Marco Rubio makes me feel good -- and bad.

I can sympathize with Rubio's brain freeze under Chris Christie's relentless questioning during the Republican debate last night.  It's happened to me a few times in debates, too.  I remember during my debate with Richard Carrier, leaving my notes about the Problem of Pain on the table, and then nothing better coming to mind, in front of hundreds of spectators, to rebut Carrier's arguments on that subject.  But Rubio was speaking to millions, he was being challenged precisely on his over-scripted speeches, and for the life of him, he couldn't come up with anything off-script to reply!

So that makes me feel good, knowing so professional and "scripted" a speaker could mess up that badly.

Yeah, I mean you!

In retrospect, here's what I would have said in Rubio's place:

"Chris, your audiences and your staff know perfectly well that you repeat yourself relentlessly, as well.  Everyone knows that you're a former prosecutor.  We've all heard about how you saved New Jersey after a hurricane -- Jeb Bush is unimpressed, Florida gets one of those about as often as Hillary Clinton sends out national security secrets through her private server.  

"You're a straight-talking man, no doubt about it.  And you're good at press conferences.  Is that what America most needs in a president?  If it is, then it's between you and Donald Trump.

"But why are you attacking me?  Why don't you go after the front-runner?  Are you afraid to challenge Donald Trump?  Or could it be because your handlers have told you that I have the best chance to beat Hillary Clinton, and keep her from setting up a private server in the White House?  And that's true.  Polls show that I have the best chance of winning, among all those on the stage.  Trump and Cruz are wildly unpopular among the electorate at large.  So aren't you harming the Republican field, and the future of America, by attacking me?

"Maybe rather than going for the Republican with the best chance of winning, you should ask yourself why you haven't caught on in our party.  Maybe your bluster and straight-talking wear thin, when it turns out your claims aren't exactly accurate?  (Do you want examples?)  Or maybe some Republicans -- elephants have long memories -- remember that when Mitt Romney needed your help, you pouted and slobbered all over Barack Obama, helping him into the White House four years ago?"

Honestly, I rather like Chris Christie, despite (and partly because) of his bombast.  But I think he had a response something like that coming.

But given what Rubio said later in the debate about women being drafted, I think he also has something coming -- maybe, losing the election.  Possibly, losing my support.

And that makes me feel bad, because I think either he or Christi, or probably most of the others but Trump, would make a good president.

Here's what I would like to tell Marco Rubio:

You should have kept your mouth closed!

"For thousands of years, real men have defended women.  It's programmed into our genes.  It's the core military tradition of all civilized peoples.  Read the ancient Greeks: it's all men.  Read the Chinese: it's all men.  You might get an occasional rumor about Amazons, or an occasional Hua Mulan, but those have been rare exceptions to the norm in civilized nations: women run risks in childbirth, and are given by God the duty and instinct to take care of our young ones.  Men are endowed by nature with a protective instinct, and with the physical strength and psychological makeup to fight in combat.  That's why most gang murders are committed by young men.  It's also why mountains are climbed, continents explored, and football played and watched, far more often by men than women.  

"Sorry if you don't care for human nature, but that's part of what we are.

"Now you want to toss all that away on the whim of some politically-correct new fad?  You didn't fall for the 'gay marriage' fad, why do you have to fall for this one?

"The idea of sending young women to face ISIS or the Iranian army on the battlefield, is noxious.  You ought to have your head examined.  If captured, they will be raped.  If serving, sexual relations will happen, and degrade the army services.  

"A conservative shouldn't be so quick to toss human history and human nature so quickly.  I am now officially rethinking my support of your candidacy, and hope someone will talk some sense into you."