Rubio’s Appeal to Latinos

(Or lack thereof).

A really good piece by Stephen A. Nuño that is worth  read:  Marco Rubio Is The Lipstick, The GOP Is The Pig.

FILED UNDER: 2016 Election, US Politics,
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. An Interested Party says:

    No one should expect too much from tokens…

  2. CB says:

    I want to hear more about this new american century. Does anyone have any idea how it projects?

  3. Ron Beasley says:

    I’m not sure who Rubio thinks he’s talking to in the Hispanic community. The first wave of Miami Cubans were the oligarchs who were in part responsible for the revolution. They are old and dead or dying and the 3rd and 4th generations don’t share their views. In addition non Cuban Hispanics are very different. It almost seems like Rubio is talking to headstones in the cemeteries of Miami.

  4. gVOR08 says:

    Conservatives thought Herman Cain, and now Ben Carson, were an answer to Obama’s blackness which they thought was the only thing getting him elected. (Not costing him 6% in ’08 per the best estimate I’ve seen.) They seem unaware that to black people, all black people do not look alike. Same with Rubio, he’s Hispanic, Hispanics will love him. Why would you look at polls, it’s obvious?
    People who understand race as poorly as Republicans do should not try to do anything clever involving race.

  5. michael reynolds says:

    @gVOR08:

    Cubans are Latino nobility – born with a silver visa in their mouths. They have zero in common with Mexicans, Guatemalans, Hondurans or Salvadorans.

  6. Pinky says:

    Wow, if Rubio’s lost TPM….

  7. @Pinky: Yes, that’s all you need to know.

  8. Pinky says:

    @Steven L. Taylor: If it’s an article about race, that’s more than I need to know.

  9. @Pinky: Indeed,. Why bother with reason, evidence, argument, or whether the author is expert on the topic. All of that just gets in the way!

  10. Pinky says:

    @Steven L. Taylor: In the way of what?

  11. Davebo says:

    @Pinky:

    In the way of what?

    Meaningless and frankly, thoughtless off hand comments that offer nothing to the subject at hand?

  12. An Interested Party says:

    Wow, if Rubio’s lost TPM….

    So sorry that it isn’t a love letter from National Review…

  13. Pinky says:

    @Davebo: The subject at hand…I don’t know, man, at some point you’ve got to get tired of articles about race.

  14. Andre Kenji says:

    I´m a Brazilian, and I don´t vote in the US. My background is very different from the Puerto Rican, Mexican or Cuban communities in the US. But when I see Rubio I see someone with a Latino background that I can relate to. He makes jokes about himself, he is always laughing at himself, he talked about how his mother during his campaign. He does not sound like a Southern White when talking about religion.

    Sure, his policy proposals makes very little sense and he sounds condescending when talking about economic problems – but at least he sounds like a Latino. Ted Cruz does not. No one thinks of the “g” word when thinking about Rubio.

  15. @Pinky: Imagine how you would feel if you weren’t white (granted, I am making assumptions).

  16. @Andre Kenji: I can see what you mean in re: Cruz v. Rubio.

    In general I would put Rubio is a different category than Cruz in a variety of ways.

  17. Andre Kenji says:

    @Steven L. Taylor: I know that they are different candidates. But Rubio definitely is a Hispanic and sounds like one. But his problem are his policies – Minority candidates in the GOP speaks to White voters, and that´s a problem.

  18. superdestroyer says:

    How can anyone post links like the one above and not believe that the U.S. will soon be a one party state. What is amazing is Chicago just had an election that pitted the private sector Democrats against the public sector Democrats and no one wants to talk about the election, the results, or what it means for the future. It is just easier to make fun of irrelevant Republicans rather than realize that no Republican is going to win the future and elections are becoming fights about ethnic and racial groups over the spoils of government.

  19. wr says:

    @superdestroyer: Wait, Chicago just elected a Democrat as mayor and no one is talking about that astonshing fact????? Thank you so much for bringing tht to our attention. Clearly, this changes everything!!!!

  20. superdestroyer says:

    @wr:

    What is amazing is how hard progressives have tried to ignore the election in Chicago. The national media covered city council elections in Ferguson, Mo more than the election in Chicago. When Mayor Emanuel defeated challenger Chuy Garcia, many issues were in play. What is amazing is how hard progressives are working to ignore those issue and would rather talk about someone who is totally irrelevant such as Marco Rubio.

    I guess when confronted with elections that show how politics is actually trending in the U.S., it is easier for progressives to find an irrelevant Republican to focus on instead of focusing on reality.

  21. Pinky says:

    @Steven L. Taylor: Oooh, imagining my feelings about race as different races? Count me in!

  22. Laurence Burton says:

    A couple of years ago my wife and I went to see Ricardo Arjona at a packed United Airlines Center in Miami. Arjona has a song called “Puente” which is essentially a musical diatribe against the Cuban sanctions. When he finished the song, he got an ovation that was so long and so loud it would not be fair to just call it a “standing ovation”.

    My point?

    Anyone who associates often with Latinos will recognize that here is a significant generational difference in play on the subject of Cuba. Not just with Latinos in general, but also within the Cuban community. And Rubio is playing to the older generation. No doubt about it.

  23. gVOR08 says:

    @superdestroyer: Most of the lefty bloggers I read bitched about Emmanuel and put in a good word for Chuy several times. But other than writing about it a lot they did ignore it. If the media completely ignored it, how’d you find out?