Marco Rubio in Politico.com

On Civil Rights: One-man-one-woman marriage existed before our laws

On Education: Professor of political science at Florida International U.

Rubio's lectures reveal a tactical mind that explores "targets of opportunity" for both parties. He discusses demographic slices of the electorate as if they are pieces on the Electoral College chessboard.

Rubio explains the GOP's dilemma like this: "Basically, Barack Obama got eight out of 10 votes from the fastest-growing groups in America. And Mitt Romney got 90 percent of his votes from the group that is diminishing in terms of its overall percentage of the population.

Imagine, he tells his students at one point, that "despite your message, you can't get through [to minority voters] because they're convinced you hate them. That's going to be a problem."

On Education: Bad idea to arm teachers against school shootings

Jeered and booed by the crowd, buffeted by tough questions, Rubio stood alone as the only Republican onstage. He broke with President Trump on whether to arm teachers. Rubio said it was a bad idea. He said he would favor raising the minimum age to purchase an assault rifle from 18 to 21. And he said he would consider restricting the size of magazines for firearms.

It was a striking turnabout for Rubio, who never met a gun-rights bill he didn't vote for in the Florida Legislature and, later, in Congress. But Rubio said he wanted to prevent another massacre and said it was time for everyone to start rethinking their positions.

On Foreign Policy: Press freedom is a universal human right, especially in Cuba

"Imagine for a moment, if the U.S. government had shut down POLITICO the day it launched in 2007--or any conservative, liberal or mainstream online news outlet for that matter," he said. "As Americans, we would be outraged. Press freedom is a universal human right, and we should be outraged that yet another blatant instance of repression has taken place in Cuba," Rubio said.

On Gun Control: Ban bump stocks; limit magazine size; more background checks

Rubio steadfastly refused to consider banning semiautomatic rifles outright. And he said he would not refuse money from the National Rifle Association.

Rubio said, "I absolutely believe that in this country if you are [under] 18 years of age you should not be able to buy a rifle and I will support a law that takes that right away." Rubio was met with applause and went on to say he supports banning "bump stocks," which can make a semiautomatic fire like a machine gun. He also voiced support for better background checks & mental health funding. But when Rubio said an "assault weapons ban" would not have prevented Parkland's murders, the boos rained down.

On Homeland Security: We need NSA intel to fight emerging terrorist threats

A high-stakes vote over the future of the NSA further tested Republicans' relationships in the Valley. Paul and others had supported a major overhaul of the agency's authorities to collect Americans' communications in bulk--but the senator shocked tech giants and civil-liberties groups when he pulled support at the last minute, as the USA Freedom Act reached the Senate floor for a key procedural vote. Rubio long had stated his opposition, citing emerging terrorist threats and the need for more intelligence.

Paul defended his vote on surveillance reform, stressing in an interview he "couldn't vote for it because it reauthorized the PATRIOT Act"--a law he described as "heinous."

On Homeland Security: Haul terrorists to Guantanamo for enhanced interrogation

Last year Congress enshrined a torture ban into federal law: In June, the Senate voted 78-21 to approve an amendment, sponsored by Sens. John McCain and Dianne Feinstein, that became law. Rubio missed the vote but opposed the measure, saying he didn't want to deny future presidents "important tools for protecting the American people." He also complained about "telegraphing to the enemy what interrogation techniques we will or won't use."

The McCain-Feinstein amendment requires that all interrogation comply with the Army Field Manual, a publicly available document that forbids waterboarding as well as the use of electric shocks, dogs, nudity, hypothermia and mock executions. All were elements of the CIA's interrogation program in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

On Technology: Net neutrality is government regulation of the Internet

Companies like Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Yelp--through their Washington trade group, the Internet Association--are public backers of net neutrality. They together have praised Obama for endorsing an approach that might subject the Internet to utility-like regulation. All three Republicans, however, rejected the president's suggestion. Rubio hammered it as "government regulation of the Internet" that "threatens to restrict Internet growth and increase costs on Internet users." And Cruz lambasted net neutrality as "ObamaCare for the Internet" in a tweet that went viral--and drew plenty of criticism.

On Technology: Internet belongs in hands of our people, not our government

Throughout this debate, Americans have been given a false choice: Either you are for the FCC's plan, or you are for a lawless Internet. This represents a cynical view of free markets and a misunderstanding of government's role in protecting them. I believe government's role is not to regulate the actions of a few, but rather to empower all.

That's why I introduced a resolution to oppose ceding greater Internet regulatory power to the International Telecommunications Union. I have also worked on the Wi-Fi Innovation Act, designed to increase access to mobile broadband by expanding unlicensed spectrum.

The Internet is one of our people's greatest treasures, which is why it belongs in the hands of our people, not our government.

On Technology: Net neutrality empowers bureaucrats and allows manipulation

1. While the FCC plan supposedly seeks to prevent ISPs from playing favorites, it does so by giving that power to another entity: government. The answer to correcting injustice in an economy is to increase consumer power, not government power.
2. The issue of ISPs creating different speed lanes is not the injustice that it is made out to be. There are hardly any cases of it to begin with, and any deals that do take place are just as likely to benefit consumers by allowing highly trafficked sites to accommodate their visitors.
3. The primary function of the FCC's plan goes far beyond the goal of net neutrality. It would label Internet service providers as public utilities, and [thereby give] power over the Internet to an unelected, unaccountable board that every lobbyist, lawyer and crony capitalist with a vested interest in the Internet will seek to manipulate.