PALM HARBOR, Fla. — A series of five protesters stood up to yell at Marco Rubio one after another as he gave a speech to the Florida delegation to the Republican National Convention here Tuesday morning.
The first protester, an older man, stood up on the right side of the room and shouted to Rubio about the Republican Party "whoring itself
out" to corporations. He was removed by security as the crowd booed and someone yelled, "get a job!"
"I guess he didn't like the assignment," Rubio joked.
Rubio took up his speech where he left off, only to be interrupted by a second protester, this time an older woman. "Mr. Rubio, I want you to pay your fair share!"
Rubio laughed and responded: "All right, where's the hidden camera?"
He started speaking again. A third protester chimed in, another older woman yelling something unclear about the working class.
And then a fourth, to which Rubio said "Is there anyone else who'd like to give their opinion?" as a few more protesters stood up, only to be shouted down by the crowd and removed by security.
The protesters, who were all from a group called Stand Up Florida, were taken outside and given warnings for trespassing. None were arrested. There were five or six of them in total. All said they'd gotten in without a credential or other I.D.
Toni Rosenberg, 67, from Boca Raton, was the woman who exhorted Rubio to "pay his fair share. She said that she wanted to make sure her children and grandchildren have what she had growing up.
"I didn't come here to get arrested," Rosenberg said.
Stephanie Auguiste, 26, of Fort Lauderdale, sat on the sidewalk exchanging barbs with delegates yelling at her to "get a job!"
"I have a job," she said. "Why don't you create more?"