Profiles In Courage, Marco Rubio Edition

Sen. Marco Rubio, his immigration push and 2016 chances imploding in real time due to the GOP's Tea Party meltdown, has decided he'll do anything to appease the "We hate those people" crowd that now owns the Republican party, including revoking his support of a federal judge he signed off on ten months ago.

The nomination of a gay black Miami judge to the federal bench will not move forward after Senator Marco Rubio announced he was withdrawing his support over concerns about the judge’s actions in two criminal cases.

Without Mr. Rubio’s approval, Judge William Thomas’s nomination to the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida, in Miami, is effectively blocked. Judge Thomas, who serves on the Miami-Dade Circuit, was nominated by President Obama, with Mr. Rubio’s backing, more than 10 months ago.

Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, signed off on the nomination on July 24 after a background check raised no red flags. For a confirmation to proceed, nominees must secure the approval of both United States senators in their home state.

So Judge Thomas's nomination is all but dead.  Rubio can't flip-flop again, or he's completely out of the 2016 picture.  Even the Times calls him out for such rank hypocrisy and cowardice.

Supporters of Judge Thomas, who grew up on welfare in Pennsylvania in a family of 10 children, said Mr. Rubio’s opposition was rooted in politics, not court rulings. Mr. Rubio, a Republican, has seen his allure among conservatives tumble, a result of his aggressive push for immigration reform. In recent weeks, he has scarcely mentioned immigration, keeping his focus mostly on issues with broad conservative appeal like abortion and health care. 

Had he been confirmed by the United States Senate, Judge Thomas would have become the first black openly gay man on the federal bench. 

“As much as I would like to think that politics has nothing to do with this, it looks as if it does,” said Yolanda Strader, president of Miami’s largest association for black lawyers, who called Judge Thomas one of the hardest working on the bench. “It would be unfair to prevent a well-qualified judicial nominee from proceeding with the nomination process because he is an openly gay black male.”

Which wasn't a problem until the Tea Party found out.  Then it became a problem.  That's what Republicans do, talk a good game about "inclusiveness" and "big tent politics" and when it comes to delivering, they turn into hateful, spiteful bigots.  Anyone who trusts a Republican to not be a bigot, well.

Any questions about where the "savior" of the GOP's loyalties really lie?