Marco Rubio slaps down Politico article criticizing his quotes from the Bible

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) mocked the criticism from Politico over his quoting the Bible in a tweet that chided their description of the "most Republican part of the Bible."

"Proverbs is the Republican part of the bible?" he tweeted. "I don't think Solomon had yet joined the GOP when he wrote the first 29 chapters of Proverbs."

Proverbs is the Republican part of the bible?I don't think Solomon had yet joined the GOP when he wrote the first 29 chapters of Proverbs. https://t.co/2bGhkGwoqH

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 9, 2017

In the Politico article, Yale professor Joel Baden criticizes the Florida senator for apparently tweeting too many verses from the book of Proverbs.

"Proverbs is notable in that is presents a fairly consistent view of the world: The righteous are rewarded, and the wicked are punished," he writes. "In the understanding of Proverbs, everyone gets what is coming to them; behavior is directly linked to reward or punishment. This worldview has social consequences: Those who succeed in life must be more righteous than those who struggle."

Baden cites one other Republican politician quoting Proverbs before proclaiming, "In short: Proverbs is probably the most Republican book of the entire Bible."

He goes on to cite other Republicans quoting the book, and adds that Democrat President Bill Clinton also used a quotation from Proverbs.

The tweet before Rubio's jab at Politico was itself from Proverbs.

A quick survey of his latest tweets show he does indeed like to quote Proverbs:

Baden concludes his article by advising Rubio tweet verses that liberals believe confirm their political agenda.

"There is surely nothing wrong with a politician turning to the Bible for spiritual, ethical and moral guidance," he writes. "The Bible is the foundational text of Western civilization, after all. But concentrating exclusively on the parts of it that affirm one’s own perspective is a form of confirmation bias. One might advise Rubio to read, and tweet, more widely..."