelection bid, and--in the aftermath of last week's school shooting in his home state that left 17 dead--the senator appears reluctant to ditch this reliable source of campaign cash.
During a CNN town hall Wednesday night, Rubio was pressed by Cameron Kasky--a survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting--to swear off donations from an organization that opposes even minor and widely popular gun control measures, while also suggesting that teachers should be armed.
"Can you tell me right now that you will not accept a single donation from the NRA in the future?" Kasky asked, sparking cheers from the audience.
After a few moments of ducking and dodging, Rubio essentially rejected Kasky's plea, saying people "buy into" his agenda and that he will "always accept the help of anyone who agrees with my agenda."
Watch:
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) received over a million dollars in donations from the National Rifle Association during his successful 2016 reelection bid, and--in the aftermath of last week's school shooting in his home state that left 17 dead--the senator appears reluctant to ditch this reliable source of campaign cash.
During a CNN town hall Wednesday night, Rubio was pressed by Cameron Kasky--a survivor of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting--to swear off donations from an organization that opposes even minor and widely popular gun control measures, while also suggesting that teachers should be armed.
"Can you tell me right now that you will not accept a single donation from the NRA in the future?" Kasky asked, sparking cheers from the audience.
After a few moments of ducking and dodging, Rubio essentially rejected Kasky's plea, saying people "buy into" his agenda and that he will "always accept the help of anyone who agrees with my agenda."
Watch:
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.