Cubans’ Rejection of Rubio Demonstrates Their Independent Thinking

[Judi Lynn]

July 21, 2015
Cubans’ Rejection of Rubio Demonstrates Their Independent Thinking

by Matt Peppe

A recent New York Times profile of Marco Rubio accurately describes the junior Senator from Florida, and member of the three-ring circus that is the Republican Presidential primary field, as Cuba’s “least favorite son.” The piece quoted a Havana resident as saying Rubio is “against Cuba in every possible way… Rubio and these Republicans, they are still stuck in 1959.” Presumably this view was representative of others that Times writer Jason Horowitz encountered while conducting his research in Cuba. This should not come as a surprise. Rubio is a reactionary fanatic who demagogues incessantly about the evils of the Cuban government. He supports illegal and immoral policies that cause vast damage to the Cuban economy and needless suffering by the Cuban people.

But Rubio cannot accept that Cubans’ nearly unanimous rejection of his right-wing politics might mean he is badly mistaken in his Manichean view of the Cuban socioeconomic system. Rubio wears Cubans’ disapproval of him as a badge of honor. For Rubio, Cubans are incapable of independent judgement. If the Cuban people are against him, it means they must be brainwashed by the evil Castro regime.

“If that’s the line the Cuban government has taken against me and is trying to indoctrinate their people in that way, it shows that we’re on to something,” the Times quotes Rubio as saying. But instead of acknowledging Rubio’s refusal to accept Cuban popular opinion as evidence of his megalomania, the Times accepts his delusional dismissal of his critics.

The Times notes that Rubio “has been identified in the state-controlled newspaper here as a ‘representative in the Senate of the Cuban-American terrorist mafia’.” This claim is not analyzed; it is supposed to be self-evident, hyperbolic slander. In reality, Rubio has always marched in lock-step with the Cuban-American community in Miami that portrays Castro as diabolical and advocates for regime change and the overthrow of socialism. That much is beyond dispute. Is calling the Cuban-American community a “terrorist mafia” an exaggeration?

More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/07/21/cubans-rejection-of-rubio-demonstrates-their-independent-thinking/

[HooptieWagon]

1. The Cuban vote is not monolithic.

They have to be separated from other Hispanics. First generation Cubans, right "off the boat", tend to strongly anti-Castro, and solidly Republican. They self-identify as "Cuban".
The second generation tend to be a majority GOP, not as much as the first. They self-identify as "Cuban-Americans".
Each following generation votes less GOP, approaching the numbers of other Hispanics. They self-identify as "Americans".
I read this in a well-researched paper several years ago, I'm sorry I don't have a link to it. My anecdotal observations do observe this trend.
The error is often made lumping all Hispanics with Cubans, ie: "the Florida Latino vote is right wing". Less common, but also in error is to lump Cubans in with other Hispanics. They must be considered separately. Non-Cuban Hispanics are pretty solidly Democratic, Cuban Hispanics are mixed. BTW, Cuban heritage Hispanics are only about 25% of all Hispanics in Florida. It is another common error to think they are a majority.