US News

Marco: Wet’s all the fuss!

WASHINGTON — Agua!

A thirsty Sen. Marco Rubio was deluged with jokes yesterday after the fresh-faced Floridian awkwardly sneaked a gulp of water during a live TV response to President Obama’s State of the Union address.

Rubio, who Republicans hope can lead them in 2016 after getting clobbered among Latino voters, delivered a polished defense of smaller government Tuesday night — until he got a case of dry mouth in the middle of his speech.

That’s when Rubio, who spoke without a podium, looked to his left, bent down and grabbed a mini-bottle of water as he slipped partly out of camera view.

Then, he glanced back at the camera, gulped some water and resumed his speech. The not-so-smooth move was the talk of cable TV and Twitter on Tuesday night, drowning out coverage of what Rubio said.

The trickle turned into a flood after Rubio himself, acting like a good sport, tweeted a close-up of the infamous bottle of Poland Spring at around 4 a.m.

“Marco Rubio: the man you want to have a desperate gulp of water with,” tweeted Democratic strategist Paul Begala.

Dan Froomkin tweeted: “I don’t begrudge Rubio a drink of water. It’s the Kool-Aid that’s the problem.”

But conservatives rallied around Rubio.

“If eating a dog couldn’t end Barack Obama’s career, drinking water won’t end Rubio’s career,” tweeted Erik Erikson, referring to the president’s childhoood days in Indonesia.

But a good-natured Rubio may have gotten the last laugh. “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!” he tweeted.

Rubio said he simply needed to satiate his thirst at an inopportune time.

“My mouth got dry, and I had to get some water,” he told Fox News. “You know, when you give a speech on a podium, the water is right there. But when you don’t, you start looking around thinking, where am I going to get the water?”