Rubio is a lightweight compared to Julian Castro.

Julian's twin brother won a House seat from what I hear.

Rubio is a Tea Partier

He is not a stupid guy but he does have a sleazy past having spent 100000 on his GOP credit card for personal purchases, he got "mixed up".

His right wing tapes

and advocating/supporting policies that actually do something helpful instead of trying to make their message sound "better".

I doubt very much either of them would kiss up to the RWers like Mittens did, so are they ready to accept somebody who is more of a center right candidate?

There's nothing to prevent a race in 2016 between, say, Romney and Elizabeth Warren, both from Massachusetts. It's commonly believed that you can't have the pres and vp candidates from the same state: the Constitution allows this, but the electors from that state can only vote for one of them. So if it were to come down to Florida again, with a Bush/Rubio ticket, the Florida electors would have to decide whether to vote for Bush/Someone_Else or Someone_Else/Rubio, which, if all the other states voted per custom, could result in a president and vice-president from different parties. That's the practical reason it's not done, along with a perception that the ticket should be somehow balanced.

The teabaggers, fox news and hate radio will see to that

Hispanics.

As a female, that would be enough for me not to vote for the likes of him, anymore than I would vote for a Palin or a Backmann just because they are female. Hell, I even voted for Obama over Hillary (female) in the Primary because I thought Hillary wasn't quite ready for the job. In the future? Maybe. Gender, or race, or ethnicity is not enough for me, as a (White) WOMAN.

It is the MESSAGE, not the MESSENGER that is the problem with them. They just don't get it, and maybe never will.

because Jeb Bush married a Hispanic woman and Rubio is Hispanic?

So i guess Clarence's wife Virginia Thomas is down with black people and Herman Cain is the new MLK.

In their eyes, everybody that is not a white male is a sheep that wants to be led - Sarah Palin was the VP nominee in 2008 because the GOP thought women upset at Hillary losing to Obama would switch to Palin just because she was a woman. Yet, Palin ended up being more popular among men than women and McCain lost big.

And, just the same with Herman Cain, Marco Rubio or Condy Rice. Many in the GOP will believe that African-Americans, Hispanics and/or women will just suddenly drop their normal voting patterns and vote Republican just based on the skin color and/or sex of who is on the ticket. Romney wasn't joking when he said he thought it would be easier if he were Hispanic. A lot of Republicans believe that minorities have it easy and are just too lazy to get ahead since they enjoy being on the government dole so much.

how offensive that is.

I've worked with enough Republicans over the years to know that they feel that minorities are lazy and have a lot of advantages to help them get ahead - citing Colin Powell, Condy Rice, Clarence Thomas and/or Alberto Gonzales as proof.

It is just sad that in 2012 this is their version of being progressive.

Or any minority

look at Arizona.

the horse has already bolted. Not repairable for the Republicans.

is to get these clowns on the record
1. Will you vote for a personhood law?

2. Do you support comprehensive immigration reform

3. Would you support repeal of equal / fair pay laws

4. Do you approve of the Ryan budget including the voucher system for Medicare

5 do you support a standardized voting law

Even one wrong answer from the tea bagger perspective and its over

LOL. Latinos are politically astute and have so much at stake in future elections. They don't want
ponies but sound authentic immigration reform. 50,000 Latinos turn eighteen every month. 50,000!

If Democrats fight for the Latino community they will be loyal party members for generations to come.
They want their children to have educational and employment opportunities just as everyone else does.

My Grandfather immigrated to the US from Mexico in 1920. He became a member of the Democratic Party
and worked hard for the party and fellow Mexicans that re-located to Chicago. My sons are now 4th generation
Democrats because of my Grandfathers great affection for the party. My point is, we need to do the right
thing now and reap the benefits for years to come or pay the consequences.

My grandfather was a land owner in Texas when Hispanics could not run for office. He worked on LBJ's Texas election because he promised Hispanics that he would advocate for and advance a Civil Rights Act as he progressed in his political career. When I was 13 my grandfather told me to always vote Democrat, now my sons do as well. I can't see GOP recruiting Hispanics successfully without a history with us.

They'll get their tokens out there and make an insincere about face on an issue or two...

And they have the gall to accuse the Democrats of pandering? Sorry, GOPers you still don't fucking get it. Until you roundly and decisively condemn and kick out the likes of Limbaugh from your ranks and distance yourself from the stupid, hateful and nasty rhetoric, no minority will take your late awakened "enlightenment" seriously.

...no more Bush...ever again.

And Marco "Weasel" Rubio? I think not.

......the mean Hispanic population of the USA emanates from Cuba or Florida, and is therefore responsible for our country's Hispanic population's allegiance to either Marco Polo or Jeb Bush.

I live on the West coast, but even so, it seems to me that Mexico is the *main* source of the Hispanic population in this country, not Florida or Cuba. Do the majority of Hispanics who live in the USA even know who Marco Polo is? As for Jeb Bush, I think he probably reminds most of our Hispanic population (in addition to myself and probably a lot of other people) of the "dude" who tried to sell them their last new car. (no offense to new car salesmen intended)

with a Hispanic-sounding surname as their next nominee, or running mate, and that will make everything fine. Maybe soft-pedal the self-deportation stuff a little bit, too; sling a little BS around about coming up with a "fair" immigration policy. Yep, that'll work.

Unfortunately the powers that be in the GOP seem to have failed to notice that their base - mostly old white guys - is racist to the bone. Granted, the old white guys are gradually dying off, but they won't be gone by 2016. They have also failed to notice that core GOP principles hurt the poor and working classes of all races. So how do they think picking somebody whose last name ends with an "o" can persuade Latinos to vote for them instead of the Democrats when everything they have said and done for decades indicates (1) that they don't especially like Latinos and wish they'd go back to Mexico, and (2) their policies are harmful to everyone who isn't wealthy?

They just don't get it.

Oversimplifying...Cubanos are usually considered as Caribbean/Islanders. The Spanish/Mexican/Californian Hispanic has European identity and dates back to California land grants. They are not a homogenous voting bloc.

Jeb's wife, Columba, is a Mexican native/Hispanic.

Rubio is a Cubano.

They are all from Florida and right-wing Republican and they are limited to that demographic...hopefully.

Julian Castro, whose mother was the original Chicana/La Raza and father a "community organizer", reflects the larger Hispanic West/Southwest population and seems to be the Right's worst upcoming nightmare.

2014 is a Gubernatorial (and US Senate) election in Texas and will likely be Castro's first entry onto the national political scene, but rooting out Perry is not likely. VP in 2016 is being talked about....no matter who the Presidential candidate.

As Texas begins to tinge purple, I see him upcoming as a potential Hispanic version of Obama.

(he's also got an identical twin, Joaquin, who is already in the Texas Statehouse.)

It's a weird way to classify people to begin with - people who's culture has been influenced by the Spanish Empire? People with Spanish surnames? People who speak Spanish in various contexts? Even in the Southwest and California there's a lot of variation, from people whose families came up from Mexico in the early 1600s to immigrants who only arrived last week, and every type in between. Even which particular part of Mexico they came from can be a factor: in a neighboring town there's some friction between the people with roots and Michoacan and the more recently arrived Oaxacans.

When I think of a typical Hispanic, the image that comes to mind is of someone with predominantly Central American Indian ancestry, since those are the people I interact with most often, people who don't seem to enter into the GOP view of Hispanics. I don't see them turning out in droves for someone who married one of Mexico's elites just because she has the same kind of surname, or for a Floridian just because he speaks (to their ears) Spanish with an accent.

And for the "pols" who would "woo" them. I taught school in LA county and lived there 24 years, have family in San Diego, and lived in Northern Cal amidst the Napa-Sonoma Valley for another couple of decades. There are layers within layers such as which generation often determines the level of acculturation. The only place I have not lived is in the Central Valley and that's another segment, as well.

Engaging them within their own community in their own way through their own chosen leaders is key and is being done, particularly within the Democrats. (About Columba Bush, it was just a comment, and a connection to understanding the Western Hispanic.)

My niece is a Millennial, educated, half-Hispanic engaged voter. Obama has begun the conversation in a dynamic way and has proven his commitment.

I think it comes down to the GOP leadership viewing people "not like us" as somehow interchangeable units, like they're (we're?) not really people.

long. They have more skeletons than an abattoir and yet the M$M ignores.

Jeb's connections with some of the more terrorist-y ex pat Cubans
Marco's time in the FL Legislature

These two issues alone should drive them from the public stage...

Last edited Sun Nov 11, 2012, 10:01 PM - Edit history (1)

I love this. The scramble is on to find some brown (but not TOO brown) people to front for them. This is actually quite a good thing for Democrats, for disenfrachised people of all sorts and for the country. The GOP finding that their scapegoats have all kicked them in the butt is a healthy thing. But it's still hilarious.

the wingers would go nuts, or nuttier than they already are!

Are they stupid? Don't they know Americans are tired of the Bush family? For god's sake, the father and son were already presidents. Both failures.

And they must think Latinos are stupid. We blacks would never vote for a token black Republican so why should they expect a Latino to vote for a token? They are out of their damn mind!

Their base are looney nutjobs and won't agree to immigration reform

I can't wait until they run Jeb Bush's punk ass in 2016.
Defeating him will be very tasty.
So surprised he sat out of 2012 but he WILL run in 2016 & we will crush him!
John Lucas

with pleasure, about Jeb. I think all the "real" Republicans were told to stand down as the liklihood of a 2nd term was very strong. 2014 will begin to give a clue about Obama's House coattails. Predictions?

I missed the Popular Vote tally by a mile but I did predict a guaranteed Win & Landslide.
Instead of 15% to 20%, it turned out to be more like 1.5% to 2.0%. Hahaha!
Still my reasoning for why Romney would lose held true.

ELECTION SPOILER: Obama wins in a LANDSLIDE

As for 2014, I expect the Republicans to be fully fractured by then with infighting.
Part of the party wants to put up a storefront of inclusion in light of the recent results while the other part will triple down with their "true conservative" philosophy.
If the inclusion storefront guys get their way, the "true conservatives" will drop support.
If the "true conservatives" guys get their way, the public will be even MORE turned off than they are now.

Either way, it speaks to a flushing out of that Republican garbage cluttering up the House in 2014.
'Inclusioneers' will cause the party to lose numbers at the voting booth with the 'true conservatives' dropping out.
'True conservatives' will cause the party to be voted out due to their irrational obstructionism.

The Democrats will secure the House in 2014 & when they get it THIS time, I hope they cut out this Third Way bullshit & steer the country further away from Reaganomics.
Backed by this Democratic majority Congress, Obama will spend his last 2 years in office enjoying the financial boost with the end of the War in Afghanistan, with his economic policies bearing fruit, with Obamacare fully rooted, along with his other plans.
He'll get all the credit & will push for more Progressive plans as he erases Reaganism step by step.
That sets the stage for the Democratic nominee (Hillary) & she will coast in on a record built entirely by the Democratic Party.
Republicans will run Jeb Bush & get clobbered potentially putting them out of business right then & there.

And don't let Obama remove Federal blockage to marijuana legalization.
If he says 'Let There Be Pot', it's a WRAP!
All Obama has to do is be strategically & strongly Progressive & this is all over.
John Lucas

...or maybe just the coolest line. Don't smoke myself, but many I love do. Go, Hillary.

Fractured and Flushing ... couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch.

Central America, SA et all. Be better off if these new repubs can start to treat all Americans the same, but it's their lame party to create.

Did they ever treat that guy well?

only to give the appearance that they've suddenly changed.

but they won't be able to keep themselves from using terms like "illegals" and
screaming at the top of their lungs that we need a bigger fence and more
guns and more police officers to "send them back".

the republican culture of hate has been fueled by fox news, glenn beck, rush limbaugh,
and that idiot that used to be on cnn whose name i can't remember.. they can't
undo that damage over night. it will take decades and lots of pandering which will
actually cause people to leave the republicans and go to the libertarians or somewhere
that is tolerant of intolerance.

I mean, really. How stupid do they think Hispanics in the US are?

the white and the rich. Uh huh. You betcha cha!

Yet the teabaggers will still be demanding machine guns, landmines and barbed wire at the borders and deportation for all. No passes if you were born here from undocumented parents either.

Yeah I'm sure that will get you into 21st century relevancy republicans...LOLOLOL!!

Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, a kinder, gentler machine gun hand, like the song says. Looks like civil war in the thug party is coming right up folks!