1. Mediaite
  2. Gossip Cop
  3. Geekosystem
  4. Styleite
  5. SportsGrid
  6. The Mary Sue
  7. The Jane Dough
  8. The Braiser
Advertisement

Facts In Exile: Washington Post’s Sen. Marco Rubio ‘Exposé’ Is Identity Politics At Its Worst

videos
» 209 comments

His Politico column was followed by an appearance on Hot Air‘s Ed Morrissey where he hits the Post harder than in his column, and gets to the core of why the piece was written: “the Washington Post piece implies that my parents are not exiles, and I find that offensive and absurd.” He also appeared on Fox News’ Studio B yesterday, where he admitted he had mixed up a few dates because “I don’t walk around with my parents’ passports in my pocket, and considered the idea that people who left Cuba because of the situation under Batista were somehow not exiles “outrageous… there’s not a single credible voice in the Cuban exile community that would agree with that.” That appearance via Fox News below:



Being a Latin American Republican—particularly a Cuban-American Republican—is a dangerous political game to play. Most non-Latin Americans in this country haven’t had the time to study the history of this synthetic identity, and as such assume they are all one people with one history. Sharing a language doesn’t seem to help this misconception. It is difficult for a voter who can’t tell the difference between a Mexican-American and a Cuban-American (not as a product of any bigotry, but simply because it is documented fact there are areas of the United States where the Latino populations are so low it is feasible to have never met a Latino) to understand how the latter could be a group made up in majority of college-educated, affluent white people who on the whole seem to have a serious problem with illegal immigration. As far as identity politics go, the pervasive misunderstanding of Latin Americans as a monolithic political block also leaves heads scratching when people like Sen. Rubio are called “not real Americans” with impunity by leftist mouthpieces or become the victims of blackmail plots by Univisión.

As the representative of his ethnic group, Sen. Rubio has done a remarkable job of explaining the difference through subtleties. In his victory speech in November 2010, he referred to himself exclusively as an “exile,” not an “immigrant.” His allies in the media help, particularly people like Sean Hannity, by likening his family’s story more to the tales of white immigrants coming through Ellis Island, taking the legal route to a new life, but highlighting a very important difference: money didn’t lead the Rubios into America, politics did. For many in the Cuban-American community, myself included, it is refreshing to see such a prominent voice in politics reclaim the title of exile as something to be proud and not ashamed of, as an identity unique to the migration experience and distinct from that of the immigrant seeking a brighter economic future or a faster way to reach a certain socioeconomic status that would otherwise be near impossible to achieve.

RELATED: Coverage Of ‘Tequila Party’ Political Movement Highlight’s The Media’s Latino Problem

It does not matter that Rubio’s parents had the foresight and means to escape communism two decades before mine did; three decades before the Mariel boatlift; four decades before Castro permitted Cuban “balseros” to sail to their doom on makeshift rafts, boats made out of old cars, and inner tubes; five decades before the arrival of Elián González. The Rubios are exiles all the same, and their son is correct to assume that no credible voice in his community would disown him.

Of course, the entire point of the report is to chip away at that essential fact, to deny Senator Rubio the proud status of exile. Its intent is to paint a picture of his parents as greedy capitalists whose son exploited the timeliness of their departure to the states at the expense of those with tangible political prisoners. In doing so, it attempts to shame Cuban exiles no matter when they landed on the island, and, by proxy, shame anyone who refuses to live under the yoke of tyranny and is willing to give up their nation for their children’s freedom.

RELATED: Media Ignores Ed Schultz’s De-Americanization Of Cuban-Americans In Sen. Rubio Rant

No amount of historical correction or political dissecting of the Washington Post‘s smear will quite reach the emotional heart of the matter quite as well as one seemingly mundane anecdote in Sen. Rubio’s narration of the Cuban-American experience, however– a technological experience he shared with his parents that will sound all too familiar to every other Cuban-American whose first instinct was to find their homeland when they heard Google had put the world at their fingertips in a very literal way:

“A few years ago, using Google Earth, I attempted to take my parents back to Cuba. We found the rooftop of the house where my father was born. What I wouldn’t give to visit these places where my story really began, before I was born.

One day, when Cuba is free, I will. But I wish I could have done it with my parents.”

That is the core of exile, the missing ingredient immigrants will never understand and Roig-Franzia refuses to acknowledge exists, and no amount of fabricated scandal will deprive Sen. Rubio of the mark of that experience.

Follow us on Twitter.

Sign up for Mediaite's daily newsletter.

Pages: 1 2

Email Twitter Facebook Digg Reddit Stumble Upon Yahoo Buzz LinkedIn Tumblr Delicious
  • Michelle

    What liberal media bias?

    Washington Post Downplayed Obama’s Big Embellishment about Mother’s Health Insurer

    The Washington Post has taken a beating for
    publishing a report claiming that Florida senator Marco Rubio
    “embellished” the story of how his parents left Cuba. The story is
    ridiculously hyped and based on the false premise that Rubio’s parents
    don’t count as “exiles” because they first came to the United States in
    1956, prior to Castro’s 1959 takeover. They tried to return in 1961 but
    could not stay because it was “clear that Cuba was headed full speed
    toward Communism,” as Rubio’s office told the Post.  ”[I]f my
    grandparents left Germany in 1930 or 1931 and wanted to go back but
    couldn’t in ’33. Wouldn’t they be exiles?” Jonah Goldberg writes on Twitter.

    The Post was much easier on Barack Obama when a biography by reporter Janny Scott revealed that Obama falsely claimed his mother’s insurer tried to deny health care coverage because of a “pre-existing condition.”
    Why is it news that Obama’s mom had health insurance? Oh, right: To
    help win a presidential election and pass his health care overhaul,
    Obama claimed that his mother’s insurer tried to not pay for her cancer
    treatments by claiming her cancer was a “pre-existing condition.” In
    fact, her insurer covered all medical treatments but denied her coverage
    for a “disability insurance policy” because that policy was picked up
    after she was diagnosed with cancer. (But no need to indicate in the
    headline that Obama fibbed.)

    The Post paraphrased Obama’s inaccurate tale but failed to
    provide a single quotation from Barack Obama actually saying his
    mother’s insurer tried to deny coverage of her “medical bills.” At the
    top of his July 11 Washington Examiner column, Byron York cited three instances in which Obama specifically claimed his mother’s insurer tried to deny coverage of her “medical bills.”

    As York pointed out, the biography revealed that Barack Obama served
    as his mother’s attorney when dealing with her insurer. That
    detail–which the Post didn’t include in its report–shows that
    Obama clearly knew the story he told was embellished for political
    gain. There is no indication that Rubio has embellished his parents’
    story.

    So which of these stories deserved to be on the front page of the Washington Post?

    http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/washington-post-downplayed-obamas-big-embellishment-about-mothers-health-insurer_598411.html

  • Rufus Danegro

    Like clockwork michelle the queen of five buck chuck shows up to whine about the liberal media.

    Check!

  • Anonymous

    This is as poorly written as the Washington Post piece, objectivity seemingly a lost art these days.

    Marco Rubio has done himself no favors with his inept handling of what seemed a relatively minor error at first, only to be given more life with Rubio’s own angry denials. Why some “journalists” are rushing to his defence with their own versions of Cuba’s history is as big a mystery as Rubio’s poor handling of this issue. We were told he was about to become a major player in American politics yet he can’t even deal with a story such as this. Either Rubio’s handlers just aren’t very good or Rubio himself is not quite ready for prime time as were told.

  • Anonymous

    Thank you for writing this, Frances.

    As a side note I just happened to read Carlos Eire’s take on this at The Daily Caller:http://dailycaller.com/2011/10/22/waiting-for-snow-in-havana-author-blasts-wapost-defends-marco-rubio/

  • Rufus Danegro

    Well as Frances is Ivy League raises “conservative” why would expect her to be “objective”-she’s soent her entire life defending conservatism. She’s gonna have a bias right?

  • Anonymous

    I have followed Rubio’s career in Florida for a long time.  There are two things you should know about him:

    1. He’s a liar.
    2. He’s a con.

  • Michelle

    That’s future POTUS Rubio to you.  Deal with it. 

  • Insert Ideology Here

    I had been waiting for you write about this Frances. I am child of exiled Cubans as well. What the Post is essentially doing is saying that Bautista was the best. Why does anyone think that Castro was able to manipulate those around him to support his cause? What they are doing to Rubio is purely political. 

  • Rufus Danegro

     See? she’s delusional.

  • Anonymous

    Did you read the article? Have you looked at the facts? This is shameful (and I’m being kind). You should be calling out the WaPo for this? Not defending it. This is repulsive.

  • Anonymous

    So you throw out all of Tommy’s articles for bias?

  • Anonymous

    Why do you hate Cubans?

  • http://Mediaite.com Frances Martel

    Thanks for reading :)

    Prof. Eire is awesome, one of the greatest thinkers on this subject, and I’m glad somebody (besides me, anyway) caught on to the obvious point that pre-Castro Cuba wasn’t a democracy.

  • Limpbaals

    Anchor babies can’t be Potus or VPotus.

  • Rufus Danegro

    Mainly because they’re conservatives.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_A4OJ2F7ADXSD7OMEUUEQDQDZ2Y Dustin Baker

    Frances is certainly not a conservative.  Frances, like most people, write more honest and impassioned articles when it’s personal to them.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NWVKX2P2QBPQ6FHQHCHVIC2ALQ Fedup in Florida

    Thanks for writing this story, I was just a kid living in Miami during the 60′s.  I remember that for the new Cuban immigrants the conditions were less than ideal.  They were not really welcomed with open arms into the Miami community, the only jobs available to them for the most part were manual labor, or the jobs that they created in their own communities, but they persevered.  Now Miami belongs to them, and it has become arguably the most important Latin city in the world.  

    The Cuban success story in this country is quite remarkable, I am a gringo but a few years later in the mid 70′s I graduated HS in Puerto Rico, Wow!, what a difference.  I have often jokingly thought about how the Cubans must be the smartest of the Latino’s as they came here and stole beautiful Miami from this country, but the reality is is that theirs is a great story of success!  They have bought a flavor to South Florida that has only served to make it a more interesting community.   Marco Rubio is a testament to the success of the Cuban immigration into this country, and in my opinion he represents his community well.  

  • Frankly My Dear

    This would be akin to saying one’s parents survived the Holocaust and narrowly avoided the gas chambers in a concentration camp, when in reality their parents immigrated to America a year before the invasion of Poland. Hitler existed then yes. He was in power. People knew of the threat. It still makes the story false. A gross exaggeration at the very least by Mr. Rubio.

  • Norbit

    Shouldn’t they drop the facade, and just call themselves The Democratic-Party Advocacy Post”?

  • Armando

    So cubans arriving to the  States before 1959 are not exiles!!!.Frances did not any research for this article.
    Shamefull…………

  • Chris

    Oh…I get it.  If you think someone has distorted the “facts” then you get to distort them too. I guess that explains all the BS out there….

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Farax-Shirwac/100001414842261 Farax Shirwac

    MINOR ERROR? Bwahahaha

  • Anonymous

    A Cuban family knows the difference between Pre and Post Castro.  Is not like a few months here folks.  Its 3 fricken years.

  • Anonymous

    Not 1938, but rather 1936 for this scenario to more closely mirror Rubio’s.

  • Anonymous

    It’s not the story that’s a problem for Rubio so much as the fumbled cover-up attempt. All he had to do was say “oops” when it came out.

  • Rex the Wonder God

    Poor old Frances. Just doesn’t get it.

    If this was a tennis match, Rubio served up identity politics, and the WaPo piece just batted it back. Rubio has built his political identity on a lie, and it’s high time it was called out so we can get rid of him & his type of cheap con man.

  • PrezOworst

    worst is Harlems house rep caught tax cheating twice and 3 price control units for him to live in.  Furthermore his assets and expenses doe not equal his pay over the years.  RANGEL…criminal in charge of the tax code…..a joke.

  • Mr. Pennypacker

    He should represent The Tea Party in 2012.  I’m sure he might have problems with the birthers, if he became elected.  

  • Tim Tebow

    Yep. It’s right and good to question everything–including an article attacking (mildly, I would say) Rubio, just as it’s good to attack Rubio’s half-baked and borrowed philosophy of governance.

    The lie of “small government” needs to be confronted at every turn.

    And so…we will confront you, Mr. Rubio.

  • Anonymous

    Memo to Frances Martel: Marco Rubio is NOT your boyfriend! This is the 2nd time you’ve shilled for that huckster. The first time you implied that Ed Schultz was a bigot for denouncing that empty suit; now this nonsense.

  • Ralph

    Mark O’Rubio sounds like a pretty good ballot name.

  • Norbit

    Excellent reference Michelle.
    This media will be actively complicit in politically manipulating the public right through the election.

    Stuff like this is good to broadcast to further undermine the Democratic Media’s credibility.
     

  • Anonymous

    Look dammit. Marco Rubio said he was the “son of exiles,” forced out of Cuba ***************after*************** Fidel Castro took power. 

    He LIED.

    What the hell is so hard to understand about that?!?!

    The f*cker LIED!

    HE LIED.

    LIED, LIED, LIED!!

  • Anonymous

    Is Marco Rubio the biggest fraud in the history of American politics?

    Think about it:  He entered American politics under the guise carrying the mantle of freedom and democracy that had been handed down by his parents and grandparents.  His entire political identity was that of the son of Cuban exiles who had been oppressed by the evils of communism.  But wait…

    As it turns out, Marco Rubio’s parents and grandparents were communist sympathizers, if not communists themselves.  In reality, they left Cuba under Batista and were welcomed back under Castro.

    They are PRECISELY THE OPPOSITE of what Rubio had claimed!

    Can anybody name a bigger fraud in the history of American politics?  Really, has anybody ever heard of such a thing?  (Note to morons: The racist Kenyan stuff doesn’t count.)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-TLSzIlXlg
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGf1LE1oWl0

  • Michelle

    If Frannie is a Conservative, then I’m a liberal. 

  • Anonymous

    Umm… Nobody is doing anything to Rubio.  He did this all on his own.

    And if you really believe what you just said, then Rubio created this mess of lies for no reason whatsoever.  But you don’t really believe what you said, do you?

  • Rex the Wonder God

    Whatever you think you’re saying, it’s too disjointed to make sense. Rubio isn’t running for the presidential nomination, and his pol identity allows for but isn’t anywhere built on TP cred, which is a dying brand anyway, not least given it’s demographic, which is predominantly old, really old, FoxNews old, Beck old – worse: BillO old. Rubio is useful to the GOP for and his future lies in gathering up as much of the burgeoning Latino vote as the GOP has left not completely turned off. The birthers won’t have the least problem with him if and when he runs for president – I personally don’t expect him to ever get nominated, but if he is, it’ll be out of desperation by a GOP that may well be a third party by then anyway – because birthers never had the least trouble with McCain, who actually was NOT born in the U.S. and strictly – I think stupidly, but the Constitution if far from perfect – was disqualified from the White House. Birtherism never came up with President Taft, a Republican. Birtherism is a passing fad movement totally dependent on pink folks’ irrational fear of anything that isn’t pink. The fact that Cain is sort of being flirted at this long shows that the reality of Obama being president and quite acceptable as such per se is proof that Obama defeated birtherism and reduced it to an irrelevant cult, quite a bit smaller than the Birchers who have somehow seized a pivotal role in the current GOP.

    Rubio has said he won’t be “running for” VP. He of course means he won’t be selected. If the GOP nominee is Romney, that’s a lead pipe guarantee his VP selection will be an evangelical (I think most likely Huckabee, because Huck is not just beyond challenge as a fundy spokes person, he’s got the gubernatorial experience, the TV profile, the personality, the on stage patter, everything one could possibly hope for in a GOP VP short of maybe it woman could help. But Romney is at heart a merchant bankster, a corporate vulture, and those types put most stock in proven entities, which means Huckabee. It’s the easiest Intrade money you’ll ever make.). If the GOP nominee is Perry, there’s no need for an evangelical, so actually Romney might do it as VP, he’s that desperate to get into the White House, but it’s possible Perry would go with Cain because he does so many of the things Perry does not and Huck does (The phony GOP flame wars are so misleading.). Perry is more likely to pick Gingrich than Romney is; in fact, since it’s an absolute that Romney would pick a fundy, the Perry VP is worth talking about whereas the Romney pick is not. Similarly, Perry would be far more likely to go with a woman VP candidate than Romney, also hispanic, but given the immigrant sensitivity, I’m sure no hispanic will show up on a ticket this next year; it’s at least one cycle too soon, and won’t happen unless and until immigration policy is the number one issue, which it clearly is not for 2012: jobs, stupid. 

    Anyone else getting nominated, including Cain, is simply not worth considering.

  • Rex the Wonder God

    Whatever you think you’re saying, it’s too disjointed to make sense. Rubio isn’t running for the presidential nomination, and his pol identity allows for but isn’t anywhere built on TP cred, which is a dying brand anyway, not least given it’s demographic, which is predominantly old, really old, FoxNews old, Beck old – worse: BillO old. Rubio is useful to the GOP for and his future lies in gathering up as much of the burgeoning Latino vote as the GOP has left not completely turned off. The birthers won’t have the least problem with him if and when he runs for president – I personally don’t expect him to ever get nominated, but if he is, it’ll be out of desperation by a GOP that may well be a third party by then anyway – because birthers never had the least trouble with McCain, who actually was NOT born in the U.S. and strictly – I think stupidly, but the Constitution if far from perfect – was disqualified from the White House. Birtherism never came up with President Taft, a Republican. Birtherism is a passing fad movement totally dependent on pink folks’ irrational fear of anything that isn’t pink. The fact that Cain is sort of being flirted at this long shows that the reality of Obama being president and quite acceptable as such per se is proof that Obama defeated birtherism and reduced it to an irrelevant cult, quite a bit smaller than the Birchers who have somehow seized a pivotal role in the current GOP.

    Rubio has said he won’t be “running for” VP. He of course means he won’t be selected. If the GOP nominee is Romney, that’s a lead pipe guarantee his VP selection will be an evangelical (I think most likely Huckabee, because Huck is not just beyond challenge as a fundy spokes person, he’s got the gubernatorial experience, the TV profile, the personality, the on stage patter, everything one could possibly hope for in a GOP VP short of maybe it woman could help. But Romney is at heart a merchant bankster, a corporate vulture, and those types put most stock in proven entities, which means Huckabee. It’s the easiest Intrade money you’ll ever make.). If the GOP nominee is Perry, there’s no need for an evangelical, so actually Romney might do it as VP, he’s that desperate to get into the White House, but it’s possible Perry would go with Cain because he does so many of the things Perry does not and Huck does (The phony GOP flame wars are so misleading.). Perry is more likely to pick Gingrich than Romney is; in fact, since it’s an absolute that Romney would pick a fundy, the Perry VP is worth talking about whereas the Romney pick is not. Similarly, Perry would be far more likely to go with a woman VP candidate than Romney, also hispanic, but given the immigrant sensitivity, I’m sure no hispanic will show up on a ticket this next year; it’s at least one cycle too soon, and won’t happen unless and until immigration policy is the number one issue, which it clearly is not for 2012: jobs, stupid. 

    Anyone else getting nominated, including Cain, is simply not worth considering.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kevin-Schellenberg/100000553990876 Kevin Schellenberg

    ohhh the outrage!!! spare us all your sanctimonious b.s.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kevin-Schellenberg/100000553990876 Kevin Schellenberg

    ohhh the outrage!!! spare us all your sanctimonious b.s.

  • Rex the Wonder God

    Like Barry O’Bama out of Moneygall in Eire.

  • Rex the Wonder God

    Like Barry O’Bama out of Moneygall in Eire.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kevin-Schellenberg/100000553990876 Kevin Schellenberg

    are you retarded, Trevor? His parents escaped the Communist revolution that they knew was coming.

  • Rex the Wonder God

    GOPERS DON’T CARE, DON’T CARE, DON’T CARE!!

  • Anonymous

    They knew back in 1956 that there was a communist revolution coming?

  • Anonymous

    I’m going by Rubio’s own standards. He said his parents fled communism in 1959, but in actuality they embraced communism until at least 1961, and communism evidently embraced them.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_B5344MYI6BXUL36ADKK3JBTPJA GJPinks

    If you can’t challenge the facts, challenge the author. What was Obama’s GPA at Columbia? Don’t worry, we know you can’t answer that either.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kevin-Schellenberg/100000553990876 Kevin Schellenberg

    I knew last year that these anti-government protests and rebel attacks in Libya would eventually lead to Gaddafi’s demise. I was right. Doesn’t make me a psychic. Rubio’s parents saw what was happening around them and decided to get out before they were caught in the crossfire.

    If you had knew anything about history, you would have known that the Cuban Revolution began in 1953.

  • Anonymous

    No, that’s not what happened. It sounds good though. Is that what Rubio is saying now?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_B5344MYI6BXUL36ADKK3JBTPJA GJPinks

    Why the racism? Hating Batista like that? Even though Batista and those that followed threw out the Cuban Constitution, Cuba had a higher standard of living than France or Spain and had more people applying to immigrate than The US. 
    Don’t worry Fran, at some time you may actually become a journalist (JourOlist doesn’t count)

  • Anonymous

    You are a crazy person, KoreanTrevor.  No offense.

    I’m sure the Cuban American community thanks you for defining the word “exile.”  Keep up the good work. 

    Marco Rubio IS the son of exiles, and he always will be.  If you want to attack Rubio’s political positions, have at it. 

    When you start going after his personal identity or denigrating the hardship of not being able to return to ones homeland, it shows what kind of a crazy person you are.  No need to double down by providing a link to American Bridge 21st Century.

    Btw, does Senator Richard Blumenthal falsely claiming to have served in Vietnam count as a bigger fraud?

      
     

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_B5344MYI6BXUL36ADKK3JBTPJA GJPinks

    She sure is, thinking that logic will get through to you.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_B5344MYI6BXUL36ADKK3JBTPJA GJPinks

    Honesty at last.

  • Anonymous

    You will attack the “lie” of “small government” by attacking someones identity?  Real classy, Tim.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kevin-Schellenberg/100000553990876 Kevin Schellenberg

    You’re dodging my question. HOW WERE THEY COMMUNIST SYPAMTHIZERS?

    Because they briefly returned after the war was over in hopes of returning to their home? Yeah, they makes them card carrying Commies!

  • http://www.facebook.com/tony.westover Tony Westover

    Get a job.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_B5344MYI6BXUL36ADKK3JBTPJA GJPinks

    They left in 56, because Batista was a mild Fascist similar to Peron and started to make arrangements to return when Castro took power. The NYT, CIA, Ed Sullivan, all Democrats, most Republicans and Castro himself proclaimed that he wasn’t a Communist.  The Rubio family saw first hand what the truth was, and beat feet back to the freedom of The United States. 
    Desi Arnez had the same experience, except he and his family left even earlier.

  • Anonymous

    A Cuban exile is a person who is can come and go from Cuba?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_B5344MYI6BXUL36ADKK3JBTPJA GJPinks

    Anyone who read Mein Kampf knew what was on the way.

  • Anonymous

    Re-type that in English and I’ll see if I can answer your question.

  • Anonymous

    Well, if you believe Marco, his parents were welcomed visitors of the communist regime, who came and went as they pleased.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kevin-Schellenberg/100000553990876 Kevin Schellenberg

    No, genius, they were smart enough to have escaped before Castro officially took power. The Cuban Revolution had begun 3 years earlier. Any Cuban in 1956 could’ve told you that it was only a matter of time before Batista’s regime was run out of the country.

  • Tim Tebow

    You should each word and not just every other word.

    That multi-tasking at work is stunting your attention span.

    Try again, son.

  • Tim Tebow

    “You should read each…”

    woops!

  • Anonymous

    The reason you didn’t answer is because you are a compulsive liar. But I fixed the sentence for you.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_B5344MYI6BXUL36ADKK3JBTPJA GJPinks

    The you must not be of Cuban decent. Actually Pre Castro Cuba had more freedom than Post Castro Cuba. More Europeans were applying for Cuban citizenship than for the US. Today even Hatians don’t want to go there.

  • Anonymous

    I can’t find much truth in your post. Rubio’s parents said they left for financial reasons. Their experience was nothing like that of Desi Arnaz. You made up some nice stories though.

  • Anonymous

    Lol.

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    Norbit: Rubio was either repeating a family fable and was ignorant of the underlying facts (in which case the Post reporter did Rubio a favor) or he was embellishing, in which case the problem is not the Post, but Rubio’s lie.

  • Anonymous

    What part of *******earlier******* and *******after******* don’t you understand. 

    EARLIER IS FIRST.
    LATER IS AFTER.

    Didn’t you learn that sh*t in kinderdamngarten?! Are you illiterate? Are you ESL?!? Are you special?!?

    EARLIER IS FIRST.LATER IS AFTER.
    The f*cker LIED!

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    FAIL. You couldn’t pass the admissions exam.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kevin-Schellenberg/100000553990876 Kevin Schellenberg

    Why wouldn’t they have been allowed back? They were Cubans. They went back in hopes of returning to their normal lives. They saw what had happened and decided Cuba was no longer their home. You have absolutely no idea why they took the four short trips. Whether it was to visit friends and family, or to collect more of their belongings.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kevin-Schellenberg/100000553990876 Kevin Schellenberg

    An exile is by defintion “a person who lives away from their native country, either fromchoice or compulsion.”

  • Anonymous

    They were allowed back because they weren’t exiles. An exile is a person who is not allowed back. Rubio’s parents are not exiles.

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    It’s a hard argument to make that Batista was worse than Castro. Certainly, the standard of living improved as did health care and education for most Cubans after Batista was thrown out. The problem is Castro persvered longer than anyone imagined. To some extent, that is the fault of the US embargo. Without the emabargo, there would have been a strong US influence remaining in Cuba. That influence is amazingly powerful.

    And, we exacerbated the situation even more by giving Cubans automatic legal status when they arrived in the US, a streamlined path to citizenship and all manner of subsidies. The Cubans are the original affirmative action story in America. And, I have no particular problem with that other than the inherent unfairness to others who would immigrate.

    I’m pretty sure that the average Cuban was pleased to see the Miami immigrants go, as pleased as they weere to see Batista go with them. And, I don’t think the average Cuban particularly wants them back.

    If you read the Miami Cuban experience as an outreach which benefitted the US, as I do, I have to wonder why we don’t want to build on that success.

  • Anonymous

    Yes, Rubio’s parents chose to leave.  They were never exiles.  It’s a lie.  That’s what this story is about.

  • Anonymous

    Yes, Rubio’s parents chose to leave.  They were never exiles.  It’s a lie.  That’s what this story is about.

  • Sermaus01

    What the Washington Compost forgot to mention is that Rubio plagiarized a speech from  Neil Kinnock too.
    oops, stupid me, that was Joe Biden.

  • Justanotherlyingpolitician

    Rubio took a personally good story about his family leaving Cuba for a better life, made it into more than it was and got caught. Typical politician. The real test now is how he reacts now that the truth is out. Real character would admit the rewrite. No doubt Rubio will keep lying and cry mainstream media leaving the tea party to defend him. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kevin-Schellenberg/100000553990876 Kevin Schellenberg

    What part of “the Cuban Revolution had begun 3 years earlier” didn’t you comprehend?

    They left before the man (Castro) that was leading successful attacks against the government officially took power.

  • Sermaus01

    another fraud? Joe Biden plagiarized a speech from  Neil Kinnock

  • Mr. Pennypacker

    Mr Rubio could really shake up the power structure in the Republican party and run as a true Tea Party express candidate.  Drop Bachmann and put in Rubio.  

  • Anonymous

    He already reacted.  He’s playing the victim.  He’s piling lies upon lies.

  • Exgoper

    I started to thinking it was a news item, then the snarky tone gave the game away — it was from the Weekly Standard. Not exactly an objective, agenda-free publication. 

  • Exgoper

    It sounds like Rubio deliberately shaded the truth to create a more heroic narrative for himself in the hopes of currying favor with Florida’s exile community. It’s a relatively small lie in the grand scheme of things, but it was clumsy and unnecessary. Pushing back at his critics and now claiming victimhood is his greater mistake. He should have just said that he misspoke and not tried — in typical Republican fashion these days — to make himself into a martyr to liberal journalism. This is pretty tired shit.  

  • Anonymous

    A Cuban exile is someone who suffered under Fugencio Batista, came to America to wait out turbulent times with plans to return.  A Cuban exile is someone who is unable to return to their place of birth due to the brutal regime of Fidel Castro.

    And a hack is someone who denigrates or minimizes someones misery or personal triumphs for political gain.

     

  • Anonymous

    Marco Rubio’s parents were welcomed back to Cuba by Fidel Castro. They were not exiles. Rubio lied. That’s what this story is about. You should read the story. Or if you want to see a video, look at this:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGf1LE1oWl0

  • http://twitter.com/ShantihJay Jay

    My favorite part of this argument is it forces lefties to confront (or at least actively deny) the destructive nature of their ideas.  Do you guys get that?  Socialism, collectivism, communism–whatever you want to call it, it f’s up every country it touches.  Your blind faith would be hilarious if it weren’t so deadly.  How does it feel to subscribe to an ideology of mass graves?

  • http://twitter.com/ShantihJay Jay

    You seem awfully invested in the exile, non-exile dichotomy, so I’d like to ask a few clarifying questions. 

    1) What qualifies as an exile?

    2) Who are the real Cuban exiles, if Rubio’s parents aren’t among them?

    3) What circumstances precipitated the flight of the real Cuban exiles from their homeland?

    4) Does it keep you up nights when you consider your political ideology caused people to feel so threatened that they fled their homeland?

  • Anonymous

    An exile is somebody who is not allowed back into the country. That’s what it means. Rubio’ parents were never exiles. They petitioned for permanent U.S. residency in 1956.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NWVKX2P2QBPQ6FHQHCHVIC2ALQ Fedup in Florida

    President Obama lies most every time he opens his mouth so get over it. 

  • Guyoxim

    Yeah, but we’re not talking about Obama, so shut up and listen.

  • Guyoxim

    Yes, and Napoleon lived on Elba, and Obama’s real name is Sotero. But neither he, nor Napoleon, nor Biden is the subject of this discussion. I find this thread fascinating, but you and Michelle are muddying the waters with your silly non sequiturs. 

  • Anonymous

    IMAGINE IF YOU WILL:

    Imagine if Marco Rubio were a Democratic senator instead of a Republican senator.  Imagine if said Democratic senator were to lie about the exile status of his or her parents from a communist nation.

    And imagine what would happen if somebody were to discover that the parents of that Democratic senator had actually been welcomed back to the communist nation from which they had supposedly been exiled.

    Don’t you see it?

    It’s the quintessential Manchurian candidate scenario.  It’s what Republicans have been looking for since the McCarthy era.

    One problem though — said senator is not a Democrat, he’s a Republican.

    BY THE WAY:  In THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (the movie), the name of the brainwashed soldier is MARCO.  No, really.

  • Guyoxim

    Exceopt that us “lefties” Don’t really advocate for socialism, collectivism or communism. That’s just some overly simplistic, conservative interpretation of what liberals are about. You love to pin labels on us that we don’t embrace. So the nature of our ideas – not being communist, collectivist or socialist – is not at all destructive, but constructive. That’s why we call ourselves PROGRESSIVES. It has “progress” right in the name! But you’ll ignore that truth, like you ignore the fact that there aren’t any “hippies ” in Zucotti Park. Well, there weren’t until Arlo got there anyway. All the hippies died off in the eighties, but that doesn’t fit your narrative either. 

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3SABG5GBR4PCI4CO2IITCSNJO4 Anonymous

    What I like about all this is that Chris Matthews has outed himself as a racist and a birther.

  • Guyoxim

    Now what the hell has Tommy Christopher to do with this article? Your obsession with boys named Tommy is creepy, dude. 

  • Anonymous

    No American liberal would ever support the wars of imperialism, torture, domestic spying, propaganda, civil rights abuses, and history re-writes that Stalin and Republicans are known for.  You just can’t get there from here.

  • Guyoxim

    I can’t believe you’d abandon Sarah like this! Where’s your loyalty? 

  • expatpatriot

    Jay, you’re a dumb cluck. Or perhaps just dirt-ignorant. It doesn’t really make much difference except to the people who have to put up with you.

    Socialism is not the same thing as collectivism is not the same thing as communism.

    Here’s a suggestion: if you don’t post nonsense about things you clearly don’t understand, then people won’t call you stupid.

    Deal?

  • expatpatriot

    You bet! Replace a total looney with a serial fabricator. That’ll work.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NWVKX2P2QBPQ6FHQHCHVIC2ALQ Fedup in Florida

    Hey guess what, for the people who support Rubio this is a non-event.  Just read how the article was written above and that is from a Mediaite staff writer, now just imagine what little effect this has on Rubio’s republican supporters.  In fact the more the left makes of this story the stronger the right will align behind Rubio, as it is not hard to understand that it mattered little if his parents left Cuba to escape Batista or Castro, as there was little difference between the two, the fact was that they were unable to return to Cuba and that is a common story with Cuba emigres here in Florida. There is little difference in their story and the stories of millions of Cuban refugees here in this country.  No matter how much you want to mince his words, no matter how you want to make the distinction as to he said his parents came in 59 vs 56 it will matter little, because your words will fall on the deaf ears of conservatives and Cuban latinos alike, because we like Rubio, we even like his story, it is one of hope, Reaganisk if you will…  something that will drive the lemmings crazy…  We know you don’t like Cubans, they never really bought into the whole plantation thing, they took a look at the plantation, and then they took a look at Miami, and decided to take Miami instead…  well good for them.  

    So no you don’t have to shut up, you can keep whining, in fact whine as loudly as you care too it will make little difference in Rubio’s future.  

  • Guyoxim

    Wait, what? You’re gonna have to explain that to me…

  • Mr. Pennypacker

    My sources inside the Tea Party tent say Senator Thune is the first choice on the VP ticket.  He is more a moderate and not real extreme in his views.  

  • expatpatriot

    Facts are stubborn things. Biden had cited Kinnock countless times when using a paraphrase of Kinnock’s remarks in one of his stump speeches. On a single occasion he left out the Kinnock citation.

    This is only plagiarism to fools. Thanks for the confirmation.

  • expatpatriot

    No one is denigrating his personal identity. They are questioning whether he’s a lying sack of shit *about* his personal identity. And he appears to be a liar.

  • expatpatriot

    But let’s keep this in perspective. Rubio *didn’t* lie about anything important — like tweeting pictures of his dick — and for that reason automatically gets a pass.

    Look under “hypocrisy, Republicans” for further info.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NWVKX2P2QBPQ6FHQHCHVIC2ALQ Fedup in Florida

    You’re an idiot, Batista was as bad if not worse than Castro, why do you think that the US supported Castro in his revolution against Batista?  It matters little which of the two dictator despots his family fled, the fact is that they are refugees from Cuba, they left during the atrocities of Batista, and tried to return after Batista fell, only to find that Castro was just as bad and was instituting a Marxist form of government.  His story is changed little, it is unfortunate that Marco did not completely understand his families history, but these new facts do little to change his story.  

    You seem to like links, here is one to a PBS story on Batista and the years just prior to Castro’s revolution.  

    http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/castro/peopleevents/p_batista.html

  • Billbfitt

    Let me weigh in. Castro lives in my gramps house in the Vista Alegre area of Santiago. My mother handed Raul Castro the keys in 1961 under threat of killing my aunt. My mom promised to LEAVE the island if my aunt would leave as well, after her release. We did. My grandfather had left a year earlier and my parents sent us ALONE in 1961. My parents where terrified and left via Jamaica afterwards in order to get us all out. I laugh at this story because I too have Goggled my house. You want to define “exile”? There you have it. I know all the dates including the dates that my parents became US citizens, But Marco has consistently referenced 1959. Why? People like my wealthy family didn’t leave until at least 1960. He is obviously not being truthful. Why? My aunt was held because she gave money to Castro because they(we) wanted Batista the dictator gone. WHEN Castro announced he was communist AFTER he was put in power, That’s when my aunt bucked Castro and was jailed. So, The argument of the “Cuban” author of this article is FOS. Get your facts straight. BTW don’t believe me? Go to Facebook Friends of Santiago de Cuba. And check out the property.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NWVKX2P2QBPQ6FHQHCHVIC2ALQ Fedup in Florida

    You’re so deluded..  Wars of imperialism?  Just what would you call Vietnam?  Was that not a war of imperialism?  Who put us into Vietnam, maybe one of the greatest of the liberal namesakes?  

    Not that I really want to go around hanging wars on any particular party, but I just couldn’t help but point out to you have really stupid your spew of hatred is…  You make shit up because this is how you see the world..  At least when Bush went into Iraq, he did so after the US was attacked and he had the European community feeding him all kinds of intelligence saying that he needed to do so..  and if you don’t believe me the calls of taking Saddam out were started by democrats before Bush decided to do so..  and don’t forget that the democratic congress was asked for and gave their approval.  

    Now with Vietnam, shit we just went over there and got ourselves into a big ass war because Kennedy didn’t like commies….  now how’s that for imperialism?  

  • Billbfitt

    Sorry that was 1956 that Rubio kept referencing in MANY interviews. They showed them in Chris Matthews piece. Can’t Republican be truthful on anything? NO.

  • Anonymous

    Americans have come a long way since Vietnam.  Take Vietnam, for instance.  We were against it.  You were for it.  Funny that.

    As for Bush and Iraq, the intelligence going into Iraq was the best intelligence ever available in the history of warfare.  We had inspectors on the ground, helicopters dropping in on palaces, spy planes looking down from above, near-complete documentation of WMD programs, testimony of officials and scientists.  We were absolutely certain, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that there were no WMD.

    Here’s how the Republicans fooled you:  They tricked you into believing that the intelligence game is all about fake mustaches and shoe phones.  But he fact of the matter is that 99% of intelligence comes from public sources.  They tricked you into ignoring 99% of the evidence, leaving you with the bullshit 1% that was provided by known liars like Curveball.  You’re still looking at the bullshit after all these years.

  • Michelle

    Under Fire, The Washington Post Quietly Scrubs Their Marco Rubio Hit-Piece

    Thanks to those stubborn things called facts, today it’s the Washington Post under fire, not the subject of their Thursday hit piece, Florida GOP Senator Marco Rubio. And now the WaPo memory-holing has begun.

    http://bigjournalism.com/jjmnolte/2011/10/22/under-fire-the-washington-post-quietly-scrubs-their-marco-rubio-hit-piece/

  • Onne

    The far-right teabagger golden boy crashes and burns. lol

  • Guyoxim

    Frances - 

    Pre-Castro Cuba’s status as a democracy is not the point. Rubio said his parents fled Cuba AFTER Castro took power. As you know there is a huge distinction between Castro’s Cuba and Battista”s Cuba, and fleeing Castro’s Cuba is WAY different than fleeing Battista’s Cuba. It is within that context that this becomes a lie rather than a “misstatement of the exact date of his parents’ exodus.” And you accuse Roig – Franzia of being maliciously disingenuous? 

  • Anonymous

    Rubio lied. His parents were never exiled from anywhere.

  • Guyoxim

    A good friend of mine built a raft when he was 16, and together with some friends set of from Cuba in 1980. One of them died on that raft, which was eventually picked up by the Coast Guard. That took a levelof bravery that I’m not sure I could have mustered. I’m proud to call him my friend. You see, it’s not that I dislike Cubans, I just dislike liars. The fact that they were unable to return to Cuba gives lie to Rubio’s story because THEY DID RETURN. More than once. Why is that? And as far as the plantation meme goes, why does that same logic not apply to Mexicans? They took a look at the plantations, and then they took a look at Arizona and decided they liked Arizona better. But They’re considered illegals. Why the double standard? 
    Thanks for staying on subject though, and not going with the whole “Kenyan” thing.

  • Guyoxim

    They took out the word “dramatic” and that’s memory-holing? Wow, some victory for ol’ Marco. It still says he embellished the facts, and that’s the gist of the article. They didn’t flee “Castro’s Cuba”, they fled Batista’s Cuba. Then they went back. More than once. How many Cubans in 1956, or 1966, or 1986 could say the same? I wonder why they were allowed to come and go so often?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/ObamaRelease-YourRecords/100000555737985 ObamaRelease YourRecords

    Washington Post’s Lynne Sladky Probes Marco Rubio’s Parents Social Security Numbers But Ignores Obama’s Connecticut Based Social Security Number

    http://obamareleaseyourrecords.blogspot.com/2011/10/wapos-lynne-sladky-probes-rubios.html

  • Anonymous

    Two possibly bigger right-wing frauds — Joe McCarthy and Richard Nixon — come quickly to mind, but give young Marco Rubio more time and he will probably surpass them all. Like the Senate seat he inherited, he is purely a creation of the Bush political dynasty and nothing more, but right-wing zealots like Sean Hannity surely, in the present political climate, can and probably will propel Rubio into a VP position real soon with the Oval Office not far behind. Little things like lying about his family’s Cuban-Miami connections are par for the course with Rubio, as are other little items in his background such as his use of credit cards that, outside of the Banana Republic, would have gotten someone  jail time. Of course, the money behind Rubio’s political ascendancy will easily wipe away all flaws and slipups. I am a lifelong conservative Republican but I surely fear that extreme right-wingers such as Rubio, Romney, Hannity, etc., might put the final nail in the democracy we once knew and fought so hard for. The author of this laughable column supporting Rubio, for example, seems to believe that his incredibly inane version of the murders of Jose Antonio Echeverria and Frank Pais in Batista’s Cuba is not to be questioned because the Batistiano version is the only one that counts. Yes, Miami, is a Banana Republic and Romney-Rubio would extend that unfortunate situation nationwide, I’m afraid.   

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Adkins/1585417987 Bill Adkins
  • Omar Locke

    so a politician lied. so what!?

  • Anonymous

    You must be a lie-awyer. Of the Jose Baez type.

  • Ralph

    Rubio is dyslexic– it’s not just tranpsosition that occrus.  It’s flipping 6 and 9 too.

  • Exgoper

    Michelle is under the mistaken impression that Andrew Breitbart does journalism. She rails against the liberal mainstream media in nearly every post, then links to some of the most insanely partisan shit and pretends it’s “news.” 

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NWVKX2P2QBPQ6FHQHCHVIC2ALQ Fedup in Florida

    Like I said, I am not one for hanging wars on any particular party, war is a nasty business and generally when it is over it can be highly critiqued. I am not so sure how you can say that the war in Vietnam was something that “We were against it. You were for it” as it was a Democratic president who put us into Vietnam (Kennedy) a democratic president who escalated that war (Johnson) and a republican president who pulled us out of that war (Nixon).  But all the same, I am not so sure that it is wise to identify that or any of our wars with a particular political party. Personally I was never for the Vietnam war as many Americans on both sides of the aisle did not support that war.  Of course I was pretty young back then and very liberal in my views, but like I said wars don’t have political parties, my father who was a West Point grad and had served in the Air Force did not support that war either. 

    As far as the war in Iraq goes Saddam Huesein made a point of allowing the world to believe that he had weapons of mass destruction.  Huessein had a greater fear of attack from Iran than he did from the United States so he did everything within his power to propagate the notion that he had these weapons, as he felt in this way he could hold Iran at bay.  You do remember the Iran – Iraq war don’t you. FBI transcripts shed light on how Hussein manipulated the world into believing he had these weapons, here is a CNN article summarizing the facts relating to this that came out of Saddam’s interviews.  http://articles.cnn.com/2009-07-02/world/fbi.saddam.hussein.interview_1_fbi-interviews-saddam-hussein-united-nations-weapons-inspectors?_s=PM:WORLD

    You can find the actual interview pages themselves that were released under the freedom of information act http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB279/index.htm

    I really don’t care why we went into Iraq, The war was poorly managed and we lost lives and treasure that should not have been lost.  But this was not just Bushes war as you would love for history to record it as such…

    And then I am sure that you are tired of seeing video’s such as these….  Democratic leadership on Saddam Hussein…  Hillary and others calling for war…  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwqh4wQPoQk

  • Anonymous

    Ah yes, character destruction by creating a dead issue that can not be refuted or eliminated. Yes indeed, worked on sarah palin, christine o”donnell, meg whitman, sharon angle so now its the guys turn.
    see what happens when you RINOs don’t defend your women — you become women and it serves you right

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Wes-Baggett/1412674313 Wes Baggett

    WHEN IS A lie NOT A lie, every Cuba EXILE can tell you the exact date and circumstance as to their arrival on this country, I was raised in Miami and have Cuban folks in my family. My niece is married to a Cuban man and my daughters first husband was Cuban so i have a pretty good perspective and there is a LARGE difference between EXILE and IMMIGRANT

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Wes-Baggett/1412674313 Wes Baggett

    You can’t say they were leaving due to a future Communist takeover, no one knew of Castro’s affiliation, We, the United States backed him in his revolution and it was AFTER he took power that his communist leanings came out

  • Cecelia

    This has got to be the most opportunistic and superfluous sort of smear that I’ve seen. 

    Just hideous.

  • Anonymous

    good history lesson to the folks that have forgotten the turmoil of those times
    one day maybe you can get the house back
    its also a lesson in supporting left wingers
    BTW — there has never been a right wing dictatorship in history — they have all been left wing
    right wingers believe in individual freedom and democracy not socialism, facism or communism in any form german, italian, russian, chinese, cambodian etc

  • Michelle

    So you’re saying the WA POST didn’t scrub the piece?  Note to, I was never in the GOP, this is a MEDIA site.  That is why I bring up the media bias.  I’m not surprised you aren’t bright enough to pick that up.  Now you have a GREAT day!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NWVKX2P2QBPQ6FHQHCHVIC2ALQ Fedup in Florida

    Oh! You mean kinda like Blumenthal of Connecticut lying about his service to the country in Vietnam and his status as a vet.  Something like that maybe… Of course Blumenthal’s lies had no basis in any kind of reality, unlike Marco’s.

    Manchurian Candidate, REALLY? LOL, kinda like our current President, someone who comes out of nowhere to become president with a somewhat obscure and at times a non-existent past…  Just saying, you’re the fool taking the conversation in this direction, and it is hilarious when you really consider it.

  • Michelle

    It just shows you how scared they are of future POTUS Rubio. 

  • Anonymous

    None the people in that video are calling for the United States to invade and occupy Iraq.

    The statements being made by Clinton, etc. can easily be applied to Iran today. Are you under the impression that Democrats are currently calling for the invasion and occupation of Iran today? Of course not. That would be crazy. Try to understand that you’ve been fooled. Republicans know how stupid you are, so they know how easy it is to trick you. I’m not calling you names; I’m just letting you know.

    The Republicans lied us into war. They lied us into invading and occupying Iraq, killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people along the way. You are trying to rewrite history because that’s what you’ve been trained to do. Please try to realize that you don’t have the capacity to think for yourself. You simply repeat the nonsense you’re been trained to repeat.

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    Only in Teapublican parlance is the truth a smear, Whopper. I’m willing to give Rubio a pass on this because it is as likely that the “flight to South Florida” is a family fable which Rubio never felt the need to question. You likely have a story of a distant relative polishing Washington’s spitoon or something of the sort. But, what Rubio has told, the basis of one of his campaign arguments, is demonstrably false. It is wrong for a news organization to point this out? If your answer is “yes,” you’ve watched way too much FOX “News,” Whopper.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NWVKX2P2QBPQ6FHQHCHVIC2ALQ Fedup in Florida

    I see, so you hate Biden, as the rape statistics for Flint Michigan are actually down over the last few years!!!  So Joe was lying and should in no way be forgiven for his lies…  again they were much more blatant than Rubio’s confused family history.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/bidens-absurd-claims-about-rising-rape-and-murder-rates/2011/10/20/gIQAkq0y1L_blog.html

    You still don’t get the fact that Rubio’s family fled a murdering dictator regardless if it was Batista or Castro, and the family although they could have returned to Cuba did not as they did not want to live under a Marxist regime.  Go ahead and make your hay, but as I said all this noise you are making will only strengthen support for Rubio.  

    As far as the double standard, that goes back to the cold war, why don’t you write a letter to your senator?

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    Right. Just like we were all scared of the Half-Baked Alaskan. Really, Michelle-in-Utah, don’t underestimate the thirst most Americans, you, and Whopper, exclused, and many Italians, Sarah N. Italy, excluded, for the truth. And, in the name of all that is holy, find some new arguments. You’re down to less than a handful of generic arguments, and it has really become pathetic.

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    That’s a very good point. Catro’s affiliation wasn’t even that clear at the time Batista and his fellow Cuban oppressors fled. Castro was even on Jack Paar, and many Notre americans were contributing to his cause well after the Rubio family “fled”.

  • Anonymous

    Be careful friends ,these people infiltrated this site ….. http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread494165/pg1

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_NWVKX2P2QBPQ6FHQHCHVIC2ALQ Fedup in Florida

    There is a reason that I generally avoid debates with delusional conspiracists as you are so convinced the one of many logical threads that can be made regarding a subject is the one and only truth, even though you are full of crap.  I suppose that you are a truther as well!

    Talking about being stupid and not thinking for yourself, there is a world of information out there of reports, and world leaders talking about Saddam and his weapons programs prior to the invasion, there were speeches and sanctions coming from the UN, there was the coalition built for the war, there is overwhelming evidence that Bush did what he did for the reason’s he said, but you can sow a logical thread together that says differently so that must be the truth.  How small and brain dead of you to be so easily lead.  Be careful as you open your closet doors around the house, I have been told that the boogeyman has his sights set on you.  

  • Cecelia

    You need to read the Miami Herald piece about what Rubio has actually said and see the WP’s rephrasing of its accusation against Rubio.

    Actually, I have a rather close relative who is Cuban.  My uncle by marriage to my father’s sister.  His family got out of Cuba prior to Castro too, when things were getting rough for academics. After Castro, they managed to buy the freedom of many relatives. 

    My uncle is quite a success story.  I adored long summer visits with my astonishingly beautiful cousins (3 girls) in the sort of luxury that was anathema to my thrift minded father.

    This is no appeal to authority, rather it’s a simple note of how deep a wound could come of this.  Off how anyone might be stung and in grief by it’s ruthlessness.  I don’t expect you to understand.  Alls fair in politics and in war to you and both things are synonymous in the undercover world you’ve made in your mind.  However, it could and it will mean something to someone capable of tempering their judgments and of keeping their sword sheathed.

  • Billbfitt

    Too bad you “right wingers” don’t even know the difference between them. Nice parroting. As far as getting the house back. I am an American now. Obviously after 50 plus years you haven’t learned a lick.

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    You’re wrong. I am not unsympathetic to Rubio. I rather admire his on-going pulling back from Tea Party, and I admit he has performed adequately given the fact that he was so unwoefully unprepared for his current position. I’m sure no one was more surprised he womn than he. Again, his performance would be adequate.

    I have a real problem with him repeating a family fable, using it for political leverage, then playing the victim. Perhaps, he is a victim, but far more at the hands of his family than the Washington Post.

    My real problem is that we treat Mexicans coming to the US as criminal and subhuman when their reasons to immigrate have been every bit as compelling as the Rubio’s reasons, and these Mexicans were not members of the established order, the oppressors and the exploiters in their homeland.

    I’m all for affirmative action when the facts warrant it, but why should Cubans be the beneficiaries of our grace and largesse, a grace and largesse denied to Mexicans? If Rubio has some difficulty explaining that, if his explanation calls upon him to repeat fables that are substantive lies, I think some squirming, some angst, might well be a good thing for him. Might even make him a better candidate.

  • Shoto
  • Shoto

    Yup.  Completely insane.  She’d fit right in on that webcast that Glenn Beck does from his basement.  Hell, they could even pool their money on Kool Aid purchases to get that quantity discount.

  • Shoto
  • Shoto
  • Billbfitt

    Smear? Like the one that Obama was not born in Hawaii? Please. Butch up.

  • Billbfitt

    LMFAO. Can’t wait. In the meantime, get a Republican candidate.

  • Anonymous

    obviously you have a problem discerning friend from foe

  • Cecelia

    You’re right.  I’m not generally given to writing personal stuff on political blogs. I cringed when I reread it.  Won’t happen again.

  • Cecelia

    Frankly, as Francis makes clear, your “real problem” is  the WP’s real problem too.  Thus the attack.

    As far as I know Mexicans are able to legally immigrate here and they are entitled to Medicaid and welfare while in that process.

    It’s true that Cubans got special largess.

  • http://www.facebook.com/chasrmartin Charlie Martin

    Since you didn’t read all the way to the end, try this: 

    “It does not matter that Rubio’s parents had the foresight and means to escape communism two decades before mine did; three decades before the Mariel boatlift; four decades before Castro permitted Cuban “balseros” to sail to their doom on makeshift rafts, boats made out of old cars, and inner tubes; five decades before the arrival of Elián González. The Rubios are exiles all the same, and their son is correct to assume that no credible voice in his community would disown him.
    Of course, the entire point of the report is to chip away at that essential fact, to deny Senator Rubio the proud status of exile. Its intent is to paint a picture of his parents as greedy capitalists whose son exploited the timeliness of their departure to the states at the expense of those with tangible political prisoners. In doing so, it attempts to shame Cuban exiles no matter when they landed on the island, and, by proxy, shame anyone who refuses to live under the yoke of tyranny and is willing to give up their nation for their children’s freedom.”Bravo, Frances.

  • http://www.facebook.com/TheStilettoBlog Victoria Knox

    Great history lesson, Frances. I can’t understand how Mediaite can have Tommy Christopher and you on its staff. The bosses obviously don’t know sh*t from shinola.

  • Anonymous

    Looks like the Washington Post along with the NYT have too much time on their hands. Their columnists are drinking the same kool aid.

  • Anonymous

    Hell I would embrace Communism if it kept me alive long enough to leave, too.

  • Anonymous

    Poor markie r, another wanna-be on the national stage at any expense.  I find his indignation at the media belying all cuban refugees comical.  Just get your facts straight about your own history, markie.  Lies have short legs and always get caught.  Wonder if he felt that same indignation when the tea party maligned, disrspected, and challenged Obama’s family history and birth.  Hmmmm. . .I guess he didn’t.

  • Anonymous

    You meant markie r didn’t you?

  • BlackBeachBum

    Take it from a Miamian when I tell you all Cuban families knows these important dates of when their family arrived in the U.S. The reason this is sticking is because Cubans know there is something wrong with a 3 year difference.

  • Jerry Baustian

    But Ed Schultz is a bigot. And “huckster” more nearly describes Schultz (consider the crap he’s peddling).

  • Jerry Baustian

    At the heart of the matter, there are only two political philosophies: libertarianism and totalitarianism. 

    I simply do not understand how anyone can favor an ever-larger and more powerful government, with a concurrent limitation on the scope of individual liberties. Even more, I do not understand how any American can proudly call for more government and less freedom. 

  • Roderick

    Sir, it’s a little more complicated than that.

    Liberterians seems to want complete anarchy.

    To be a civilized society there has to be some government to keep order and to protect the public interest

    What you speak of sounds good in theory but if we lived in your reality America would be Hati.

  • Anonymous

    If Martel knows what was inthemedicare Rubio’s mind, this is very insightful. If Martel does’t it’s fictional conjecture saying only something about Martel, not Rubio

  • Anonymous

    Evidence?

  • Indigo710

    liberal school brainwashing, thats how.

  • Indigo710

    the biggest fraud is 0bama.

  • Indigo710

    His LAST a name was Marco

  • Jerry Baustian

    Libertarianism is, for the most part, a return to constitutional government — not to anarchy. The Founders adopted the Constitution because they felt the Articles of Confederation did not create a sufficiently strong central government… because they feared anarchy which they saw in Massachusetts with Shay’s Rebellion.

    The Constitution laid out limits on government, yet all through the 20th century the so-called progressives and so-called liberals kept picking away at those limits, giving more and more power to government. Now the pendulum is swinging the other way, just barely, yet the left finds this so outrageous that they label it radical and extreme and have nothing but insults for those who want more freedom and less government.

  • Jerry Baustian

    Schultz is constantly making accusations of racism where none exists — for instance, when he had to apologize to Gov. Rick Perry who identified the national debt as a “black cloud”.

    Calling Laura Ingraham a “right-wing slut” got Schultz suspended and resulted in another apology. (I’ll bet he hates being forced to do that.) 

    So there are two famous instances where Schultz displayed racial and sexual bigotry. 

    Saying that “Republicans are bastards who want to destroy the American Dream” — well, that’s just crude and stupid and a foolish thing to say. Yes, he apologized for that, too.

  • http://twitter.com/WSoxChamps05 Brad McNeal

    Baustian  blasted your weak serve into your nether regions, eh, kinda took my breath away too !

  • Bob Uda

    Why don’t Rubio just pull an Obama?  He should seal all of his records.  Now that Obama has set a precedence, that means all future presidential candidates can do likewise.  It is payback time, folks. 

    Marco, seal all of your records NOW!  If illegal alien Obama can win the presidency by hiding his past records, so can you. DO IT NOW!

    Ed Schultz is the worst Mugwump alive.

  • Anonymous

    Really and aLL THOSR GOVERNMENT HANDOUTS DIDN’T HELP THEM AT ALL- IN FACT SOME OF THEM ARE PROBABLY STILL GETTING HANDOUTS.

  • Anonymous

    Really and aLL THOSR GOVERNMENT HANDOUTS DIDN’T HELP THEM AT ALL- IN FACT SOME OF THEM ARE PROBABLY STILL GETTING HANDOUTS.

  • Anonymous

    BS. Many Cubans were still well-to-do under Batista. Castro eventually took over all the major corporations and tape and baling wire owners became automobile repairmen. The Robios were not exiles- they just beat the crowd and got to keep all the money they had. Their son is a typical righty- a pathological liar.

  • Onne

    LOL Another wingnut caught with his hand in the liar jar.

  • Rper

    Rubio is another complete phony like Palin.

  • Anonymous

    It’s fun to make up your own history! There’s always a “tea” handy to support. Good fun!

  • Anonymous

    Thank you Frances Martel.  It takes guts to post such a story on a left-wing website.

  • Anonymous

    Thank you Frances Martel.  It takes guts to post such a story on a left-wing website.

  • expatpatriot

    No reasonable person would consider removal of the word “dramatic” to be “scrubbing,” or “walking back,” or “memory-holing.”

    No, those terms are the provenance of ignorant hyperpartisans hoping against hope that another one of their heroes hasn’t been proved a liar.

    Sorry, you lose. And thanks for confirming your inability to distinguish between shit and shinola.

  • Bob

    LOL God, you’re hilarious.

  • Bob

    Oh – so now they’re psychic?

  • Bob

     Batista was a rightwing, mafia-backed thug.

  • Bob

    but Rubio clearly said “AFTER”
    He’s a liar, and is trying to retroactively make his story fit. And he’s pulling the rightwing crybaby victim card on top of it.

  • Bob

    Trying to change the subject to some random wingnut hyperbole

  • Bob

    But the Miami rightwingers freaking loved Don Batista and wanted to re-install him.

  • Bob

    Have to reach back over 20 years to change the subject, eh?

  • Bob

     Republicans love to cry ‘racism’ every time one of their candidates F’s up.
    Funny how that’s the straw man they’ve been trying to hang on liberal civil rights leaders for years.

  • Pablo

    This “nonsense” is also Frances’ parents’ history, asshole.

  • Pablo

    Genius! And you can’t find the edit button.

  • expatpatriot

    PS: Blumenthal *immediately* announced that he was responsible for his one-time slip of the tongue (he should have said “vietnam era” rather than “vietnam”). Press reports consistently pointed out that he had been accurate about his Vietnam-era service in all other recorded remarks.

    Rubio, however, continues to lie.

    So, no, Blumenthal’s remark was not a bigger fraud. It was not a fraud at all.

    Yet another example of the wingnutariat’s inability to distinguish reality from Republican smears.

  • Pablo

    You mean a Cuban family like Frances’ family?

  • The Eagle

    What was Bush’s GPA at Yale? What was Clinton’s or Reagan’s? Who cares? What a pathetic argument!

  • The Eagle
  • Tim Tebow

    It’s called a ‘mixed economy.’ Investigate it. Absolutes are so over.

    “More government” made you this internet, Jerry, and all of us are happy to here your opinion about government. I would love to hear your response to this. Most CONS just ignore this point–hurts too much. I guess.

    Maybe ARPANET would have been your ‘bridge to nowhere’ that you would have cut, hmm?

  • The Eagle

    It’s not the Ms. Martel isn’t a conservative, she is and always has been. She’s just not an extremist wackjob.

  • Tim Tebow

    Yeah…but, but…Obama’s a muslim!

  • Anonymous

    ExPatPatriot, when you become an expat from the authoritarian Republic of Cuba, I’ll consider your view.

    Patria o Muerte

  • expatpatriot

    Well, that’s a phenomenally dumb remark. Next time you trot one of those out, can you at least try to make it funny? That will justify the two seconds spent on reading it, plus about a second and a half to shake my head and move on.

  • expatpatriot

    I really hope Rubio follows your advice.

    Because, after all, the Republicans haven’t done nearly enough this election cycle to prove to the American people that they’re unfit for office. A little bit more gilding of the lily by Marco can only help.

  • expatpatriot

    I think you’ve been rebreathing your own farts a bit too long and it’s begun to thin out your cerebrum.

    It’s quite unlikely that TRRE is losing sleep over yet another wingnut pudknocker like Rubio.

  • expatpatriot

    Please. The persons you named jumped off Cliff Crazy of their own volition. There was no need to push.

  • expatpatriot

    I’m pretty confident that there’s not much to Rubio. Certainly nothing I’ll ever have to deal with.

  • expatpatriot

    “Logic” is assuring us that Rubio will be president some day?

    If that’s so, how would you define “illogic?”

  • Anonymous

    Regarding Marco Rubio, Trace Gallagher stated, Quote:  ”And in fairness, we have checked, you have said many times your parents came here before Castro seized power.”  [Trace Gallagher, FOX News, Studio B]

    This quote was taken from the interview at the very end of the thread.  I am not sure what the alleged impropriety is?  Suffice to say, Rubio’s critics, here on Mediaite, are Socialist/Democrats who do not like Rubio or any Conservative, for that matter.

    The Liberal Left, the assumed progeny of the 60′s youthful ideology, have become tediously orthodox and closed minded.  Oh yes, I forgot to mention “dangerous” too, as they have truly evolved into the Leninesque, “useful idiots.”  Of course we can’t exterminate such, as we in America can only render them politically impotent.

    They seem to be doing just fine in that regard, on their own… LOL

    Purveyor

  • Dirk

    Where does the Imperial Army fit into this scheme?

  • Anonymous

    read the article written by Rick Sanchez a Cuban, just like myself who has a different point of view.  When you are Cuban there is a difference between those that came before Castro and those that came after.  Please dont try to pretend you to know of what you speak unless you have lived it, like many of us Cuban did and still do.  He lied his parents were not refugee.  End of discussion

  • Anonymous

    As a Cuban I beg to differ.  There are many in the Cuban commmunity who are real pissed, he obviously lied or embellished the truth.  Read the article written by Rick Sanchez, a Cuban, then comment

© 2012 Mediaite, LLC | About Us | Advertise | Newsletter | Jobs | Privacy | User Agreement | Disclaimer | Power Grid FAQ | Contact | Archives | RSS RSS
Dan Abrams, Founder | Power Grid by Sound Strategies | Hosting by Datagram