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Rubio: Obama threatens nation’s future

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DENVER -- Rallying Republicans hours before this year’s first presidential debate, Sen. Marco Rubio on Wednesday highlighted Vice President Joe Biden’s statement that the middle class has been “buried” to argue that the nation has suffered under President Obama and needs new leadership in November.

“Over the last four years, the American middle class has been buried,” the Florida lawmakers said, and the crowd gathered in a rodeo complex roared. “Everyone says, ‘Oh, you’re a partisan Republican for saying that.’ No, no, those aren’t my words. Those happened to be the words of the distinguished vice president of the United States, Mr. Joe Biden.”

As the crowd groaned, Rubio told them not boo.

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“Because in a moment of clarity, in a brief moment of clarity, he just told us what we already knew -- the American middle class is hurting. You know why the American middle class is hurting? Because the policies that Barack Obama is imposing on the United States haven’t worked anywhere in the world they have ever been tried. Never! They are the policies of governments and of countries that people come here to get away from.”

Rubio was rallying a few hundred supporters of Mitt Romney hours before the GOP nominee would face off against Obama in the first presidential debate of 2012.

“I’m really excited about tonight, I really am,” Rubio said.

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The senator focused his remarks on what he said was a fundamental choice voters face in November, arguing that the United States is different from the rest of the world because of its vibrant middle class, which would be imperiled if Obama is reelected.

“This election is not just a choice between Republican and Democrat, or Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. It’s a referendum on our identity as a nation,” Rubio said. “... [F]our more years of Barack Obama threatens to take away from us what makes us different and special from the rest of the world.”

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seema.mehta@latimes.com

twitter.com/@LATSeema

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