Ted Cruz: Marco Rubio backlash motivated by race

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) believes that recent criticisms of his colleague Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) are motivated by race, according to a report Tuesday in the Dallas Morning News.

“I think Democrats and the media are afraid of Marco Rubio because he is a smart, intelligent, conservative Hispanic. And they are looking for any excuse they can to attack him, because that threatens them,” Cruz told reporters while touring a gun manufacturing plant in Texas.

The freshman Texas senator went on to accuse Democrats of overplaying the now-infamous incident where Rubio awkwardly grabbed for a bottle of water during his rebuttal to the president's State of the Union speech.

“Look, he took a drink of water in a speech. And it dominated the news for days with one network saying it was a career ender," Cruz said.

Cruz hinted that there could be racial motivations behind the criticism, saying the backlash was fueled by more than Rubio's "promising" political outlook.

"I think the Democrats view Marco Rubio as a particular threat because of his background, his life story. I think it they believe it is in their interest to inflict as much damage as possible and blow things wildly out of proportion," Cruz said.

Rubio, the child of Cuban American immigrants, has been heralded by many in the GOP as someone who could improve the party's image with Hispanic voters, after they broke overwhelmingly for President Obama in the 2012 election. A Time magazine cover story earlier this month depicted Rubio as "The Republican Savior" and called him the "great Hispanic hope of the Republican Party."

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