Marco Rubio has put a lot of effort over the last several months into winning the South Carolina Republican primary. With his GOP rivals focused on other primary states, Rubio has decided to concentrate on this particular state:
" … And not by chance. Rubio, whose national ambitions became apparent even before he was sworn into the Senate, quickly identified South Carolina as the home base for his eventual presidential effort, seeing this early-primary state as a more natural fit—culturally, ideologically, geographically—than either Iowa or New Hampshire …"
(source: http://www.nationaljournal.com/... )
Rubio said yesterday, June 20, 2015, that " … it is up to the people of South Carolina, not 'outsiders,' to decide whether to remove the Confederate flag from the state Capitol grounds, declining to echo Mitt Romney's call to remove it ... This is an issue that they should debate and work through and not have a bunch of outsiders going in and telling them what to do, (Rubio) told reporters."
(source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/... )
The Washington Post story goes on to note that "Rubio said he supports the 2001 decision by then-governor and now-opponent Jeb Bush to move the flag from the capitol to a museum in Florida. But as a state House member in 2001, Rubio was one of the sponsors of a measure to prohibit the relocation, removal, disturbance, or alteration of a monument, memorial, plaque, marker, or historic flag commemorating or memorializing specified wars and military engagements, including the Civil War, permanently displayed on public property of the state or any of its political subdivisions."
In other words, Rubio (in contrast to Governor Jeb Bush) specifically sponsored legislation to keep the Confederate flag flying at the State Capitol.
Dylann Roof, the terrorist responsible for the massacre in Charleston found inspiration in a hate group called Council of Conservative Citizens:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/...
Back in 2010 during his campaign for Senate in Florida, Rubio headlined a Tea Party event where the racist Council of Conservative Citizens had an outsized presence:
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/...
The Council of Conservative Citizens itself touted the event and Rubio's presence before …
http://conservative-headlines.com/...
… and after the event:
http://conservative-headlines.com/...
"Members of the Florida West Coast chapter of the Council of Conservative Citizens gathered January 16, 10 with other concerned Americans, veterans and grass-root members, filling the down town Inverness area and streets around the Old Court House. From a distance, the event could have been mistaken for another Inverness festival as attendees circled full public parking lots trying to find an empty space. It wasn’t a festival, however, that brought the crowds, it was a tea party rally that had conservative voters out wearing Fair Tax T-shirts and displaying anti-Obama signs.
During the event several Republicans running for office made appearances. Marco Rubio, 38, who is running against Gov. Charley Crist for a spot in the U.S. Senate. There were approximately 4500 (conservatively) attendees. Council members passed out 2 boxes of THE CITIZENS INFORMER newspaper, and 250 Council business cards."
"… The CCC set up a prominent information booth from which it handed out literature for more than three hours. At no point did a single attendee of the rally, which featured a line-up of state-level GOP candidates and politicians, challenge the presence or ideology of the CCC …"
(Source: http://www.thepinkflamingoblog.com/... )
Here's a little more info. re. the Council of Conservative Citizens from the Southern Poverty Law Center:
http://www.splcenter.org/...
Rubio's ties and actions (five years ago as well as today) go beyond this being just a "guilt by association" type of thing.
Just like Ronald Reagan purposefully kicked off his 1980 Presidential campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi ( http://www.nytimes.com/... ), Rubio is likewise now intentionally trying to sound off all of the proverbial dog whistles.