Much of what people think of the GOP establishment isn’t verified or specified. Since it comes from the perceptions of people who cannot target DC, nor do they know how DC and its insides work.

The hint is, look at the staffers who work, sometimes unpaid as interns, for various Senators. Rubio’s problem starts there, but doesn’t end there. McCain has the same problem, and it exploded against Sarah Palin.

No, he’s not.

“Golden boy” has a meaning. It doesn’t mean “a person who many of them came to reluctantly support when the only other choices had come down to the execrable Trump and the hyper-conservative Cruz, and all their real “golden boys” (Bush, for example) had crashed and burned.”

Nope, that’s not a golden boy.

Is now.

I’m sorry, but that’s absurd. Rubio is no Democrat in any sense of the word.

His conservatism on other matters is not just verbal.

You consider his “betrayal” fatal to your support of him. That’s your decision; I don’t share it. That’s fine. But for you to say he’s not a conservative, or that his conservatism is just “verbal,” is not supported by the facts. The facts are here and here, and there’s plenty more in that vein.

You don’t have to like Rubio. You can feel he betrayed you, or that he’s an opportunist, or whatever. But he hasn’t just spoken as a conservative, he has consistently acted as one except for the Gang of 8.

And he’s about a gazillion times more conservative than Donald Trump, of course, and far more consistently so (who by the way, also supported the Gang of 8 bill).

My opinion and I suspect many others is that when it offers political advantage, Rubio IS a democrat. Betrayal is memorable because of the importance of what is betrayed. Turncoats betray over major rather than minor matters, as reward must be commensurate with what is risked. Rubio was willing to sacrifice his Senate seat to have a shot at the ‘brass ring’. That he fatally miscalculated doesn’t absolve him of his betrayal, nor does his verbal conservatism on other issues change what his betrayal revealed of his character.

No, Rubio is not “the golden boy of establishment Republicans.”

He was the “golden boy” of conservatives. Tea Party candidate, etc.

He had a fall from conservative grace and became persona non grata with a great many conservatives because of his support of the Gang of 8 bill (a support he later reversed, but the damage to his reputation had been done). But otherwise (as even Limbaugh said), he is a very consistent conservative:

…]D]uring his daily radio program, Limbaugh blasted media coverage describing Rubio as an establishment champion.

“I don’t like this idea that Marco Rubio is all of a sudden being labeled as an establishment candidate,” Limbaugh said, acknowledging Rubio’s bipartisan “baggage” of the 2013 Senate bill on immigration reform.

“Marco Rubio is no moderate, Republican centrist,” Limbaugh said. “I don’t see Marco Rubio as anything other than a legitimate, full-throated conservative.”

“Nobody’s pure, and nobody is ever free of making mistakes,” the hard-right host added.

Do you really you want to join the chorus of ignorance and claim otherwise? If you want to learn something about Rubio’s conservatism, read this article that I linked to in the post.

If there was a “conservative golden boy” in this race, one could argue it was Jeb Bush, who turned out to be not so golden.

Rubio’s candidacy in Florida could help save the Senate from Democratic control. As this post indicates, he has a better chance of winning the state than the other GOP contenders in Florida. I assume you’re not keen to have the Senate fall into Democratic hands, so I wonder why you are perturbed at Rubio coming round for what you term as “another bite at the apple.”

I agree. But then I fail to see any real statesmen in the reuplicks area, on second thought Lee appears to have principles.
But he is still a better bet than the shallow trash on the other side running against him.

Read these articles and make up your own mind as to Rubio’s veracity;
“Ted Cruz Leaps To ICE Officer Chris Crane’s Defense Following Marco Rubio’s Smear”

“Nation’s ICE Officers Detail How Marco Rubio Betrayed Them”

“Law Enforcement Sides with Chris Crane After Rubio’s Anti-ICE Tirade”

Rubio didn’t make ‘a mistake’ when he joined the gang of eight, he needed something ‘big’, an accomplishment he could point to, to support his run for the Presidency. Especially since his attendance record in the Senate was so abysmal.

Rubio changing his mind is just another example of his political opportunism. Rubio continuing in the Senate will prevent a democrat from gaining another Senate seat. It will also offer Rubio another opportunity to betray America and as soon as he believes he sees a personal advantage for doing so, he’ll betray us again. It’s what snakes do.