Marco Rubio's water bottle joke fails to make a splash at opening of GOP debate

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/16/marco-rubios-water-bottle-joke-debate

Version 0 of 1.

Related: Republican presidential debate: Donald Trump and rivals spar over women's rights and immigration – live

Marco Rubio has been struggling to keep his head above water while Donald Trump overflows the race for president of the United States.

So when he arrived at the Reagan Presidential Library for the second Republican debate, he had to have something pretty special in the tank or he’d get hosed.

Back in 2013, Rubio became a national joke for grabbing for a bottle of water during his official rebuttal to Obama’s State of the Union address. Here’s the beautiful, timeless moment, in case you had forgotten.

Since then, the Florida senator has struggled desperately to escape his thirsty reputation.

But in the official introduction to Wednesday’s debate at the library – in the question-less cold open that was totally prepared, with one-liners in the can and nothing spontaneous – Rubio found himself dragged back in his mind to that fateful moment more than 900 days ago ... by himself.

“I’m aware California has a drought,” Rubio said, “That’s why I brought my own water bottle.”

We're entering the next phase of the #GOPdebate. Anyone need refreshments? http://t.co/tdQhhyEBDb pic.twitter.com/ki3fr601BE

Which didn’t go over so well ...

I'll never forget Rubio reaching for that glass of water. That was him that one time, right? #GOPDebate

Rubio's water bottle joke falls utterly flat.

Rubio brings water, inspiring 10 million tweets.

He didn’t speak again for almost half an hour.