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Posted on 10/22/2011 7:14:59 AM PDT by Kaslin
The possibililty of Marco Rubio entering the fray has Obama 2012 scrambling for dirt.
Recent articles published in the Washington Post and the St. Petersburg Times delve into the family story of Marco Rubio, Florida’s junior senator, implying that he’s embellished it for dramatic effect. It’s no surprise that Rubio is the subject of increasing amounts of scrutiny from the mainstream media these days, as he’s rapidly become one of the most articulate voices for conservatism in America.
Rubio’s rise to national prominence began when he challenged Florida’s Republican governor, Charlie Crist, in the GOP primary in 2010. Although he had been speaker of Florida’s House of Representatives, Rubio was virtually unknown outside of Miami. He ran a perfect campaign, with support from the Tea Party: they saw Crist as a “RINO” who embraced President Obama (literally and figuratively). Rubio drove the once extremely popular Crist out of the Republican Party — he is now a pitchman for ambulance-chasing attorneys.
After being inaugurated in January, Rubio waited until June to give his “maiden speech” on the Senate floor, the last of the freshmen senators to do so. Since then he’s been actively attacking President Obama and his policies, on everything from the debt to foreign policy. He’s been a frequent guest on the conservative talk radio circuit, as well as on Fox News.
So compelling is Rubio’s rhetoric that he has been speculated about for the number two spot on his party’s ticket before the top slot is even filled. Though most of the talk has been about Rubio as a running mate, many conservatives, including Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, have openly asked why Senator Rubio isn’t running for president.
That speculation about a potential President Marco Rubio has resulted in a high degree of scrutiny among the mainstream media performed with a fervor they never had when it came to investigating the junior senator from Illinois in 2008.
First, Univision ran a piece about Rubio’s brother in-law, who was convicted of cocaine trafficking in the 1980s when Rubio was a teenager. The piece backfired when Rubio staffers alleged that Univision offered to spike the story if the senator would agree to appear on one of its shows. As a result, several of the GOP’s candidates for president said they would boycott any debate hosted by Univision.
Undeterred, the Marco Rubio inquisition continued. A contingent claims that Rubio is not eligible to be president because his parents, who are from Cuba, were not American citizens at the time of his birth. However, Marco Rubio was born in the United States, both of his parents were here legally, he is a citizen of the United States, he has never been a citizen of any other country, and he never had to be naturalized.
In attaining records about the residency status of Rubio’s parents at the time of his birth, reporters have discovered that they migrated to the United States legally in 1956, a couple of years before Fidel Castro took power in Cuba. That’s only significant inasmuch as Rubio has portrayed himself as the child of exiles from Castro’s Cuba. The Washington Post and the St. Petersburg Times have now accused Rubio of distorting his family’s history to make it more compelling.
The exact date that Rubio’s parents left Cuba for the United States is a detail that is of little importance to most people outside of South Florida’s Cuban-American community, most of whom came over to flee the Castro regime. Were Rubio’s parents really exiles? The answer is a definite maybe.
First of all, it’s important to set the context. Prior to 1959 there had been a circular migration pattern between Cuba and Florida dating back centuries, as both were Spanish colonies. That continued even after Florida became a state and on into the 1950s when the doors to both countries were open to each other’s citizens. Cubans often came to the United States and then returned to Cuba, as my maternal grandfather did once.
It’s clear that Rubio’s parents did not leave Cuba in reaction to Fidel Castro’s rule, but there is reason to give people like the elder Rubios the benefit of the doubt on claiming to be exiles. In 1956 when the Rubios left Cuba, the armed insurrection led by Fidel Castro and his bloodthirsty Argentinean sidekick Ernesto Che Guevara was already well underway. There was a lot of political and social turmoil in the country. Whether the insurrection contributed to their decision to leave or not only they would know. But even if it played no part in their thought process, the fact remains that Castro came to power and changed Cuba radically. So much so that Rubio states that his parents could never go back. In a press release issued by his office, Rubio claims that his mother did return to Cuba in 1961 with the intention of having her husband join her to stay permanently. Upon realizing the direction the country was headed in, she decided to leave for the United States again.
Rubio’s parents did not become U.S. citizens until 1975. It’s quite possible that when they left Cuba in 1956 they had no intention of staying in the United States forever, and we can’t assume that they did. But while they were here, a revolution occurred in their home country that was so radical and catastrophic that — like more than a million of their countrymen who have since fled — they believed they could never go back while the illegitimate Castro regime remained in power.
Does that make them exiles? It’s good enough for me.
The “Rubio embellishes … ” headline is a twofer for the liberal media. Not only do they get to take a shot at a rising star in the conservative ranks, but also at a Cuban-American. As escapees from the socialist model that leftists revere, Cuban-Americans reject anything that resembles that ideology. This puts Cubans in a very small minority of reliably Republican Hispanics.
It should be noted that the Washington Post has expressed its disdain for Cuban-Americans before. In 2007 they published an outrageous cartoon by Pat Oliphant depicting a boatload of Cubans being shoved off by Uncle Sam, because the cartoonist viewed their opposition to then candidate Obama’s hopey-changey agenda as “interfering with the ’08 election.” Also, Manuel Roig-Franzia — the reporter who penned Thursday’s Rubio hit piece — has written several rosy portrayals of the Castro regime in Cuba and its alleged reforms. Roig-Franzia recently sold a book on Rubio to Simon & Schuster. I’m betting it won’t be flattering.
That doesn’t make it right. Fact is he is ineligible. I will not vote for the GOP ticket if Rubio or Jindal are on it. Rubio has stated numerous times that his parents were exiles that wanted to go back to Cuba. That is why the rule is in place. If the political situation were to shift in Cuba and Rubio was president, I could not be sure he’d act in our best interest.
Why is it that any articulate Conservative orator or elected official is automatically assummed or promoted by some people to be a candidate for the White House’s Oval Office??????
Rubio is very obviously a CONSERVATIVE Patriot. He supports, defends, and follows the Constitution of the United States. He is a thoughtful and courageous Senator/Legislator. It’s what we like about him, and praise him for.
He rejects the path that Obama has set the country on because his parents saw where that path leads in their own native land, Cuba. He speaks elequently about his opposition to the policies of Obama the Marxist Usurper. He knows that Obama is America’s Castro.
Rubio also knows that he is NOT eligible to become US President because of his birth to un-naturalized foreign citizen parents. He does not meet the eligibility requirements of Article II of the Constitution for the Office of the President. In recognition of this, when asked about a presidential run, he has stated several times that he will not be running for that office.
I’m waiting for him to tell people why he is not running....becausae of Constitutional ineligibility...... and point out the same reason for Obama. Will he wait for the most opportune time in the 2012 election cycle to do this? Announcing the reasons for his ineligibility, in itself, would be the act of a true patriot and defender of the Constitution!
Lets see if Rubio can continue to live up to his billing.....
I think that he and Bobby Jindal could both be the forces that undo Obama. Each of them has the status and standing to challenge Obama on Constitutional grounds.......each is a minority.....each came from difficult circumstances to rise above their peers, none of them is ineligible because of the Article II Natural Born Citizen requirement......each is is a position to provide a selfless act for their countrymen and Nation by uncovering and helping to remove Obama from the Presidency.
There is no downside for either Marco or Bobby in doing the above. (The left already hates them and that will not change in any event.) There is a huge upside for the nation.
” none of them is ineligible..”
opps s/b “....one of them is eligible...”
need coffee.....
All the left has is the politics of destruction. They are beneath contempt.
Ah heck!
“.....none of them is eligible.....”
It is amazing how small the upper end political establishment is. The other side knows what is afoot.
Question... Who has a fund raiser in Florida upcoming? :)
While stationed in Havana, my late wife and I resorted to writing notes to each other on legal pads, then taking them into work the next day and running them through the shredder. There were several U S Diplomatic families as well as the Marine Security Guards’ house within four blocks of us. A Cuban goon had defected to Miami and was debriefed extensively and admitted that he worked in a nearby house, transcribing our recorded conversations. Surprise, surprise!
These sisters were passionately angry, understandably so. They thought they escaped, but yet here they were, facing it once again. Heck, I became angry just listening to their stories!
It does look like Rubio is going to be the new prime target for destruction. The whole Alinsky treatment. It will be interesting to see how this develops. I suspect the GOP in this case will actually man the barricades and rush to his defense... unlike the case with Palin, in which they basically left her to the jackals, never lifting a finger to help.
I think there are at least two aspects to this. Interesting that the Dems have to smear and lie, with help from the Washington ComPost, because they assume that conservatives are just as crooked as they are.
The Compost needs to issue a front page apology for lying.
The other aspect is that Obama assumes that the opposition are just as crooked as he is. Well, maybe some RINOs are. But the real conservative opposition is not.
Rubio is not running. And I would immediately object, if he changed his mind (which is unlikely), that he is not a natural born citizen and therefore is not qualified. Any more than that lying crook and illegal Communist/Muslim immigrant Obama was qualified.
The way to beat crooks and liars is not to outlie them—not if you want to save our country from destruction. We need a return to Constitutional law and order.
My dad was chief engineer of Radio Nacional de Cuba from 1946-1950, an IT&T company. I was born in ‘50 and when my mom was ready to travel we picked up and moved to Brazil where IT&T made him GM of Radional do Brasil. IT&T brought us back to New York in ‘57. My dad had many Cuban friends in the professional/executive ranks who were living abroad when Castro took over. Many would have liked to have returned to Cuba. As a teenager I grew up in DC and knew many of the excruciatingly self-satisfied Pharisees that work at the WaPo.
Uriba started this onslaught on Rubio. Then some commentary tried to tie him to moving the FLA primary FOR Romney,(which almost had me blowing a gasket, but wasn’t true,) and NOW this.
They are trying to diminish him with the Hispanic/Cuban voters they need to keep in line for the election.,,espcially in FLA. I think it will backfire. FLA loves him.
Fool me once, shame on them. They will never do it twice.
My apologies, Kaslin!
Didn’t mean that graphic to go to you!
SHOULD HAVE BEEN FREEPERS, EVERYONE; ALL!
I am so with you on this issue! He is ineligible period... President or Vice President is out of the question. He may be a great conservative, but Senator is all that he can achieve.
Both parents not citizens at the time of his birth
Born on U.S. Soil
Citizen at birth, not natural born citizen! Not qualified for the 2 top positions of our country - Period!
hahaha - I was so going to correct you. But I see you are just having a bad typing day! Too funny....
Thanks.....My hair’s OK tho.....lolol
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