"Rock star" Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) "could be the Republican vice presidential candidate from central casting," says David Adams at Reuters. He's "telegenic, Hispanic, and a fiscal conservative who has been embraced by the Tea Party." Rubio is viewed as a near-lock for the GOP ticket, and both Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney have said Rubio is on their short lists. They may want to think again, Adams argues. The conservative Rubio, who rails against Washington for "piling up debt," is underwater on his Miami home, "and at times has had difficulty paying his mortgage." After an IRS investigation of the Florida GOP, an "embarrassed" Rubio had to pony up $16,000 because he frequently "used his party credit card for personal use." And his inspiring back story — "Rubio initially cast himself as the U.S.-born son of Cuban immigrants who fled Fidel Castro's revolution in 1959" — is something of a sham. Rubio's parents left Cuba years before Castro took power. To top it all off, many analysts doubt Rubio can actually deliver Hispanic votes. Here, an excerpt:
[Rubio] has not endeared himself to Hispanic voters on several fronts, analysts say.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Rubio also voted against Sonia Sotomayor, Obama's Supreme Court nominee who is of Puerto Rican descent...[and] voted against Obama's health care overhaul, which is popular among many low-income Hispanics.
"He's on the wrong side on every issue that matters to Hispanics," said Fernand Amandi with Bendixen & Amandi, a political consulting firm in Miami that has been retained by the Obama campaign. "He's going to have to answer to those positions."
-
Courgette and leek ijeh (Arabic frittata) recipeThe Week Recommends Soft leeks, tender courgette, and fragrant spices make a crisp frittata
-
Trump’s power grab: the start of a new world order?Talking Point Following the capture of Nicolás Maduro, the US president has shown that arguably power, not ‘international law’, is the ultimate guarantor of security
-
Unrest in Iran: how the latest protests spread like wildfireIn the Spotlight Deep-rooted discontent at the country’s ‘entire regime’ and economic concerns have sparked widespread protest far beyond Tehran
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
-
Has Zohran Mamdani shown the Democrats how to win again?Today’s Big Question New York City mayoral election touted as victory for left-wing populists but moderate centrist wins elsewhere present more complex path for Democratic Party
-
Millions turn out for anti-Trump ‘No Kings’ ralliesSpeed Read An estimated 7 million people participated, 2 million more than at the first ‘No Kings’ protest in June
-
Ghislaine Maxwell: angling for a Trump pardonTalking Point Convicted sex trafficker's testimony could shed new light on president's links to Jeffrey Epstein
-
The last words and final moments of 40 presidentsThe Explainer Some are eloquent quotes worthy of the holders of the highest office in the nation, and others... aren't
-
The JFK files: the truth at last?In The Spotlight More than 64,000 previously classified documents relating the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy have been released by the Trump administration
-
'Seriously, not literally': how should the world take Donald Trump?Today's big question White House rhetoric and reality look likely to become increasingly blurred
