Tag Archives: Marco Rubio

“Some Democrats” Suck – Or Maybe Not

9 May

This week Hillary Clinton took a surprisingly bold stance on immigration, one that goes further than President Obama and that both reporters and partisans have acknowledged put Republicans in a box.

Sorry Marco, you can't backtrack your way back to supporting immigration reform.

“Sorry Marco, you can’t backtrack your way back to supporting immigration reform”

How do we know it put Republicans in a box?  Because the response from the other side has been, for the most part, crickets.

This morning The Hill covered the issue, also acknowledging the corner into which Clinton had painted Republicans, but with a caveat:

Hillary Clinton has thrilled immigration activists with her embrace of a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

It’s also thrilled Democrats, who think Clinton has taken a smart political step to solidifying support among Hispanics for their party in next year’s presidential election.
They argue the GOP’s restrained response to Clinton shows Republicans are worried about the issue, particularly given the nation’s rising Hispanic population.

“It’s definitely a very aggressive approach in attempting to court the Hispanic vote,” said Mercedes Viana Schlapp, who served as a Spanish-language spokesperson for President George W. Bush.

In part because they have backed immigration reform in the past, Republicans hope former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) could make inroads with Hispanics. But even some GOP critics of Clinton such as Schlapp acknowledge that Clinton may have made the party’s task more difficult.

So what’s The Hill‘s caveat? “Some Democrats privately fear Clinton may have promised too much,” they tell us.  Now we’re used to DC reporters allowing politicos to comment anonymously.  But, guess what? — they don’t even have anonymous sources for this one.

Go read the whole article.  They state as fact that “some democrats privately fear” but don’t even bother to tell us who these people might be or where this might have been heard.  Maybe some are saying it — they just don’t give us any actual evidence this is the case.

Earlier today, I committed a Twitter sin — I forwarded the above article before reading it, reacting to the headline, which used that “Democrats privately fearing” line that no one said.  My take: “Screw those Democrats.”

But it turns out The Hill may be making those Democrats up.

Now, if they looked hard enough I imagine the journal could dig up a weak-kneed Democrat to say something along those lines.  Or maybe, just maybe, this actually just was the correct political move for Clinton and for the Democratic Party.  Maybe that’s why the Republicans the story did quote pretty much said so.

The reality is that the politics of immigration have changed dramatically in the past few election cycles.  For many Latino voters–even those who do not list immigration reform as their top issue–nonetheless see the issue as a litmus test for the question “Does this politician like us?” Pollster Latino Decisions calls immigration a “gateway issue” for Latino voters.

And with Latinos in 2016 poised to be an even greater share of the electorate that in the past two cycles voted upwards of 70% for Obama — Republicans are right to be quaking in their boots.

Maybe The Hill couldn’t find a Democrat to actually say those words to them is a sign that the mainstream of the Democratic Party is finally getting that.

This Latino can dream. 

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The GOP has some splainin’ to do to the Latino Community

22 Jun

I was just thinking back yesterday to the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and then I ran into this story about how Sotomayor still receives gift from fans in the public.

While I have not (yet) sent Justice Sotomayor a gift, I confess that on the day of President Obama’s announcement of her appointment, I was a kind of giddy that would have been embarrassing had anybody witnessed it.  Leaving the gym early that morning, I stopped in a shopping mall parking lot, pulled out my laptop and watched the announcement online. When she talked about her mom and the cameras panned to her–well, yes, I kind of lost it.

A hero to many in the Latino community, Justice Sotomayor still receives gifts from the public.

I’ve been thinking back to Sotomayor’s confirmation hearing this week, watching the slow-motion train wreck that has been the Romney campaign and the Republican Party’s reactions to President Obama’s dramatic announcement last week granting relief to hundreds of thousands of young immigrants.

Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings were covered by Latino media the way, back in the day, everyone else covered the O.J. Trial. And, although all the pundits agreed that her confirmation was certain, the Latino public nonetheless saw Sotomayor being grilled by a small group of Senators as some kind of crazy radical.

Senator Tom Coburn, confronting Sotomayor about her supposed extremism, dug deep into the synapses of his small brain where he houses Latino stereotypes and pulled up – who else? – Ricky Ricardo!  Sonia, he said, “you have some splainin’ to do.”

And some in the GOP wonder why their brand is so damaged in the Latino community?

During the primary, Sotomayor was a favorite punching bag for Romney. He criticized Rick Santorum for his 1996 vote to confirm Sotomayor to a federal circuit court and was so tone deaf as to even criticize Sotomayor, the boricua Justice, when on a campaign stop in Puerto Rico (where he also encouraged Puerto Ricans to speak English).

President Obama’s Announcement, Romney at NALEO y la Baladada de Marco Rubio

I looked to Univisión yesterday to see how they were covering Mitt Romney’s much touted address to NALEO – the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials – and the headline says it all. “Romney changes tone but offers little substance.”

Although his campaign promised that the NALEO speech would finally bring details to his immigration policy, Mr. Romney couldn’t even bring himself to say whether he would reverse President Obama’s order to halt the deportations of young immigrants. But we know Romney is between a rock and hard place. Congressional Republicans have lined up against Obama’s policy, making it easier for the President to get full credit from the Latino community –new poll shows the President up big with Latinos in swing states–and impossible for Mitt to speak with any clarity.

No one’s felt the GOP Latino Multiple Personality Disorder more than the Senator from Florida, el pobrecito Marco Rubio.

First, when Mr. Romney turned to the Senator’s Dream Act Lite idea to explain his non-position on the day of the Obama announcement, some said Mr. Rubio’s VP chances had risen.

Then came news that Marquito was not being vetted.

It was awkward timing for that story to get out, given that immigration was the topic of the week.  So Romney backtracked and assured everyone that el Senador was definitely being vetted. Totally.

But wait – then news got out of a super exclusive retreat with the Romney campaign that included a sleep-over for all the potential V.P. candidates. But someone forgot to invite Marco!

As we say in Puerto Rico, Pobre, Marco – lo tienen del tingo al tango.

Maybe the Senator can put in a call to Sonia to ask for some sisterly advice:

“Óyeme, Sonia, how did you put up with these guys?”

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Te lo Dije: According to the Post, Marco Rubio not being vetted for V.P.

19 Jun

Did I not say, when it comes to Romney VP picks, Incredibly Boring White Guys, Get in Line?

Today the Washington Post is reporting that Mr. Dream Act Lite is not being seriously vetted by the Romney campaign.

While some like Chris Cillizza argued that the VP fortunes of el senador de Florida had risen as a result of Mr. Obama’s dramatic announcement last Friday of a change in immigration policy, I have thought that to be non-sensical.  (Cillizza has re-considered his analysis as of today’s report). The Administration essentially enacted Rubio’s imaginary Diet Dream Act (he never actually wrote a bill) last week with the stroke of a pen. After that, what does Mr. Rubio actually offer a Romney ticket? A reminder to the Latino community that he and the GOP still oppose a real, permanent solution – a path to citizenship for undocumented people?

A favorite in conservative straw polls, Marco Rubio can make the cover of the National Review but apparently not the Romney vetting machine.

Of course, in the end, things could change and maybe the Romney team could end up picking Rubio, who they say today they are not vetting.

One can Dream — the last time the GOP picked a Lightly Vetted V.P. Candidate things got way fun.

So whose VP fortunes are rising? 

According to the Post, at the top of the list is Minnesota’s own Tim Pawlenty, who is being described today by an unnamed Romney advisor not as an Incredibly Boring White Guy but rather an “an incredible warrior.”

Warrior?

The guy who fled from the presidential campaign the second he was embarrassed in the Iowa Straw Poll by Michele Bachmann, the Congresswoman from Minnesiowa?

Incredible Indeed.

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