Rubio the “Sexy Exile”
by digby
If you haven’t been following the saga of Marco Rubio’s family history “embellishment” this clip will fill you in:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Why is this important? As the reporter says, the distinction between being an Hispanic immigrant and a Cuban exile is significant among right wingers — and very significant among other Hispanic immigrants who are often held up in contrast to the “hard working” super-capitalist Cuban Americans. (By, for instance, Marco Rubio.)
There is nothing wrong with being a Cuban immigrant rather than an exile. There were lots of them. And why not? For centuries people from all over the world have come to America to seek a better life. But as that clip points out, it’s not quite as sexy to leave your country to make a buck as to be fleeing Communism to seek liberty in the US of A. In fact, if Rubio were to defend other Hispanic immigrants who come to America today to make a buck as his parents did, he would very likely be an exile for real — from the right wing of the Republican Party.(After all, the birthers have been the one’s ringing the bell first.)
On the other hand, you have to wonder if Rubio’s parents really did emigrate for political reasons, just not the reasons he claims. In 1956 plenty of Cubans fled the repressive rule of Fulgencio Batista, the right wing dictator Castro overthrew three years later. As Howie quips here:
The people who left Cuba right after the 1959 victory were basically all fascists, like the parents of the Diaz-Balart brothers. But the ones who were fleeing Cuba in 1956, were fleeing from the Batista dictatorship. How ironic if Rubio’s parents were trying to escape a right-wing fanatic only to get to safety and give birth to a pathetic caricature of Batista in Florida!
I assume that even being anti-Batista in Miami after the influx of “exiles” from Castro’s takeover was a very dangerous and unpopular thing to be. I also imagine that a whole bunch of Cuban immigrants who came before found that it was much better for their lives and businesses to melt into that crowd than fight it. (Imagine being pro-Castro anywhere in America in 1960!) If Rubio’s parents found themselves on the wrong side of that argument living in the US, I can certainly understand why they would alter their history — and their politics. Little Marco may not even have known about it.
Not saying that’s what happened, of course. They may have been raging anti-communists even before they came to the US in 56. But this story hits so many sweet spots in the right wing imagination, you can’t help but wonder …
.