CBS NEWS
(CBS NEWS) -- In the official GOP rebuttal to President Obama's State of the Union
speech Tuesday, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, made a passionate
case for the limited role of government in American society. But the
gist of his message was lost on the Twittersphere about 11 minutes in,
when the visibly overheated senator broke away for a quick sip of water.
Rubio, who had mopped his brow a few times previously
during the speech, was in the midst of maligning what he called "false
choices" Mr. Obama laid out between big government and big business. But
he interrupted his thought to grab a small water bottle apparently at
his side, ducking down and nearly out of of the camera frame, before
taking a sip and continuing with his remarks.
Commentators
immediately pounced: On CNN, Wolf Blitzer was captured saying, "uh oh"
as Rubio put the water bottle down again, and gifs of the moment
immediately popped up on Twitter.
Rubio, however, acknowledged the incident in a lighthearted post-game tweet of his own -- with a picture of the water bottle in question, along with the hashtag #GOPResponse.
On "CBS This Morning" today, Rubio said he's "just glad the water was nearby. I don't know what I would have done without it."