Congressmen Trey Gowdy (R-South Carolina) and Lynn Westmoreland (R-Georgia) stopped by Marco Rubio’s Cobb County GA campaign headquarters for a media availability before continuing on to an event for campaign supporters.
Regarding the official topic at hand, Gowdy said his support for Rubio was because he “carries our message in an aspirational and thus persuasive way.” Follow up comments noted the importance of not only holding the GOP base together but attracting new people to the GOP in order to win national elections and hold Congress. Thus, the person leading the ticket and presumptively the party must be able to help with that. Gowdy also noted that with the passing of Justice Scalia that “the stakes are really high”. He underscored the importance of the primary process resulting in “the most electable conservative.”
Congressman Westmoreland was asked by the AJC’s Greg Bluestein about Rubio’s siding with Florida over the tri-state water wars issue and Governor Deal’s displeasure with such. Westmoreland stated that Rubio is still a Senator from Florida and thus is charged with representing the interests of the state that elected him. Thus Westmoreland summed up “On the water issue I have to agree with Governor Deal, but for President I’m with Senator Rubio.”
I asked Congressman Gowdy if he had any reaction to the WaPo story where House Democrats were again decrying the wastefulness of his Select Committee on Benghazi on which Congressman Westmoreland also serves. This in light of the fact that Dems paid their staffers thousands in bonuses despite showing little interest or participation. Gowdy recited a littany of things the minority party members had not done in their search for the truth, summing up with a cutting “I can not understate” how helpful the Democrats have been.
The final comments returned to Rubio, with Westmoreland discussing the role of National defense and our allies’ unwillingness to share intelligence with the US right now. Gowdy cited not only Rubio’s work on the Senate Intelligence Committee and Foreign Relations as understanding the gravity and seriousness of the role, but his own interpersonal and hands on approach to working with members of Congress.