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.
No. I should have made it clear that I don't view choosing Michael Steele over Martinez as pandering to blacks. He'd be a strong RNC leader on his merits, regardless of his race. The fact that he's African-American, of course, would be an added benefit, since it'd give the race-baiting dems fits. Martinez is lack-luster at best, and has been a rubber-stamp for GWB on amnesty issues.
I'd be very happy if you win your bet (no amnesty in the next 2 years), but I fear that GWB is hell-bent to push it through. Martinez as RNC chair is a bad omen.
Mr. Mindbender26, if you know mel martinez, please tell him how WRONG he is about illegal amnesty. I pray Florida gets its stuff together and votes him out when his 6 years are up. I don't get it.... are bush and martinez blantantly trying to build their voter base by giving amnesty to illegals and giving them the vote? HARSH HARSH HARSH i say! If an immigrant is not willing to come legally, i don't want them, and neither do the majority of the U.S., and if they would enforce the laws and make them fill out a DAMN I90 like I HAVE TO FILL OUT if i change jobs, there would not be millions of them here! Ok, go ahead and call me a racist, isn't that the automatic answer if you don't want amnesty? I say go MITT ROMNEY who has at least SAID HE IS AGAINST ROMNEY. P.S. I am sick to death about Dubya, this is my final straw with him. I HOPE THE HELL THE DEMS IMPEACH HIM!
"You certainly are tenacious. You've asked many people the same questions and had many responses. I would assume you read them."
Yes, I did read them all, and all of them said the same thing, that a fine is a lesser punishment. Amnesty is not a lesser punishment, it is a complete absence of any punishment.
On the contrary. Steele is competant and qualified to be RNC chairman, Mel "oops I accidentially gave the Terri Schiavo talking points to the enemy" Martinez is not. This guy only got 49% of the vote in Florida, for crying out loud. If he was forced to run in an ultra-blue state like Steele had to do, he would have been lucky to net 35% of the vote.
Steele is a saavy rising star in the party and is the best PERSON for the job, regardless of skin color. Martinez is a mediocre first term Senator who's appointment to this job would be a joke if it weren't for the party's need to pander to "hispanics".
Those who support lame-brain Martinez over the brillant Michael Steele for this job are the ones who don't mind supporting affirmation action.
Tammy Duckworth was not a "real" opponent? Gee, silly me. I thought the "decorated Iraq war vet" who had her legs blown off and was personally recruited by Rahm Emnaul, Dick Durbin, and the DCCC to "take Henry Hyde's seat" was a real opponent. I thought the fact she had 99% of the MSM on her side including the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, Daily Herald, Daily Southtown, etc., made her a real opponent. I thought the fact Barack Obama and Michael J. Fox were flown in to campaing with her nonstop made her a real opponent. I thought the fact the Chicago machine raised millions for her and the raise came down to the wire made her a real opponent. I thought the fact the "experts" predicted she'd win by "1000-2000 votes" and become "the next Loretta Sanchez" because of the district's "changing demographics" made her a real opponent.
But that mean ol' right-winger Peter Roskam beat her by running anti illegal-alien ads, so gee whiz, she can't be a "real opponent". Otherwise your talking points about how "everyone who ran on Tancredo's platform was defeated" would be WRONG.
I see no reason to support Mel Martinez for any Republican office.
Sen. Mel Martinez, President Bush's choice to become chairman of the Republican National Committee, said his goal will be to undo the election damage done by the border-enforcement-first message of most Republicans -- which he called "harshness only."
From: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1739076/posts
So Mel thinks that a sovereign nation securing its borders is "harshness” and then blames "most Republicans"?
Yeah, he should be the leader of Republicans. NOT
No Thanks!
Now let’s play Should’a, Would’a, Could’a:
I’ve read that 76% of Hispanic votes went to the Democrats.
If, two years ago Bush deigned to work with Republicans and secure the border first, not just talk, but demonstrably secure the border.
After a year or two of real control of the border, Bush could have gone to the Republican Congress and pointed out his success on border control and demanded a guest worker plan, which they would have gladly passed.
Then, Bush could have gone into this past election with his base voters happy with a secure border and Hispanics happy with a guest worker plan. Republicans would have received that 76% of Hispanic votes, kept control of congress and perhaps brought those voters to the GOP for decades to come.
But no, Bush wouldn’t work with his fellow Republicans on a successful win-win plan, he was determined to fight against his base voters and stand with the illegals.
Sadly, Bush continues to divide the Republican party and stand with the illegals.
So what exactly is the fine for crossing the border??
Pray for W and Our Troops
The penalty for illegal entry is deportation. Much worse and infinitely more appropriate than a fine.
So how does "Bush" physically deport 10 million Mexicans who have jobs??
Pray for W and Our Troops
Who's being pragmatic? I am a free trader including labor. I don't see where the gummiit is in the jobs program business. If it hurts business, I'm against it.
Guess were no longer welcome in the Pukeannan Party.
Pray for W and Our Troops
Youre for open borders?
NO but that is a great cliche! Pukeannan would be proud of that one. Like I said, I like most Americans understand the need for Guest Workers when you have full employment.
Pray for W and Our Troops
Spoken like a true Marxist. You must really hate capitalism.
Pray for W and Our Troops
Then again, here we have this vanity. Maybe you can get into the winner's circle with your screed. :)
Not worth the effort. So it was written so it was said.
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