The senator tweeted after his speech, “#GOPResponse #SOTU #gop #tcot” (Marco Rubio via Twitter)
Challenging President Obama sure made Marco Rubio thirsty.
The Florida senator delivered the GOP response to Obama’s State of the Union last night and became an instant Internet star after he took an awkward swig from a water bottle placed off-camera during his televised speech.
The move caused Twitter to explode (plus the birth of jokey handles like @marcoswater, @RubioH2OBottle, @SenRubiosWater):
“Marco Rubio: the man you want to have a desperate gulp of water with.”
“Rubio seems to have turned water to lemonade. #savior”
“Republicans. Sponsored by: water. Refreshing.”
“Now, if Rubio reached for a mojito that would have been awesome.”
Rubio himself took it in stride, tweeting a photo of the water bottle after the speech and making the rounds on the chat shows.
“I needed water, what am I going to do? God has a funny way of reminding us we’re human,” Rubio said laughing on “Good Morning America.”
He also stopped by “Fox & Friends” and explained, “My mouth got dry, and I had to get some water. You know, when you give a speech on a podium and the water is right there — but when you don’t, you start looking around thinking, ‘Where am I going to get the water?’”
He continued, “I figured I was better off just taking that water and taking the hit for it then being unable to pronounce my words. It’d been a long day at work, we’d already done an 18-minute recording in Spanish — and you know, my mouth got dry, what can I say? But I was happy overall with what we were able to deliver.”