2004: "Mel Martinez is a solid, unapologetic Conservative Cubano"
2010: "Marco Rubio is a solid, unapologetic Conservative Cubano"
2016: "Carlos Beruff is a solid, unapologetic Conservative Cubano"
Hmmm. We've seen this song and dance three times now. Some slick fresh-faced candidate shows up to tell them what they want to hear, and they immediately fall in line to endorse him, vouch for what a great guy he is, and accuse anyone who has doubts about the candidate's "solid conservative" credentials of potentially being a closet racist against hispanic candidates. The track record is the that the FReepers and "Tea Party" groups touting the "solidly conservative, "hispanic rising star" candidate have been 0-2 on their predictions, and I've been 2-0 in hesitating to jump in line to endorse their latest "rising star conservative Cuban"
Hopefully third time's the charm for them and I end up being wrong the third time around, but the odds aren't looking good.
>> Beruff btw supported CRIST for the Senate, even AFTER he started running as an indie and the defacto democrat nominee as most of them abandoned Kendrick Meek, so I’m sorry I don’t buy that he’s Mr. Conservative because he says he is. He’s Mr. Rich guy who wants to buy an office.
You won’t change it by sending random Crist-supporting millionaires who sing the tea party tune just to get elected either
And six years is a long time to eat a mistake. Given the failure to "turn out" hardly any incumbents <<
Give that information, I'm inclined to agree with Impy on this one. Rubio isn't my ideal choice, but I'll take him over some untested "Tea Party" candidate who backed that scumbag Crist AFTER he left the GOP. The difference between Rubio and Martinez is that aside from betraying us on immigration (which again, I WARNED about in 2010, saying he sounded like Martinez redux, and it fell on deep ears), Rubio has OTHERWISE been a solid conservative. Maybe Fieldmarshaldj doesn't care that Rubio has done the right thing the other 95% of the time, but I do. Given that conservatives have gotten burned TWICE now over a so-called "anti-amnesty" FL Senate candidate, you'd think they would finally STOP jumping in line to endorse whatever candidate shows up and tells them what they want to hear. Nope. Apparently this tactic will work over and over and over again.
Let's hope history doesn't repeat itself and I find myself saying "I told you so" in 2022 (when a candidate named Juan Garcia shows up, swears he is against amnesty, and they tout him as a "solid, unapologetic Conservative Cubano" who is 10X better than that "traitor" Carlos Beruff (after Carlos promptly voted for amnesty after being sworn in back in 2017)
I knew you would mention that!
Yes, the exact same thing being said about Beruff now was said about Rubio then, and Martinez before him. You were one of the very few people here I recall that was unconvinced of Rubio being better than Martinez. Rubio was “given the benefit of the doubt” because he talked the talk, not that he had any viable opposition after Crist exited the primary.
Beruff’s explaination re Crist is “he fooled me like he did many Floridians”, that flies as far as supporting him for the nomination, not standing by him when he abandoned the party. The only difference between the 2 candidates I can be sure of is that Rubio is much more likely to win, which closes the case for me.
I like candidates for high office to have records, damn it!
Beruff won’t betray us on immigration—because he won’t win the general if he were to buy the nomination. He is not the sort of disciplined candidate that we need in order to win a U.S. Senate race in FL.
I didn’t settle on these candidates merely because they were Cubano Conservatives. In the case of 2004, I supported Mel Martinez because the alternative was Bill McCollum, who had blown the open 2000 race that should never have been lost. In 2010, the choice was between Bubbles and the Orange Menace, which was a no-brainer.
For 2016, my earliest preference to take out Bubbles Roofio was Lt. Col. Allan West before he moved to Texas. My next preference was for Rep. Ron DeSantis (presumably Italian-American). With DeSantis’s exit, next up is Carlos Beruff. That in all 3 instances my endorsement fell to a Cubano was purely because they appeared to be the best of the bunch.