Marco Rubio’s awkward water bottle grab is making the Florida senator’s political action committee a small fortune.
Rubio’s water grab pretty much drowned out anything substantive he had to say during the Republican response to President Obama’s State of the Union address, but the GOP rising star’s PAC has at least figured out how to turn the meme-worthy moment into dollar signs.
They’ve started shelling out signature “Rubio” water bottles , which have brought in a cool $125,000 since Wednesday, reports NBC Latino .
Rubio’s PAC, Reclaim America, debuted the water bottles after the senator’s post-SOTU lunge for a tiny Poland Spring bottle, and have done pretty well with it so far.
“So far we’ve sold over 4,200 water bottles in the last five days, bringing in over $125,000,” a PAC spokesperson said.
Donors can contribute to Reclaim America with a minimum of $25, but people who really want to see a Republican in the president’s seat in 2016 can donate up to $250 for a red or white “Rubio” water bottle.
If nothing else, Rubio et al are handling the awkward water grab with good humor. Instead of complaining about the loss of message (read: Media suicide) or just ignoring it (read: Less-risky media suicide), they’re brushing off all of the attention and laughing along with us for the most part.
Rubio himself tweeted an image of a water bottle as a joke shortly after his SOTU rebuttal:
#GOPResponse #SOTU #gop #tcot twitter.com/marcorubio/sta…
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 13, 2013
Additionally, he seems thrilled with all of the attention he’s getting:
Picked up over 13,000 new followers on #twitter since last night! Im going to start drinking #water in the middle of all of my speeches!
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 13, 2013
“Send the liberal detractors a message that not only does Marco Rubio inspire you…he hydrates you too,” Rubio’s PAC website jokingly says.
Quench your thirst for conservative leadership? Order a bottle now bit.ly/X9fPjX twitter.com/OnBackground/s… #tcot #SOTU #gop
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 14, 2013
Are you a fan of Marco Rubio? What do you think about how he’s handling his awkward water grab?