What is it about some politicians that make people say stupid things? Political ads run the gamut of being great or boring and some are downright bizarre. Some ads are very effective and others backfire badly. Others are just run of the mill ads. They don’t necessarily stand out but when they feature the candidate talking it’s usually done more to connect the audience with the candidate.

[mc_name name=’Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’R000595′ ] has a new ad out and when I watched it I thought, “That was a pretty good ad. Nothing special but it does what it sets out to do.”

That’s what a reasonable person would think. For some however, it gave them the vapors. Here’s the ad. Watch for yourself:

A run of the mill ad, right?

Not so according to Dan Pfeiffer:

Rubio imitating Trump’s tone has an air of desperation that we havent seen from his campaign to date https://t.co/zYeRpsG1o4 via @YouTube

— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) December 15, 2015

And Jon Favreau (No, not the good one):

“Those of us who feel out of place in our own country.” Congrats, Marco – you succeeded in sounding just like Trump: https://t.co/BDPK5nBOxt

— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) December 15, 2015

And finally, Joe Scarborough:

Marco goes full-on nativist. Says he feels out of place in his own country. It’s such a crass play. It’s offensive. https://t.co/RPtlejaTyV

— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) December 15, 2015

The idea that what Rubio said is nativist or that he is attempting to take up the Trump banner is the stupidest line of attack I have seen against him during this primary season.

Can any one of these three three explain how a man who is the son of Cuban immigrants and who is married to the daughter of Colombian immigrants is going to be a nativist?

The whole theme of “take our country back” is one that has been used for over 15 years. George W. Bush used it. Hillary Clinton used it. Yes, even Barack Obama used it. So did  Mitt Romney.

All Rubio did was use a different version of that theme. It’s just plain dumb to say he was going in the direction of Donald Trump and playing to the xenophobia crowd. I expect it from hacks like Pfeiffer and Favreau. Joe Scarborough, however, should know better.