Rubio is Cuban. He has no more advantage with, say, Mexican voters than I do. Being Cuban helps him only in FL and NJ.

Mexican and Central-Americans ... it spotlights the differences in immigration policy.

precedes the current immigration issue.

When Castro drove the Cuban dictator, Batista, from Cuba, (the New Year's Eve scene in "Godfather II" for those who need a historical point of reference), wealthy and powerful Cubans lost everything and had to flee for their lives.

The Republican Party went into full "Commie, Commie, Commie" mode against Castro, and the Cuban refugees saw the GOP as their allies. Laws were passed that any Cuban who escaped from Cuba, and managed to set foot on American soil, would have immunity from deportation. (The "Wet Foot/Dry Foot" policy. Google it. This policy does not apply to any non-Cuban Hispanics.)

The Republican Party, right up until today, wants to kick out every Latin American that is not of Cuban descent. (Hell, a lot of Republicans don't even know that Puerto Ricans are American citizens by birth.)

To go back to the OP, Rubio is of Cuban descent. Most Latin Americans couldn't give a rats ass about that and wont vote for him. The GOP knows that and wants all non-Cuban Hispanics gone.

I learned about the Cuban Policy disparities while doing volunteer work (in Miami) with Haitian refugees.

I don't think one could meet a more upset group (regarding immigration policy) than the Haitians. And imo, rightfully so.

disgusting, and must be changed. It's why we have to do everything in our power to make sure that the Republican presidential nominee loses (whether it's Rubio, Cruz, Bush, or any of the others).

My ex was a Nicaraguan refugee. My brother's ex also. I met and hung out and discussed politics etc. with a lot of Nicaraguan people and there was much (justified IMO) resentment toward the local Cuban-American population and the preferences they were afforded under the Cuban Adjustment Act. Marco Rubio isn't getting their vote...ever.

Most Cubans agree with it. I bet Rubio has to disagree in order to stay in line.

Rubio will have to call Obama a "Commie Traitor" whether he believes it or not. The wingnuts who are backing him and financing him would demand it.

Many of the older Cubans who are still dreaming of a return of the dictatorship that existed before Castro will hate any deal.

Many younger Cubans, along with those who have relatives in Cuba that they haven't seen in years, will welcome a deal.

Yup.

One of the main rationales for the advent of Sarah Palin in 2008 was, I'm quite sure, a cynical bid to pick up the votes of Democratic women who were disaffected by Hillary Clinton's failure to win the nomination. There was even a comical little group formed to protest the upstart Obama taking Clinton's nomination away from her (PUMA, standing for "party unity my ass&quot . The problem for Republicans is as old and hidebound as the dyspeptic old men who own the party: Women aren't interchangeable. There are indeed differences between women politicians, and someone who was attracted to a Clinton candidacy would hardly be impressed by Sarah Palin.

The same is true for the nascent Marco Rubio campaign. Latino voters aren't going to be gulled by a candidate just because of a shared ethnic heritage. But Republicans really don't understand that.

that are from Mexico or Central American can't stand him because he is Cuban. BIG time animosity between the groups. I suspect the GOP thinks all "Latinos/Hispanics/Spanish-speaking individuals" are the same. Not.

Refer your friends to post #7 above which gives a bit of the history.

(Another South Floridian here BTW)

It's hilarious to see corporate media discuss Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio and play up their chances of reaching the Whitehouse based partly on their appeal to Hispanics. Hispanics vote for Democrats. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are fighting over a sliver of the vote that doesn't. Good luck with that escoria.

I grew up there. Many of my friends' families were in New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona since the 1600's. They were here before America was a country. They did not identify with Cubans. Saying that Rubio gets the hispanic vote because he has a latin last name is as insulting as saying all women will vote for Hillary because she has a vagina.

the difference in political views between Cuban Americans and virtually all other Latin Americans. If most people here understood it, they wouldn't worry that much about "the Hispanic vote" in the 2016 election.

Perhaps, next time I do an OP on this topic, I'll include a more inflammatory headline. ... Or not.

He's gotta know, deep down, that one of the big guys - either jeb or someone with a lot of sparks and razzamatazz like ted cruz or rand paul, or koch brothers boy scott walker - will get the top spot. I suspect he wants to position himself for the running-mate slot.

I hope the Dems point out - with punks like him in the mix - that he may LOOK younger, and talk like he's younger, but his ideas are strictly 13th Century. His IDEAS are YESTERDAY. HE and the other GOPers are the ones who are YESTERDAY. Their THINKING is YESTERDAY. On women's reproductive rights, on voting rights, on marriage equality, on pay equality, on global warming, on the Dreamers and their families, on keeping church and state SEPARATE, Their ATTITUDES on social justice and rights and progress are ALL YESTERDAY. And as this kid Marco himself has admitted, "Yesterday is OVER." Claire McCaskill on MSNBC, just now, called rubio's IDEAS - old and STALE! - for example, his back-n-forth dancing around immigration reform - "that is NOT new and fresh, that is OLD."

That's a meme we sure could press forward! You may be a young kid, marco, but your ideas are as old and reactionary and out-of-date and obsolete as can be.