Posted on 11/13/2006 3:17:45 PM PST by MindBender26
Please pardon the Vanity, but Mel Martinez is a friend and I thought FReepers might like some insight in him.
Mel Martinez and his wife Kitty are outstanding people. Mel was born in Cuba. At 10 and 11 years old, with Castro in power, he wouldn’t take off his Catholic scapula. Other boys would hit him during basketball games because he wouldn’t disown his religion, as Castro demanded.
Mel came to this country under Kennedy’s Pedro Pan program. Imagine arriving in Miami with nothing, absolutely nothing!
I’ll cut to the chase; 25 years later, a very successful and honest lawyer, he has the happiest day of his life when he and his beautiful wife, and their kids, welcome his mother on her escape from Cuba, into the house they bought for her.
In 2000, he was recruited to run for he House seat being vacated by Bill McCollum, but said no, because he didn't want to be away from his family 3 nights a week.
When the RNC needed someone to debate Charlie Rangel, Fidel Castro's favorite congressman, on Larry King Live on CNN, we recruited Mel with just a few hours warning. Mel was the Orange County [Orlando area] mayor at the time and Rangel made the fatal mistake of underestimating him. After 60 minutes of debate, not even Larry King's "assistance" could help Rangel score even one point against Mel. In plain English, on the issue of the Elian Gonzalez, Mel Martinez had Charlie Rangel for lunch on live TV!
The Bush family saw him on Larry King and the rest is history. The president chose Mel to be HUD Secretary in his new administration, and in what is probably one of the toughest jobs in Washington, was the most successful HUD secretary was seen in 30 years.
Mel then returned to Florida and ran an uphill battle to be our senator. He beat a reasonably strong opponent, and even more importantly than that, never once veered away from his long-held principles. He is an adamant opponent of abortion, understands that the most important thing in America today is to defeat terrorism and return a sense of personal responsibility to each and every American.
I had the pleasure of flying with Mel back to Washington the day after the election. Trust me on this one, he sharp, conservative, understands the issues better than 99% of the people in Washington... and most importantly, has seen the vicious or press the nature of communism and other leftist governments up close. If there is one man in the United States that Hugo Chavez fears more than anyone else, it's Mel Martinez.... and it would be a smart if the Islamic terrorists and their fellow travelers feared him too!
There are many more wonderful things Mel has done during his career in public life, and before but I won't go into them here.
With the Hispanic vote critically important for any success in any future national election, (and growing faster than the Black vote) , the selection of Mel Martinez as a new RNC chair is a brilliant move.
As I said on the other thread, this is the ONLY thing that worries me about Senator Martinez.
I disagree. The only lawyers we need more of are Bork and Scalia - yes, but they are/were judges which is a rather distinct subspecies of a lawyer genus.
he also worked very hard to stop all oil drilling around Florida - Fidel can drill closer to Miami than Exxon. Thanks to the Fl. senators and Jeb.
I disagree. I don't see where minorities care a whit when it comes to a Republican being a minority. In fact, as shown in Maryland, they'll take a whitebread RAT like Ben Cardin over a Republican minority like Michael Steele. And let's not forget the black leaders in Maryland who said it was perfectly acceptable to hurl racial epithets at Steele because he is a Republican.
Further, being an Hispanic immigrant who overcame tremendous odds did nothing for Miguel Estrada in the Senate. Hispanic groups who scream discrimination at any opportunity sat idly by while Estrada was viciously attacked by white Senators.
I just don't see any reason to think Mel Martinez gets any better treatment or has any better influence with his minority group than either Steele or Estrada. It seems that minorities are truly colorblind or ethnicblind when it comes to Republicans—they simply hate all Republicans.
We're gonna need a lot of Aleve for all the people with sore knees from jerking them so much.
LOL with supporters like you Mel is going to really change minds!
susie
He also appears to be an environmentalist.
Especially since when applying for a drivers license ANYONE can receive the right to vote.
I appreciate the fact that he is your friend, but I really don't see how a guy can be effective in two very high visibility positions, each with lots of responsibility. Is he planning on stepping down as U.S. Senator? Or is the RNC job just a "figurehead" type, whereby the underlings formulate most of the strategy, etc.
We just lost a critical election, so I just don't see how a man splitting his time between two very important positions will work out well for the GOP.
Certainly he's not getting paid to insult people?!
susie
How many minority chairs has the RNC had over its history? Just wondering.
How funny. I knew he was a real person, but kind of forgot about him. :)
susie
It's a mixed bag having Martinez as RNC chairman. He may placate the Cubanos and some Hispanics but not a great deal. Not sure Martinez has the moxy for the job.
I hope the GOP has a vital position for Michael Steele....that man is golden.
One-issue Repubs are kind of dumb.
?
The only sponsor/champion of that horrible Senate bill I ever heard get questioned about the hidden, unadvertised provisions (like how it would massively increase already large-scale legal immigration) of the bill was Senator Martinez. It was on Tucker Carlson's show I believe, shortly after Senator Sessions (the hero of the Senate during that debate) and the Heritage Foundation had disclosed what the McCains and Kennedys wanted to hide.
Martinez' response was that it was not the intent of the bill to result in such enormous increases in legal immigration!
Well, if its not the intent, then why does the bill not only allow it, but also pretty much guarantee that it will happen?
Of course, in supporting this awful bill, Martinez was no worst than the other Republicans who joined with the Democrats to pass it, so its not fair to criticize him to harshly. But it does signal that the hopes for conservative reform of immigration laws grow dimmer and dimmer.
Thanks for sharing your insights. It's people like you who make FR such a great resource.
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