Thirsty Marco Rubio meme floods digital watercooler

by Lauren O'Neil Posted: February 13, 2013 6:00 PM Last Updated: February 13, 2013 8:58 PM

Categories: Community

View the story "Thirsty Marcus Rubio meme floods the digital watercooler" on StorifyThirsty Marcus Rubio meme floods the digital watercoolerStorified by CBC News Community· Wed, Feb 13 2013 13:30:08

Florida Senator Marco Rubio delivered a passionate speechlast night during the Republican party's official rebuttal to Obama's State ofthe Union address, but it wasn't what came out of his mouth that got peoplebuzzing around the digital water cooler. It's what went in:

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Approximately 11 minutes into his speech, the visiblythirsty senator paused briefly to grab a drink of water.

Whether it was the awkward timing, the slow, almost out offrame reach, or the comically tiny water bottle itself that caught the internet'seyes, Rubio's sip caused Twitter to explode.

Marco Rubio: the man you want to have a desperate gulp of water with.Paul BegalaRubio: drinking water. Obama: treading water. MSM: carrying water. Americans: underwater. #SOTURazorSmall water bottle gate. #sotuEli FeghaliA graph produced by Twitter's official @gov account shows that traffic on the social network spiked to 9,200 tweets per minute when Rubio reached for his bottle.
CHART: 2013 #SOTU Tweet volume, peak moments nearly double the 2012 speech. http://pic.twitter.com/R1wFpSXkTwitter GovernmentGifs, parodies and image macros quickly followed. Some, more politically-charged than others.
It's gettin hot in here.750mltinypic photoTinyPicwww.democraticunderground.comRT @undethebltarp: An empty chair and a water bottle is now the symbol of the GOP. #Rubio #SOTU http://pic.twitter.com/9baJrJUBqueenren8You can't tell me that ain't funny hahaha #Rubio #PolandSpring #GOP #SOTUthemacattakDigbostonRubio adviser --> RT @dtoddharris I am now the proud owner of the most famous bottle of water in American politics. http://pic.twitter.com/Y9IA4HbsrobertcostaNROHere is President Obama drinking out of a real American-sized water bottle. #SOTU #Rubio #GOP http://pic.twitter.com/mXgg1LJ0Joseph Uranowski"The fall of western civilization is complete," wrote Buzzfeed's Andrew Kaczynski less than an hour after the sip occured, posting this image of 13 parody accounts that had already been created.
BuzzfedFor his part, comedian Joe Mande clipped all of Rubio's "dry mouth noises" together into a 51-second-long "Marco Rubio Dry Mouth" supercut.
I made a video of all the mouth noises @MarcoRubio made during his State of the Union response last night: http://youtu.be/G9uI_kIP3YsJoe MandeMarco Rubio Dry MouthtotallyjkOthers used their searching savvy to figure out just how far away that tiny bottle really was from where Rubio was standing.
Here's where Rubio kept that bottle of water (low chair): http://yfrog.com/j4l9vp cc @mckaycoppinsigorbobicPhoto of Rubio on Boehner's Flickr shows just how far away that water bottle was http://pic.twitter.com/fkXFMMvHryanjreillyTed in middle of it all. little water bottle makes appearance @swingmancinci: Ted meets Marco Rubio backstage #rubio http://pic.twitter.com/SC6yyrckajrodPoland Spring, the brand of water the senator was drinking last night, tried to capitalize on the meme in a Facebook post.
Reflecting on our cameo. What a night!Facebook"Reflecting on our cameo. What a night!" reads a Facebook post made at approximately 1:00 p.m. ET Wednesday afternoon.

But many are saying that the company's efforts came far too late in an age of instant "newsjackings", like the ones performed by Oreo and Tide during this year's Super Bowl blackout.
Poland Spring -- about 12 hours too late -- tries to capitalize on its Marco Rubio cameo: http://tinyurl.com/ca3awz6Mark Duffy@ajpanos aaaaand a day later, their brand manager woke up from a long nap http://ow.ly/hGXu7Ken RomanoSorry, too late- Poland CEO "We're glad Poland Spring was close at hand for Sen. Rubio last night in his moment of need for refreshment"Andy PolesovskyRubio himself is taking the attention in stride and with a sense of humour.
#GOPResponse #SOTU #gop #tcot http://pic.twitter.com/3hxtgdbPMarco Rubio"I needed water, what am I going to do, you know?" he asked Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos during an interview this morning. "God has a funny way of reminding us we're human."
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

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