I live in Tampa, FL and have been following the Marco Rubio campaign since it first began. Last night, my wife and I had the opportunity to see Rubio speak. I was already a huge fan. But my wife, not being that much into politics, didn’t really know that much about him. We spoke to him briefly before his speech. He was just as I imagined he would be: polite, witty, charming and engaging. Of course, his speech brought the house down (despite the fact he had to cut it a little short due to travel issues). My wife instantly took to him and is now a huge supporter of his as well. We have already set up a monthly donation to his campaign. I would encourage all Florida conservatives to do the same.

Rubio walks the walk. He’s the real deal. He tells us he’s a Reaganite without even having to invoke Reagan’s name. And I would pit him against any Democrat (or Republican for that matter) in a debate. He knows the issues, knows where he stands on the issues and the reasons why. He is unflinching in his conservative principals. He doesn’t pull any punches. He is in this race to win it. Not just for himself of course, but for Florida and America. He needs all the help and money he can get.

Again, I strongly encourage everyone to donate to his campaign. $5, $10, whatever, just donate something. Better yet, set up a monthly donation. $5 a month would be fine. I spend more than that on soda in one week.

Marco Rubio will be there for us if he’s in the Senate. Now, we need to be there for him.

I’m a big fan of Andy McCarthy. He has a great interview on Uncommon Knowledge here. He’s both a tough cop and an intellectual. And I’m thrilled he’s on our side.

So I was happy this morning that he took time to write a formal column on NRO today that more clearly illustrates his recent debate with the editors over the use of death panels. Here’s the money quote:

The editorial’s contention was that there wouldn’t “literally” be death panels. To me, that’s not much different from quibbling over “what the meaning of ‘is’ is.” The stakes here couldn’t be higher, time is short, and “death panel” cuts to the chase.

In my opinion, politics is ultimately a war over language and who gets to control it. “Death Panel” immediately and accurately describes the feelings that one has when being forced to ration health care for the elderly and/or the chronically ill. We may call it “The Committee on End of Life Care”, but, dude, it’s a freakin’ death panel. Pure and simple.

Here’s the rest of the article.

From the “Well duh!” files:

Our health care system is the best in the world, so why is it that our mortality rates aren’t as low as we’d expect? It turns out it has very little to do with quality of health care and more to do with (gasp!) personal responsibility:

The health care system could be performing exceptionally well in identifying and administering treatment for various diseases, but a country could still have poor measured health if personal health care practices were unusually deleterious.

So in other words, you can have access to the best health care in the world, but if you choose to continue smoking or eating poorly, well, nothing in the world other than good luck and hearty DNA will help you. At that point, you have no one to blame but yourself.

(H/T: Pethokoukis)