Politics

Over the past week, the New York Times, supposedly America’s leading newspaper (“All the News That’s Fit to Print”), published two hit pieces on US Senator Marco Rubio who is a Republican candidate for president.

No, they didn’t call them hit pieces. But that’s what they were.

The first story was about Senator Rubio’s (and his wife’s) traffic tickets over the past twenty years. The second detailed his personal finances, including mortgages, student loans, and even the purchase of a boat.

Both stories were political hit jobs–very misleading, and extremely biased.

Why is the mighty New York Times so afraid of Marco Rubio?

The name of the first NYT story was called “Rubios on the Road Have Drawn Unwanted Attention.” It pointed out that over the past eighteen years, Sen Rubio has received four moving violation tickets.

That’s about one every four to five years.

Senator Rubio lives in Miami which is a big city with a lot of traffic. So it’s worth a major story in the New York Times to point out four traffic tickets in almost twenty years?

Is that all they’ve got?

Oh, but what allowed them to publish the story is that his wife, Jeanette, a former Miami Dolphins cheerleader, received thirteen tickets during that same time–so the total for both of them was seventeen. One of Mrs. Rubio’s sins, pointed out by the Time’s Morality Department, was a ticket for going 23 in a 15 mile an hour zone.

E-gads! Stone her to death! (Oops, we’re not in Saudi Arabia.)

I think I commit that type of sin a number of times a week. Guess the cops here just aren’t as good as Miami Vice.

What do a few speeding tickets have to do with becoming president of the United States? So his wife’s not the best driver in the world. Big deal. I know a bunch of people who can relate.  The Times’ bosses must have forgotten that when a man becomes president, he and his wife no longer have to drive themselves around–so it’s irrelevant for their White House years.

Actually, it’s rather refreshing that the Rubios are real people who actually drive cars and deal with the same frustrations we do. If I remember right, the lady in the other party who’s running for president hasn’t driven a car for over twenty years, so maybe they should have written a story on her being out of touch.

If you’d like to take a brief course in hit pieces 101, you can read about the Rubios traffic ticket sins here.

Then came the other slam on Marco Rubio from the Times entitled “Marco Rubio’s Career Be-Deviled by Financial Struggles.” The headline choosers at the New York Trash must have really had fun with this one. I can hear the conversation. 

First, let’s throw in the word “Be-deviled” because it has the word “devil” in it which makes Marco appear to be in line with El Diablo. Then we’ll finish with the word “Struggle” to make it appear that he’s in trouble.

Bingo.

Then you read the actual article and it simply reveals a normal American story. Rubio’s parents escaped from Cuba and settled in the Miami, Florida area. They were blue collar folks–his dad working as a bartender and his mother doing maid, office, and assembly line jobs to make ends meet.

Marco Rubio began his life like many of us–from the lower side of the tracks. To go to college, he took out student loans and worked hard to pay them back over a number of years. He got married, started a family, bought some homes, and worked his way up the ladder.

The Times makes this all look like bad financial management. They say he takes out loans he shouldn’t have (too much money)–that he sold a house at the wrong time and took a loss on it (as if he’s at fault for the American economy and rise and fall of real estate prices).

They fail to mention that these heavy personal debt years were his family and career start-up years where he was: 

• Elected to the Miami City Commission in 1998.
• Elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1999.
• Became Majority Leader in the House in 2003 and Speaker in 2006.
• Elected to the US Senate in 2009. 

Start-up years are difficult years, often involving the use of debt for long-term gain. Rubios’ financial tests seem to mirror once again the average American experience. He knows what we all face because he has looked it in the eye himself.

Yet, he never missed a mortgage payment and eventually paid off his student loans and began making enough money to elevate and bless his family.

Heck, I didn’t get out of the family debt scenario until I was sixty. 

In the article, the NY Times points out two glaring sins that are apparently greater than the others. The first is Marco Rubio recently bought a speed boat for $80,000–apparently for fishing and family outings in the beautiful Florida sunshine.

The Times writers called it a “luxury speedboat.” Kind of gives you the impression of a Ferrari with fins or maybe even an opulent yacht. Then you look at the picture and you say to yourself, “Hey, it’s a speedboat. What’s the big deal?”

That’s what average people say. But not the New York Times.

I know many working people who own speed-boats. Marco Rubio worked hard to purchase his, parks it in Florida and pays taxes on it. Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry has a real luxury yacht that’s never been flagged by the New York Times. By the way–he didn’t work for it but married a wealthy heiress who paid for it and who parks it in Rhode Island to avoid tax liabilities.

Oops–we can’t point that out. Kerry’s a progressive chap and that means his wealth is always good.

The other thing that grated me about the second story was a reference to Rubio buying a house in West Miami for $550,000. The NYT reporters said it was the “most expensive” home in the neighborhood–as if the Rubios are upper class snobs who crave status.

Then you see the picture of the house. It looks like an average home in a suburban neighborhood with Rubio’s Ford F150 truck parked in the driveway.

In Seattle, the median priced house costs the same as the Rubios.

So what’s the story here? Isn’t there another presidential candidate who owns a mansion in Chappaqua, New York, another home in D.C., and makes hundreds of millions of dollars through a family foundation?

Who’s really normal and in touch with the average American?

Here’s the second NYT hit piece for you to read for yourself:  “Marco Rubio’s Career Be-deviled By Financial Struggles” here.

So why is the nation’s most prestigious newspaper out to get Republican Senator Marco Rubio with crappy caricatures and hit pieces? Why does the mighty New York Times fear presidential candidate Marco Rubio?

The answer is very simple.

A generation ago a good-looking man rose up out of his own humble beginnings and made a name for himself both in business and in government. He was handsome, charismatic, a good speaker, and seemed to be able to relate to the common person in America.

Over time, that individual was elected president of the United States, and turned the American nation back to trust in God, restraints on government, lower taxes, a robust military, and belief in the uniqueness (exceptionalisnm) of the American Dream and experience.

This man set back the liberal/progressive agenda some twenty or thirty years as a time of renewal visited the United States of America and sound conservative policies elevated many. This drove the New York Times and their acolytes crazy. 

That man, of course, was Ronald Reagan.

That period was similar to today. The US was going through a time of sexual revolution, riots against war and policing, economic problems, and the failed presidency of Jimmy Carter.

The New York Times, and those who share their worldview are scared to death of Marco Rubio because he (and a number of others) could once again reverse America’s death spiral: 

• He is young (44). Hilary Clinton is 67.  He is the future–she is the past.
• He is of Hispanic origin. She can only claim white-privilege.
• He is from humble means–a self made man. She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth.
• He is handsome and charismatic. She is a grandmother who sounds like your mother-in-law.
• He is extremely articulate and sharp as a tack. Hillary is slow on her feet and is always parsing words.
• He is known for honesty and integrity. She lives under a constant cloud of scandals.
• He has policy principles that will limit government and empower people. She is a Big Government devotee.

There are other good candidates on the Republican side who are young, experienced, articulate, and share good principles that could encourage another renewal of the American Republic.

But few are as attractive as Marco Rubio.

That’s why the New York Times fears him.