The 2020 Presidential Candidate
This superb political cartoon this week by the great Chan Lowe of the Tribune Content Agency actually did not surprise me one iota. You may recall that I laughed aloud in this forum when Marco Rubio the presidential candidate announced that he absolutely was not going to seek reelection to the U. S. Senate from Florida. Even after ending his presidential bid when Donald Trump wiped him out in the Florida primary {his home state}, Rubio still insisted he would not run for reelection to the Senate. I laughed again, you'll recall, right here in this forum, knowing full well he would indeed run. He confirmed that this week, garnering the above reaction from Mr. Lowe, who also probably laughed about Rubio's repeated denials.
Representing Miami as a first-term anti-Castro zealot in the U. S. Senate, Rubio railed like a spoiled child against anyone that showed even a modicum of decency and sanity regarding the U. S. policy towards Cuba that targets everyday Cubans in the guise of hurting Castro. The above Andy Marlette gem explains that Pope Francis was among those assailed by the juvenile and self-serving tirades of Senator Rubio.
This masterpiece by Bill Day reflects how Rubio has 100% of the time undignified the Senate by thumbing his nose childishly at any attempt by President Obama to make the U. S. and the world a safer and more cordial place. Rubio got wiped out in his home state of Florida by non-politician Donald Trump, while President Obama, even as a targeted President, has a positive approval rating nationally in June of 2016.
This icy gem is a reminder that, except for bloviating against Mr. Obama, Rubio has accomplished nothing for his Florida constituents or the American people in the U. S. Senate. His one notable effort at achieving something, a flawed immigration bill, melted in his hands when it first saw the light of day.
Marco Rubio's now famous "Water Bottle Moment" occurred on network television when the Republican Party afforded him the opportunity to prove he was "America's next rising political star." The "kool-aid" analogy above reflects the fact Rubio wasn't ready then and he won't be ready in 2020.
Marco Rubio's highly financed presidential bid in 2016 had a free ride from the mainstream U. S. media and from about a dozen of America's richest billionaires -- Sheldon Leonard, Paul Singer, etc.
Rubio's constant courting of billionaires like top Republican donor Paul Singer provided enough money to buy up several presidential races, except for the fact that America has apparently entered an era when citizens seemingly have tired of such money-crazed anti-democratic tactics. Floridians sent Rubio to the Senate to represent them, and both he and his large staff are being paid a lot of tax dollars, but he hit the Senate running for President and was dead last among the 100 Senators in actually being around to cast votes because he was too busy running around campaigning for President and attending fund-raisers.
Sheldon Adelson, the very controversial Jewish multi-billionaire Las Vegas tycoon, was courted heavily by Rubio, creating composite images such as this one. Campaigning in Florida against Trump, Rubio encountered protest signs that said "Embargo Israel, Not Cuba" to taunt his indelible "for sale" image.
Rubio's emphasis on Jewish billionaires cost him considerable support from his Florida constituents, the ones who had sent him to the Senate. It's one reason he got trounced in his home state by Trump.
Campaigning in his home state of Florida against the victorious Donald Trump, Rubio undoubtedly didn't expect to see protest signs like the one depicted above -- EMBARGO ISRAEL NOT CUBA. Despite Rubio's vow to "roll back" every single positive overture to Cuba that President Obama has made, polls consistently show that even Cuban-Americans in Miami favor Obama's Cuban policy, not Rubio's. And Rubio was reminded that he was sent to the Senate to represent Floridians, not Israel. Despite the unanimity of polls, Miami still seems capable of sending only anti-Castro zealots to Congress -- Ros-Lehtinen, the Diaz-Balart brothers, Rubio, Curbelo, etc. -- although Miami-Dade has a million qualified moderate Cubans.
Ken Silverstein is a veteran Washington-based journalist who has been a key reporter for the Associated Press, the Washington Editor for Harper's Magazine, etc. He seems to believe that Rubio is the most corrupt serious presidential candidate American has had. Appalled by the U. S. networks fawning all over Rubio, Mr. Silverstein penned a book-length article, which you can readily Google, entitled: "Poor Little Rich Boy Runs Into Real Estate Trouble." The sub-title highlighted Rubio"s "Piles of Unexplained Cash." And then the very first sentence was: "When it comes to sheer brazen corruption, chicanery and dishonesty there is one candidate who stands head and shoulders above everyone else and he is the right-wing Cuban-American and Tea Party darling Senator Marco Rubio of -- naturally -- the great state of Florida." Of course, the Rubio that Ken Silverstein describes is the Rubio that the mainstream U. S. media and many multi-billionaires wanted to be elected President in 2016, but they'll try again in 2020 and 2024.
The article by Ken Silverstein featured the above graphic.
A notable Cuban-American journalist is Arturo Lopez Levy. The powerful Huffington Post on 04/14/2015 published an article by Lopez Levy entitled "Why Senator Rubio's Lies Matter." You can easily Google that title and read it. Lopez Levy wrote: "Throughout his political career, Rubio deceived Floridians, adoring Republicans and others by claiming that his parents fled the Cuba of Fidel Castro. This is a lie exposed by hard journalism in the Washington Post. His parents left Cuba in 1956 as exiles from a tyrannical regime, that of Fulgencio Batista Zaldivar, the right-wing dictatorship that Fidel Castro overthrew." Lopez Levy opined that such lies by Rubio do indeed matter as he condescendingly seems to think that Americans are too stupid to care and the mainstream U. S. media as well as billionaire donors will continue to "adore" him regardless.
But this image of Rubio allegedly selling out to billionaires unceremoniously helped end his 2016 presidential bid that was highlighted by his drubbing in his home-state of Florida by Republican long-shot Donald Trump. After bowing out of the presidential race, Rubio still assured everyone that he was not going to seek reelection to the Senate, which he had depicted as being beneath him and "never getting anything done." Yet, with Rubio's ego, the Senate is now necessary to his planned presidential bids in 2020 and 2024. Thus, it was laughable to fall for Rubio's "promise" that he would not seek re-election.
And so...this composite shows how the Florida's senatorial race is currently shaking out. In the center is Senator Marco Rubio, who will sail away with the Republican nomination. On the left is U. S. Representative Alan Grayson and on the right is U. S. Representative Patrick Murphy. Grayson and Murphy are the two top Democratic challengers to Marco Rubio. This week, on June 22nd, a Quinnipiac University poll indicated that Rubio will win. Rubio leads Murphy 47% to 40% and he leads Grayson 48% to 40%.
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