It seems the typical GOP politician is either a closeted gay, a religious fanatic or someone who invents a more dazzling self-history to dupe the gullible. A case in point for the latter phenomenon is Florida Senator Marco Rubio who fabricated a compelling family story to promote his political future. The only problem is that now the story has been shown to be totally false. It's one thing to modestly enhance one's biography. It's something far different to totally make it up. Yet that's what Rubio apparently did in part to cater to Cuban-American voters in Florida. The question obviously arises as to what elese Rubio has lied about in the course of his self-promotion. The
Washington Post has details - here are some highlights.
During his rise to political prominence, Sen. Marco Rubio frequently repeated a compelling version of his family’s history that had special resonance in South Florida. He was the “son of exiles,” he told audiences, Cuban Americans forced off their beloved island after “a thug,” Fidel Castro, took power.
But a review of documents — including naturalization papers and other official records — reveals that the Florida Republican’s account embellishes the facts. The documents show that Rubio’s parents came to the United States and were admitted for permanent residence more than two-and-a-halfyears before Castro’s forces overthrew the Cuban government and took power on New Year’s Day 1959.
The supposed flight of Rubio’s parents has been at the core of the young senator’s political identity, both before and after his stunning tea-party-propelled victory in last year’s Senate election.
And the 40-year-old senator with the boyish smile and prom-king good looks has drawn on the power of that claim to entrance audiences captivated by the rhetorical skills of one of the more dynamic stump speakers in modern American politics.
The real story of his parents’ migration appears to be a more conventional immigrant narrative, a couple who came to the United States seeking a better life. In the year they arrived in Florida, the future Marxist dictator was in Mexico plotting a quixotic return to Cuba.
The senator’s office tried to clarify the facts in its statement Thursday. . . . legal scholars on both sides of the McCain debate told The Post that Rubio’s citizenship does not appear to be an issue.
It seems the typical GOP politician is either a closeted gay, a religious fanatic or someone who invents a more dazzling self-history to dupe the gullible. A case in point for the latter phenomenon is Florida Senator Marco Rubio who fabricated a compelling family story to promote his political future. The only problem is that now the story has been shown to be totally false. It's one thing to modestly enhance one's biography. It's something far different to totally make it up. Yet that's what Rubio apparently did in part to cater to Cuban-American voters in Florida. The question obviously arises as to what elese Rubio has lied about in the course of his self-promotion. The Washington Post has details - here are some highlights.
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