Marco Rubio is fool's gold for the GOP

[Alekei_Firebird]

Republicans haven't learned their lesson from 2008, when they thought that choosing token figures like Sarah Palin and Michael Steele would help cover up the fact that they were still the same Old White Guy Party from decades past.

We all know how that worked out.

The problem with white conservatives is that they fundamentally lack respect for women and minorities. They're so narcissistic that they conflate their own interests with everyone else's, and they genuinely believe their experiences to be universal. They think that other groups are just on the brink of agreeing with the heavily pro-white male mantra of the GOP, and that all they need to do is throw out a bone here and there: Sarah Palin, Michael Steele, and inevitably, Marco Rubio.

Sure, they can nominate Rubio. But they'll handcuff him like hell. He'll be little more than a typical White Republican with tanner skin, darker hair, and more fluent Spanish. He won't be allowed to sympathize with and address issues of alienation and discrimination that Hispanics have faced for a long time because that would outrage the White base of the GOP, a group that believes that racism no longer exists in America and that anybody who complains about it is anti-White.

Conservatives still genuinely think that Blacks voted for Obama simply due to a shared racial heritage. And if anybody brings up the failed presidential campaigns of Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Carol Mosely-Braun, Michael Steele, they'll just bury their heads and continue to live in their wonderful fantasy land in which the only persecuted people are White Christians. And if anybody points out that many blacks voted for Ed Rendell over Lynn Swann for the governorship of PA, they'll ignore him/her because conservatives desperately need to believe that "special interest" groups like minorities and women just aren't capable of making objective decisions like they themselves can.

So the GOP will fight amongst themselves about how to appeal to Hispanics, as if a typical Hispanic was little more than an unruly pet that one had to train to be obedient. But the heart of their party's message is rotten, and no tokenism is going to fix that.

The problem is that a non-nativist and non-racist GOP is a self-defeating premise. It's their core ideology.

[voteearlyvoteoften]

1. Got a robo from Rubio on election eve

Sounded like he was forced to make the call. So flat and no enthusiasm for Rmoney.

[NewJeffCT]

2. Rubio was the only speaker at the RNC that impressed me

He wasn't nearly as stiff as most GOP speakers, though his speech was mostly devoid of policy.

Romney was a poor to fair speaker, a crazy flip-flopper, gaffe-prone, a serial liar who gave few policy details, and he was also an elitist who was out of touch with most Americans. Yet, he came within 2% or so on the national popular vote, and within 1% on several swing states.

[flamingdem]

8. I agree that he's a good speaker, he can connect, but what he's been saying is very conservative

so I hope people keep their eyes on policy vs. charisma

[NewJeffCT]

11. Huckabee is a good speaker and can connect as well

but, he's even more radical than Rubio... plus, after their train wreck with women in 2012, I don't think the GOP would want somebody that was a signatory to the SBC statement that women should "graciously submit" to their husband's leadership.

[BlueStreak]

3. Beyond that, as a token, he is the "wrong minority"

If he were a gifted statesman, strong leader, eloquent orator, or visionary planner, it would make no difference what his ethnic background is.

He is none of those things. He is a little political hack and his only claim to fame is that he is "Latino".

But his family background is in that increasingly shrinking and irrelevant community of Castro haters, refugees from Cuba. That was significant 30 years ago, but they aren't a central force anymore, not even in South Florida. Most Americans just don't understand why we would even have an embargo. There have been lots of leaders in this hemisphere we haven't liked, but only Cuba gets this treatment? And for what? Whose interests are served today?

The only thing we accomplish with the embargo is continuing of hate from 2 generations ago. Enough already.

I am not Latino by any stretch of the imagination, but my Hispanic friends don't see Rubio as somebody they identify with.

[atufal]

4. Been really wondering how much a Cuban background helps with Mexicans...

BlueStreak touched on something that I've been wondering about. I live in Chicago. I'm not Hispanic, but we have a huge Hispanic population. I would guess that it is 80% Mexican, at least. Could a Spanish-speaking Cuban get much more traction than, say, a Spanish-speaking white guy? Jeb Bush, for instance.

Certainly Mexicans are the largest portion of Hispanics in the U.S.

Would they be excited about a Rubio? Would he simply nullify any cultural divide?

I suspect his problem will be the problem minortities ALWAYS have with Repubs--he'll have to be as un-Hispanic as possible (whatever that means). And he'll have to take pains to be tough on whatever issues Hispanics have to pander to the Repub base.

[flamingdem]

7. Mexican Americans appreciate some things about Cubans but it's true

they are treated as second class compared to Cubans in the USA.

I'm not sure how this fits in but sadly Cubans on the island are pretty racist towards Mexicans, not all, but many call them "Indio" and see them as lower than Cubans who are generally African blood and White Spanish mix.

I think plenty of Mexicans know this. Similarly some Argentinians look down on mestizos.

[smorkingapple]

5. Rubio has birther issues. And remember Mel Martinez? They said same shit about him.

PLus Rubio has dirt from his time here in Florida.

Plus what many non-Hispanics don't get is that Cubans get treated differently. Try hopping the border as a Cuban. Then try hopping it as a Mexican. Watch what happens to each.

I might be worried about Rubio if he didn't look like another white guy. He's no threat and will be exposed during a Presidential campaign.

[flamingdem]

6. I think Rubio is moving quickly because his pal Rep. David Rivera will expose more

of his corruption when he gets indicted for election fraud.

Already Rubio has been caught spending 100,000 on his GOP credit card and he said he got "mixed up".

He owned a home with Rep. Rivera, someone with 11 ethics violations under investigation, and who knows what else.

His reputation in Miami is not that good.

[leftlibdem420]

9. It's silly...

Conservatives act as though African-Americans and Hispanics are oblivious to the African-American and Hispanic "stars" in the GOP.

They know, but they also know that GOP policies will thrown them further back in the bus. Without a fundamental shift both in policies and the attitudes underpinning these policies, the GOPs star tokens will never be able to engage these communities.

[JRLeft]

10. Marco Rubio to Iowa next week.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2012/11/08/marco-rubio-headed-to-iowa-next-week/