Posted on 01/25/2012 7:27:05 AM PST by Happy Valley Dude
Sen. Marco Rubio scolded Newt Gingrichs presidential campaign over a Spanish-language radio ad that accuses rival Mitt Romney of being anti-immigrant.
This kind of language is more than just unfortunate. Its inaccurate, inflammatory, and doesnt belong in this campaign, Rubio told The Miami Herald when asked about the ad.
The truth is that neither of these two men is anti-immigrant, Rubio said. Both are pro-legal immigration and both have positive messages that play well in the Hispanic community.
Rubios sharp rebuke comes a day after he subtly corrected Gingrich for comparing Romney to former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, branded by conservatives as a turncoat who left the party before Rubio beat him in 2010.
Both Romney and Gingrich are in Miami on Wednesday for speeches about Cuba and Latin America.
The criticisms from someone of Rubios stature in the Republican Party comes as polls show a near-even race, albeit with Gingrich surging.
Rubio plans to stay neutral in the race. Hes a potential running mate whom both candidates would love to have on the ballot. And hes gaining iconic status among many national Republicans who see him as a face of the future in a nation thats growing more Latino.
Miami, Rubios hometown, is a key battleground. The candidates are all wooing the Cuban-exile community here, which accounts for nearly three-quarters of the Republican vote in the largest county of the nations largest swing state.
Already, about 54,000 early ballots have been cast in Miami Dade, where nearly three-quarters of the Republicans are Hispanic.
Rubios statement was fueled by the explosive, partisan debate over immigration, a key issue this election season as both parties aggressively court the Hispanic vote.
Democrats and liberals have tried to paint the Republican candidates as anti-immigrant or even anti-Hispanic for opposing legislation such as the DREAM Act, which provides a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants mainly college students and soldiers.
Rubio, who frets that the DREAM Act gives too much amnesty to a broader class of immigrants, and other Republicans have accused Democrats of playing rank ethnic politics.
So when Gingrichs radio spot described Romney as the most anti-immigrant candidate, Rubio and others felt he not only crossed the line he was adopting liberal criticisms.
Earlier in the campaign, Gingrich was accused of sounding like a Democrat when he bashed Romneys time leading Bain Capital, a private-equity firm that, at times, had profited from restructuring companies and laying people off.
Despite the condemnation from conservatives, though, Gingrich went on to surge in South Carolina, where he drubbed Romney on Saturday.
Two days before, Gingrich began running his Spanish-language ad, which begins in shocking fashion by playing an excerpt of Fidel Castro repeating his trademark line: Patria o muerte, venceremos! Fatherland or death, we shall overcome.
Romney in 2007 had mistakenly associated the Castro line with a call for a free Cuba during a speech. Some in the crowd of the Cuban-exile community were aghast.
Unlike Romney, who uses statements from Castro, Newt Gingrich has fought against the regime, the ad says, noting that Gingrich helped pass the Cuba-trade crackdown law, Helms-Burton.
He supported the formation of Radio and TV Marti; and is in favor of holding the Castro brothers accountable for the shooting down of the Brothers to the Rescue airplanes, the ad says, referencing a 1996 incident where anti-Castro activists were killed by the Cuban military near the islands airspace.
Ironically, the ad bears some of the handiwork of Rep. David Rivera, a Rubio friend and confidante who backs Gingrich.
Rivera this fall helped stitch together a boycott of a proposed Univision debate by the Republican presidential candidates over the way the Spanish-language network reported a story about Rubios brother-in-law.
Rubio bears no personal ill-will to Gingrich, who helped support him when Rubio was Florida House Speaker in 2007 and 2008. Rubio and former Gov. Jeb Bush are headlining a Friday Hispanic Leadership Network event where theyve invited all the major GOP candidates. Gingrich on Monday night began airing a new, positive Spanish-language TV ad.
The candidates Republican candidates initially balked at attending a U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce forum tied to Univision, but Gingrich and Romney have decided to attend today. Gingrich was being interviewed by Univision when word of Rubios criticism broke. On Tuesday on the campaign trail, Gingrich addressed large, enthusiastic crowds in St. Petersburg and Sarasota, where he invoked Rubios name.
"As many of you know Jose Mallea is helping us with our campaign. He was Marco Rubios campaign manager. We discovered last night that Mitt Romney has picked up Charlie Crists campaign people," Gingrich said in St. Petersburg amid a smattering of boos at the mention of the former governors name. "That sort of tells you everything you needed to know about this contest."
Turns out, Mallea worked for Crist years ago as well. And Romney has some high-profile Rubio workers on his staff just as Gingrich does.
Later in the day, when asked about the use of his name and the linking of Romney and Crist, Rubio didnt sound pleased about it.
"Mitt Romney is no Charlie Crist. Romney is a conservative, Rubio said. And he was one of the first national Republican leaders to endorse me. He came to Florida, campaigned hard for me, and made a real difference in my race.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/25/v-fullstory/2607255/sen-marco-rubio-scolds-newt-gingrichs.html#storylink=cpy
Marco Rubio...er...Runio.....er....Rinio....RINO.
SIGH. Newt’s a better candidate than Myth, but he keeps slipping into LIB territory!
Why is it that the year we MOST need to win, we have such thin soup to choose from? Something is seriously wrong with the GOP.
“Rubio plans to stay neutral in the race”
Kind of tipped your hand here Marco!
I never thought Rubio would stoop so low as to defend Romney. He is a RINO now. Is there anyone left in cupboard that is not a RINO?
Let’s see: Beck, Coulter, Rubio, Hume, Christie.......the list is getting really long.
well deserved criticism. Gingrich is going after the amnesty vote here, in SPANISH so we don’t find out about it.
Yet again Newt is using DNC talking points of being "anti-immigrant," similar to attacking Romney for being a corporate raider. Sheesh, who's the bonehead in Newt's campaign that thinks these issues are better than Romney's liberal record and numerous flip-flops??
Have you seen Newt’s ad? It definitely uses LIB arguments.
Rubio doesn’t magically turn into a RINO just because he has a problem with Newt. Newt has fight — Newt has a lot of great stuff going for him — Myth is a loser all around — but the reality is that Newt is a loose cannon that strays into weird territory at random times. I think Rubio’s doing Newt a favor by letting him know he’s strayed into that weird territory again.
It’s something we need to be mindful of — and vigilant about — should Newt wrest the presidency from Zer0. We will need to be on point to keep him aimed true. It’s just a fact.
Exactly what does the ad say? What makes it an accusation that Romney is "anti immigrant?"
I guess you support amnesty like Newt? Thats a RINO position, IMHO.
VictoryGal-
I’ve got just the answer for that....see my tagline.
calling Mitt Romney anti-immigrant
_________________________________________
But Romney is anti-immigrant
and anti-immigration
Romney supports the illegal aliens in their felonious activities in our country...
Wanting the AMNESTY Bill passed
and saying thisngs like
“We cant send them all back”
“we must find a pathway to citizenship”
are not the words of someone who is for immigrants and immigration...
Pretending to invent Alien Registration Cards AKA Green Cards for immigrants so they can get jobs while illegal aliuens without one cant ???
when they have been used for decades ???
(I had one in 1971)
Makes Romney no better than Al “I invented the Internet” Gore..
What will Romney suggest next ???
That we develop a round thing with spokes made of wood iron andor rubber to make it easier to maneuver down the roads ???
Maybe he will think of
Rubbing to sticks together to make fire ???
OOOOOOOOOOOO
Willie Mitty
Youz da man ...
BTW someone needs to tell that doofus Romney that not having a green card never stopped an illegal alien from getting a job..
Romney lives on such an alternative planet...
In my opinion, Marco Rubio is one of them.
If Newt Gingrich is going to beat Obama, he will need their support. Calling them "traitors" and "RINO"s and throwing them under the bus is a suicidal move.
Maybe this will put an end to speculation of Rubio as a VP candidate. I like what I’ve heard up til now, but here we see the danger of rushing to embrace someone over a few good speeches until their belief system and policy ideas are completely vetted.
Sound familiar?
There were always signs of acute RINO-itis in Rubio, starting with his (apparent) disagreement with doing something about illegals.
There is a lot of mud being slung, and not all of it is orchestrated by the actual candidates.
At a certain point you have to tune ot the noise and just look at what the candidate says and their record and decide if you like and trust him or not.
I dont trust Romney. I wish Newt diid not have certain baggage, but the bottom line for me comes down to not trusting Romney.
“Why is it that the year we MOST need to win, we have such thin soup to choose from? Something is seriously wrong with the GOP.”
My thoughts as well. I am despondent over our current choices and their dim prospects for beating a very beatable incumbent president.
=========================================
Newt Gingrichs stance on illegal aliens...
In three years and eight months, we defeated fascist Italy, Nazi Germany and imperial Japan. Today, we cant build a (border) fence, Gingrich said.
I would propose cutting off all federal funds to any city that declares itself a sanctuary city.
He said that if UPS and FedEx could keep track of millions of packages a day, the federal government should be able to track illegal immigrants in the country. But Gingrich added: I dont believe well ever pass a bill which requires us to hunt down every single person who has been in this country for some time illegally.
Gingrich also said he would favor a very sophisticated, very clean guest worker program. I think we should go back to the World War Two selective service model where local citizens are certified at a local level, where they actually know the person, he said.
If the person is a good citizen, has genuine ties to the United States, has genuine roots, they still dont get amnesty, they still dont get citizenship, they still dont get the right to vote.
Rubio is attaining an AnnCoulterish Level of Shark-Jumping.
Rubio spoke out against the Arizona immigration law. These things start to show a pattern after a while. His true colors showing? How can anybody defend Romney for any reason?
As a resident of Florida, I just shot off an email to the Junior Senator.
Not quite sure how this is RINOish:
Unlike Romney, who uses statements from Castro, Newt Gingrich has fought against the regime, the ad says, noting that Gingrich helped pass the Cuba-trade crackdown law, Helms-Burton.
He supported the formation of Radio and TV Marti; and is in favor of holding the Castro brothers accountable for the shooting down of the Brothers to the Rescue airplanes, the ad says, referencing a 1996 incident where anti-Castro activists were killed by the Cuban military near the islands airspace.
We have an illegal immigration problem with Mexico.
But this is Florida and we want more legal immigration from Cuba.
[Sigh]. It's one thing if he wanted to remain neutral and silent out of loyalty because Romney supported him, but for Rubio to go the extra mile and say that Romney is a conservative? Didn't Newt support Rubio also?
“Rubio plans to stay neutral in the race. Hes a potential running mate” Marco Rubio is not “Natural Born”,therefore not eligible to be VP or POTUS. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2804096/posts
So Newt’s campaign accuses Romney of being “anti-immigrant” for wanting to deport illegal aliens, and the RINO is . . . Marco Rubio?
Newt is far from a RINO, but Romney favoring deportation of illegal aliens is one of the good things Romney has said, and Newt should not be running commercials criticizing that.
And Rubio said:
The truth is that neither of these two men is anti-immigrant, Rubio said. Both are pro-legal immigration and both have positive messages that play well in the Hispanic community.
What’s wrong with that?
And Rubio said:
The truth is that neither of these two men is anti-immigrant, Rubio said. Both are pro-legal immigration and both have positive messages that play well in the Hispanic community.
Whats wrong with that?
__________________________
Nothing is wrong with that, but it does make me wonder if he prefers Mittens to Newt.
It’s been plainly apparent here in FL that Rubio is a handpicked establishment GOP fast tracker.
They’ll be looking to run him for President in a few years.
You must like the sound of that, you've posted it around FR a lot today. For your information, it is Rubio who has thrown conservatives under the bus by carrying Willard's water for all the MSM to see.
Funny how everyone is showing their true colors all of a sudden. Rubio and all those nice little Florida Mitt organizers "that Newt needs to win" according to today's spinbites can go pound sand. Newt can build his own organization without them, thank you very much.
The GOP RINO establishment has no message other than buying each other and putting names out there that dice other contenders instead of confronting the Dems courageously. They resort to perception games out of the Dem play book. Soon it is going to be racist not to be a RINO... but it is them who are so racist and hiding behind labels and islam and soft stances as a way to move their industrial complex of stupidity.
Not if they're "insiders." There are great material advantages to being an insider, but one doesn't retain the status by bucking the system. Buck the system and you become an outsider, losing all the privileges in the process.
Rubio flashed his colors.He will not be our VP. I like Santorum for vp anyway. Newt is in . These establishment guys think they are still going to put Mr. Checkered Pants in the Nomination with his off shore bank accounts.Nope. Not gonna happen
As did most of FR until, apparently, this morning.
Would I be swayed if he were to endorse Romney? Of course not. But I won't call him a "traitor" either.
I figure that my job, when it comes to Republicans who support Romney, is to try and explain to them why that's a bad idea......not to spit in their faces. And yeah, I've been posting that point of view here for months, and I stand by it.
Romney favoring deportation of illegal aliens is one of the good things Romney has said,
___________________________________________
Romney KNOWINGLY hired illegal alien gardeners when he was Gov of MASS
Romney was pushing for the passing of the AMNESTY Bill...
Romney has never been for deporting illegal aliens...
Thats a new campaign talking point..
about deportation he has said
“We cant send then all back”
Romney had sanctuary cities in MASS while he was Gov
Romney wouldnt let the MASS police arrest illegal aliens..
He doesnt favor deporting ANY of ther 30 MILLION illegal aliens...
BTW in case you want to say that bit about Romney had a policy of arresting illegal aliens ...
That was a brand new thing he came up with justy weeks before he left office...
It was a campaign for POTUS smoke screen
a pretence at conservatism...
he had already been campaigning for 2 years..
but he was about to leave his Gov job and go fulltime on the trail...
He needed to be able to say he was for immigration
and against the illegal alien invaders..
and had been all along..
“self deport” ???
thats a new wrinkle...
Romney hasnt been saying that..until now..
In fact this new lie of Romneys has so impressed and fooled Roger Hedgecock that Roger last night was endorsing Romney on his show..
Roger is in San Diego and has for years has been warning about the illegal aliens...
Poor Roger...
Rubio said:
The truth is that neither of these two men is anti-immigrant, Rubio said. Both are pro-legal immigration and both have positive messages that play well in the Hispanic community.
Whats wrong with that?
There is nothing wrong with that satement..Except Romney at best is a moderate. Even that is a stretch in my not so humble opinion.
Its the following statement that raises the rino flag for me.
“Mitt Romney is no Charlie Crist. Romney is a conservative, Rubio said.
Sometimes I wonder if some of you even know what you’re all talking about, or are just more willing to defend the flavor of the month.
Rubio is right to attack Newt here. Newt has advocated a liberal position. To me, THAT is the RINO.
pfffft . . .
Mittens helped him get elected in Fla. That’s how it works in politics. You help me, I’ll owe ya.
Rubio has learned the treacherous ways of politics in the Senate.
Never take a stand, try to have it both ways.
This Republican race for the nomination is the most important in a generation.
Not since Reagan bitch slapped that elitist former CIA director in the 1980 primary has the Republican party faced such an important choice in the primary.
Rubio has to man up and make a choice, it is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.
Rubio can choose the populism of Newt who is currently riding much of the same populist movement that established the Tea Party that put Rubio in office or he can choose the elitism of Romney who may have endorsed him but did so for the most cynical reasons. In my view, Romney endorsed Rubio because he saw a chance to endorse someone with star quality who was culturally diverse which is not often the case in Republican politics.
When Romney looked at Crist it was like looking in the mirror and he made the smart move by endorsing the Hispanic with star quality over another empty suit who had worn out his welcome mat in a changing Republican Party.
What exactly is liberal about saying that Romney is the most anti-immigrant of the remaining candidates?
More information/related;
http://michellemalkin.com/2012/01/25/gingrich-channels-open-borders-seiu-rubio-rebukes/
So far the only “minority” candidate I know of who has not gone back to the skin color or ethnicity reservation is Allen West and I am holding my breath.
Time and again I am disappointed.
Rubio..not a bad sort...got all bent over Alabama and Arizona laws.
Now Newt wants some latino vote...he at least doesn't want to lose the remaining 25%
Romney..will do anything..stands only for fiscal responsibility as a former LBO titan..which is laughable to me.
So there we are.
Fact is Newt...and I have already given you 750 so far and ordered my bumperstickers 11-4-11...before anyone here mostly I'd guess
Forget the damned minority votes...you know this.
Every cracker percentage you turn is worth 10 times a latino percentage and 10 times a black one and 50 times a usually liberal Jewish percentage point of voting
and so forth...the minority votes for all the hoopla is not where the easiest ore is to being mined...it's the WHITE VOTE...Christian or leaning that way...70-75% of the population..and yes there is overlap even into other labels groups so it is even higher really
I do not know why we have to bend knee for folks who simply do not instinctively get the message.
Pandering to them and diluting our own thrust is poor logic by the numbers yet the GOP and some here...cannot resist
McCain got 55% of the White Vote
If Newt can get just 2 more points he would likely win..maybe even 1.5% more even would do it
You get even 25% more blacks or latinos...not gonna happen and it's only worth the same popular vote wise
the whole minority outreach is such a canard...for now
HOWEVER..in Florida sucking up to Jews and Latinos in a primary is mandatory....it's akin to singing Dixie in my homestate..you have to..lol..if you want to win
anyhow..overall..Rubio...pendejo...don't trust him...conyo!
This is not “slipping into LIB territory”. This is the way the game is played and if you do not fight fire with fire you will lose. Reminder: Gingrich was winning Iowa after the December 12 debates, when Romney went negative on him. Romney, being old and a phoney, has therefore taken both sides on every issue - even issues such as this one which is unique in Florida. This is a no-holds-barred intra-party political fight this year, and you better get used to the lines you have constructed in your mind that should not be crossed, being crossed. Gingrich has every right to exploit this Romney weakness in every state Gingrich is allowed to compete in.
Then ass hat shut the F up.
But again... it's good know NOW!
“Gingrich is going after the amnesty vote here, in SPANISH so we dont find out about it.”
So what?
Ai! Ai! Ai! Arriba, muchacho!
Behold the genesis of the next decade’s Colin Powell.
Transformative, ah si!
Rubio is wrong, of course, in stating that Willard is a conservative.
Rubio is also wrong, as are most Republicans, in refusing to take a stand against massive legal immigration. (As Roy Beck, President of NumbersUSA, pointed out in an e-mail today in regard to the CommiePunk’s SOTU agit/prop speech last night: “What really galled me was Pres. Obama bragging about more than 3 million U.S. jobs created during the last 22 months. That could have been good news for unemployed Americans. But during that same period, the Obama Administration issued more than 3 million work visas to new immigrants and other foreign workers (more than half of them permanent).)
The truth of the matter is that legal immigration is killing us almost as much as illegal immigration is. Rubio, Gingrich, and Romney are all on the wrong side of this issue.
But I do agree with Rubio in stating that Newt is wrong to call Willard anti-immigrant. Both Willard and Newt are far too pro-immigrant for the good of this country.
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