
Rubio’s Hispanic…What Else Is There to Talk About?
If we needed to be reminded of the liberal obsession with race, the media has obliged us with their coverage of Senator Marco Rubio. It would be a distinct challenge to find any mainstream article written about Rubio since his announcement that doesn’t devote the majority of space to his Hispanic background. It’s not that Rubio’s background isn’t worth talking about, it’s that these writers think there’s little else to mention.
Take a piece this week in the New York Times, written by Jonathan Martin and Ashley Parker. It’s aim? To find out if Republicans are interested in Rubio’s race and “the balm it offers to a party that has been repeatedly scalded by accusations of prejudice.” The co-authors begin their article by quoting a “70-year-old white guy” they found outside a Rubio event: “The day of the older white guy is kind of out.”
The rest of the article is no better, offering little substance and lots of snarky asides meant to convey amusement at the silly conservatives being forced to confront their own rabid racism. They make note of the “raw tensions in Rubio’s party, between those unsettled by an increasingly diverse society and those who say Republicans must embrace the multihued America of 2015.” And if they can’t manage to find anyone who represents that “unsettled” faction, then you’ll just have to take their word that it exists.
If that’s not good enough, the Times will be happy to force a square peg into a round hole if need be. The authors note that some Republicans are “wary” of Rubio’s ethnicity. To support that, they quote Wayne LaPierre of the NRA: “Eight years of one demographically symbolic president is enough.” They immediately admit that LaPierre was talking about Hillary Clinton, not Rubio, but they don’t explain why that fact wasn’t good enough to keep it out of the article.
It’s good for Republicans to look for qualified, diverse candidates. The NY Times isn’t wrong when they say that the party has an image problem. What they fail to consider, of course, is that papers like theirs have been responsible for that problem. Unwilling to accept conservative principles on their own merit, liberal writers have constantly and consistently looked for racism behind the policies. If there is none to be found – and there seldom is – they feel free to make it up. And now Republicans have to scramble to erase that false perception.
If Rubio can help them do that, so much the better. But when it comes down to it, conservatives aren’t going to vote for a man because of his race. That’s liberal territory, and they are welcome to it. You see, conservatives have lives they want to get on with, and they want a president who can help them do that with as little interference as possible. If Rubio emerges as that man, he will stand a good chance of being the Republican nominee. If he doesn’t, then he won’t.
But of course, that won’t stop the media from saying he lost due to racism.