Marco Rubio gets an A for effort, C for substance at CNN live town hall

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Sen. Marco Rubio almost totally blew it.

Okay, yeah, sure, the Republican who has taken $3.3 million from the NRA during his political career was brave for just showing up at the CNN Townhall Wednesday in the aftermath of the mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High in Broward last week. The crowd at the BB&T Center just a few miles from the school where 14 students and three teachers died was not a friendly one. It was mostly students and parents and teachers from Parkland school. He was booed repeatedly. Ladra almost feared for his safety at one point.

Democrat Sen. Bill Nelson , also there for the Jake Tapper led discussion on gun control and school safety, congratulated Rubio’s courage as did some of the students, parents and teachers who asked him difficult questions nonetheless. Rubio didn’t flinch. He stood there and let people take shots at him, as he should have. And so he gets an A for effort.

He gets a C minus on the rest of the evening, however, and just barely misses flunking because of three things: (1) the foresight to shift a teeny tiny bit on policy, saying he would support increasing the age requirement for all guns from 18 to 21 and better background checks (2) his stand against letting teachers carry guns at schools and (3) his willingness to reconsider magazine clip size.

It’s something. And to repeat what some of the gun control activists have been saying, something is better than nothing.

But, true, it’s not enough. Not quite. And Rubio almost failed because he tripped all over himself trying to defend his position.

Here are some dos and don’ts the senator could use for the next time, and you know there will be a next time before these Parkland students succeed in making change happen:

DON’T correct or “school” the father of one of the dead kids on something you said. “Let me explain,” Rubio told Fred Guttenberg, the father of Jaime Guttenberg, a 14-year-old who was shot in the back as she ran away. As if there could possibly be an explanation at this time and place. How about no? Rubio couldn’t help himself and just had to “explain” or clarify his words. “Here’s what I said: The problems that we’re facing here today cannot be solved by gun laws alone.” Was it because Guttenberg said your comments on this have been “pathetically weak.” Don’t contradict him. Don’t set the record straight. Just say sorry, bro.

DON’T let the perfect get in the way of the good. The explanation was that the ban being considered on assault rifles only applies to about 200 firearms, leaving more than 200 guns that are used exactly the same way in the legal realm. How is this a good argument to be telling a man whose daughter was killed with one of those guns? That you can only prohibit half of them? Baby steps are okay, senator.

DON’T talk so much about “me, me, me” and all that you’ve done for gun safety. This is not a campaign event. You sound arrogant and out of touch. Even if it is true, there is a time and a place for everything.

DON’T say “people buy into my agenda” five times trying to defend taking campaign contributions from the NRA. In fact, don’t say “buy into my agenda” at all. Your agenda should be our agenda, which at this moment is gun control and school safety. Polls consistently show that a majority of Americans support some gun control and almost 100% support universal background checks. Also, if the KKK bought into your agenda, they could contribute, too?

DON’T lose a debate with a 17-year-old. Cameron Kasky, one of the surviving students and one of the founders of the #neveragain movement, seemed far more comfortable on that stage — even chatting with the crowd — than you did, senator. He’s the boy who challenged you to stop taking blood money from the NRA. You know what? At least say you will think about it. Because… aren’t you? Aren’t you thinking about declining any more contributions from the NRA? You should be. You don’t have to change your “agenda” but you would gain credibility for it.

DO recognize a watershed movement when you see one. These kids — Cameron and Emma Gonzalez and Alfonso Calderon and David Hogg and Delaney Tarr and Alex Wind — they are going to be Time’s Person of the Year for 2018. You need to start listening to them. They are the future. Even your old Cuban base is impressed by them. Moms like me are going to listen and, more importantly, follow their lead. You should too. Or get out of the way.

DO get with the program. Change is coming. You can taste it in the air. These are not children. These young adults — and the tens of thousands who joined them in student walkouts across the country Wednesday — can vote this year. Gun reform is coming whether you like it or not. So be in front of it. Or get out of the way.

DO break up with Dana Loesch and the NRA. They don’t support your agenda anymore, since they don’t support changing the minimum age to buy a gun from 18 to 21 or, I believe, limiting the size of magazine clips. It’s time you part ways. You might lose some campaign cash but you won’t be elected again if you don’t. It’s going to be an albatross.

This should just be the start of this conversation. There is a lot more to say and ask and debate.

And Rubio is going to have to bone up on what his constituents want and the real steps that need to be taken to make our schools and communities safer — before he gets kicked out of class.

  gun control, Marco Rubio