Thursday, August 30, 2012

Marco Rubio: soaked by the Miami hurricane ... by gimleteye

Marco Rubio takes center stage, in the spotlight of the GOP national convention, to glorify a political career that is mostly made from fluff.

What catapulted Rubio out of small-town West Dade politics was fealty and allegiance to Jeb! Bush. Beyond that, as a state leader in a legislature whose primary purpose was to foster state regulations and land use policies that turned Florida into a poster child for unalloyed confidence in markets for crappy housing that finally killed the national economy, what did Rubio actually accomplish?

What is sure and certain is that Marco Rubio can deliver sound bites mechanically, telegenically and stay to the story line. That doesn't require depth; just mastery connecting the parts.

The Miami Herald gushed this morning: yesterday Rubio did nine television and radio interviews in ninety minutes in Tampa. He pushed out the same talking points nine times.

The mainstream media ought to focus on Rubio's place in the GOP hierarchy emerging now that Newt Gingrich is history. (Gingrich, Jeb's! only competitor for the GOP mantle, screwed that pooch in his spectacular political self-immolation.)

Rubio rose through rampant ballot and election fraud now swirling like a hurricane in Miami. The biggest band of bad weather for Rubio is his close friend and real estate partner, Congressman David Rivera. The Rivera-Rubio connections, the mis-use of a Republican Party credit card, an over-stated story of family exile from Cuba, the dubious connections to US Century Bank; these inconvenient truths -- plus concerns that Rubio is not compelling to Hispanic voters --  kept him off the Romney ticket.

But Romney has promises to keep. The Jeb! Bush machinery -- including the redressed Karl Rove -- connects to the Koch money, and Romney was not their natural born candidate. In fact, Jeb! was their first candidate in the mid-1990's, but history intervened. Jeb lost to Lawton unexpectedly, delaying his first successful run for political office, and W. took the spot meant for Jeb. Just ask Karl. Rubio gets to deliver the introduction of the GOP candidate for president as a quid pro quo; providing the national audience that could cement their presence in the White House for the next four years and beyond.

We won't hear a breath of this, in tonite's speech. It's all back room politics. Powerful politics from men who have used the mess of Miami to advance their causes.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The "mess of Miami" - what a great line! Take a look at today's story about Moody's questioning the City of Miami's future. The County won't be far behind. Yet the elected officials gleefully voted to support the Sony Tennis $50 million bond proposal. More taxpayer debt for stadiums and unnecessary projects like port tunnels but not taking care of basics like upgrading sewer system. We are one hurricane away from financial collapse.

Anonymous said...

Too bad there aren't tough laws to put the miscreants behind bars.

Anonymous said...

Fluff. Like it.

Rubio shares space with David Rivera in Washington, they were also roommates in Tallahassee, owning a house together. But, he doesn't know anything about Rivera's troubles with Justin Lamar Sternad? I can't imagine Rubio and Rivera not talking to each other about it as it has been in the news for weeks.

Anonymous said...

I doubt Rubio knows anything about Sternad. But Rivera must be feeling a little like Jim Greer: a pariah who doesn't deserve shunning. The best would be if the feds flipped Rivera. It could save the nation.