Sen. Marco Rubio defended his tougher talk on foreign policy in an interview broadcast Sunday, saying that Americans "have to recognize the balance of power in the world is shifting."
In addition to the threats from autocratic states such as Russia and China, the Florida Republican, who is running for president, told
"Fox News Sunday" the United States cannot ignore the "rise of rogue states like North Korea and Iran," who either already have nuclear weapons or have ambitions for them.
"These are all very different threats," he said.
Rubio also was asked by host Chris Wallace if he had gone soft on immigration reform. Rubio had been a strong proponent, but has since backed off.
"It’s not that we bailed, it’s that we don’t have the votes to pass it," Rubio said. "In fact, we have less votes for comprehensive immigration reform today than we did two years ago."
Rubio said interest in immigration reform has waned because of the last election that saw one if its strongest advocates, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, lose in the GOP primary. Also to blame, Rubio said, are the "unilateral actions the president took through executive order," and the border crisis of minors from Central America last summer.
Rubio said he hasn't flip-flopped on an Iran nuclear deal even though he formerly express support for a deal.
"Who would not be in favor of a deal if it would be a deal that would allow themselves to walk away from any sort of enrichment or reprocessing?" he said. "But that's not what the deal is."
The current outlines are "much worse than anybody anticipated," he said. "And, if fact, every time there's a new revelation about the deal it gets worse and worse and worse."
Another issue on which Rubio denies he has flip-flopped: Iraq.
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Rubio has said that President George W. Bush was right to invade Iraq in 2003 based on the intelligence he had at the time. But he also has said that knowing what is known now, "Not only would I not have been in favor of it, President [George W.] Bush would not have been in favor of it, and he said so."
Wallace pressed Rubio on the issue, but the candidate insisted, "Those are two different questions.
"The question was whether it was a mistake, and my answer was it was not a mistake. I still say it was not a mistake, because the president was presented with intelligence that said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction," he said. Bush "made the right decision based on what he knew at that time. We learned subsequently that information was wrong. My answer is, at the time, it appears the intelligence was wrong."
Rubio dismissed answering the question with the 20/20 hindsight of today.
"A president cannot make a decision on what someone might know in the future," he said. Besides, he said, knowing what is known today, the president still would have had to deal with Saddam Hussein, "but the process would have been different."
Rubio also defended his relationship with donor Norman Braman.
"I'm proud of my association with Mr. Braman," he said. A New York Times report last week detailed Rubio steering $5 million to a cancer center named for Braman.
"He has never asked for a political favor. He has never asked for any issues that involve his business," Rubio said of Braman. "He's a pillar of the South Florida community and one of our leading philanthropists."
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