Rubio Says Don’t Vote for Experience; Rubio Can’t Count

The guy who tells you not to base your hiring decisions on résumés probably has a crappy résumé.

That guy is Senator Marco Rubio, whose most notable achievement may be marrying a Miami Dolphins cheerleader. Last night, he told us not to elect the President of the United States based on experience:

At the first prime-time debate for the 2016 Republican presidential primary, Rubio said he’s qualified even though he doesn’t have executive experience.

“This election cannot be a resume competition,” he said. “It’s important to be qualified, but if this election is going to be a resume competition, then Hillary Clinton’s going to be the next president, because she’s been in office and in government longer than anybody else running here tonight” [Lauren Carroll, “Rubio Says Hillary Clinton in Government Longer Than Any Republican Running,” Politifact.com, 2015.08.07].

So, Rubio Republicans, whoever runs against John Thune for his Senate seat gets to make this same argument, right?

But wait: John Thune has been in government longer than Hillary Clinton. Senate for twelve years, House for six, Mickelson appointee for two, that’s twenty years compared to Clinton’s twelve (Senate for eight, State Department for four). So, points out Politifact, have GOP Presidential candidates Huckabee, Christie, Jindal, Santorum, Walker, Pataki, Graham, Kasich, Perry, and Rubio, whose résumé apparently also lacks math and Google skills. If we take his “Less Experience Necessary” argument seriously, we’d pick Clinton over Rubio.

Of course, Hillary Clinton will want to make the Rubio argument in the primary. Her measly twelve years in office pale in comparison to Bernie Sanders’s robust record of 32 years in elected office—24 in Congress, eight as mayor of Burlington, Vermont. Sanders is now six points behind Clinton in New Hampshire.