Really, Marco?
Marco Rubio: 'just say no to an accurate Census count'
Marco Rubio has already fooled the tea partyers into believing he would have turned down the federal stimulus money when he knows (and has admitted) it’s not (just as wasn’t true for 50 out of 50 governors, not to mention all those Republican members of Cognress who voted “no” but pose for the photo ops anyway…) now, he’s pandering to the nativist, race-baiting, Tom Tancredo wing of the tea party movement by saying (on Fox News, of course) he doesn’t think the Census should count immigrants … sorry … “illegals.” Really, Marco, son of Cuban immigrants Rubio? Really Really?
Turns out that just as saying no to the stimulus money would have been just … plain … crazy, since it would have deprived Florida of tax money the state not only needed, but was entitled to, even if you could somehow siphon out the illegal immigrants by going back in time and changing the already-printed Census forms to ask whether someone was in the country legally, why on earth would anyone who isn’t documented fill it out? And … now here’s the logic part, so I’ll type it slowly for the wingers … if you don’t count them, um, you don’t get the money. And for Florida, just improving the count among Haitians could mean an extra $300 million to help fill the Swiss cheese holes in our state budget. Federal budgeting is a zero sum game, something that should probably explained to young Mr. Rubio, and if Florida doesn’t get that funding, some other state will. Ms. Reinhard: your witness:
“Why do you believe that illegal immigrants shouldn’t be counted in the Census?” the Fox News broadcaster asked the Republican candidate for Florida’s open U.S. Senate seat. “Are you surprised that a Republican governor, Charlie Crist, is pushing for that?”
“I am surprised,” said the candidate, Marco Rubio, who shouldn’t be surprised at all.
A decade ago, Rubio’s conservative muse, former Gov. Jeb Bush, appointed a “complete count” committee to help Census workers reach everyone — from illegal immigrants to the homeless.
“We never made a distinction between legal and illegal,” said Scott McPherson, who directed the 2000 Census under Bush. “His policy was to get as accurate a count as possible.”
If most politicians had their way, the Census would count heads the same way they’d like to count votes: early and often. The once-a-decade, nationwide survey determines their states’ share of seats in Congress and more than $400 billion in federal aid. The bigger the population, the fatter the checks from Uncle Sam, and the more chances to pick up new seats in Congress. Preferably their own.
Yes, there’s a long, storied tradition of Florida politicians using the Census and redrawing of voting districts to advance their political careers. If practice, practice, practice is the way to Carnegie Hall, then redistricting, redistricting, redistricting is the way to Capitol Hill.
Look no further than Republicans Mario Diaz-Balart of Miami and Tom Feeney of Oviedo who, as leaders of the Florida Legislature, drew themselves friendly congressional districts after the 2000 census. (Attention please: Non-stop Flight #2371 from Tallahassee to Washington, now boarding.)
[Sidebar: so whose bright idea is Rubio parroting this week? Why David "The Louisiana John" Vitter, who when he isn't hanging with hookers, is busy pronouncing policies that seem utterly asinine and reflexively nativist right wing, until you realize their actual intent. In Vitter's case, the purpose of his proposed change to more than 200 years of American law, was to deprive blue states with large Hispanic and other immigrant populations, like California, New York and Illinois, of Congressional seats, while adding more seats for red states like Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina and Texas, and to prevent his own state from "losing seats" after 2010. Ironically, such attempted monkeying with the apportionment of Congressional seats (which in Vitter's case was also unconstitutional,) was also practiced by the slave states before the civil war. In fact, the fight over whether to allow newly added Western states to be "free" or "slave" was a contributing cause of the civil war, since the balance of power in Congress turned on the question.]
Back to Rubio: apparently, turning down federal money is becoming his “thing,” and the latest of his consequence-free pronouncements of doctrinal right wingerism which are designed to keep the teabaggers in love with him, but which seriously call into question either his honesty or competence to hold so important a position as United States Senator. I mean, doesn’t it seem dangerous to consider sending someone to Washington who, if he is to believed (and isn’t just pandering,) would spend six years rejecting every federal dollar Florida has coming, in favor of … what? No seriously, Marco, what do you think Florida is going to do if you cut it off from federal funding, and exacerbate our “donor state” status even further, which means a giant wealth transfer from Floridians to net federal welfare states like, well, Louisiana, just to please the tea party people? Are we all going to have to grow our own food? I need to know, like now, because I do NOT have a green thumb…
This latest oopsie demonstrates the perils of Rubio’s dance with the ultra right wing tea party movement, whose own narrative is untethered to either reality, or the act of actually governing. It’s easy to say “abolish Social Security!” when you’re not on it, or you don’t have to face elderly voters after you’ve canceled or privatized it — another thing Rubio is for. Believe me, I’ve ridden the New York subway with old people. They can be seriously mean when you take their seat, let alone their monthly checks. And how wonderful to yell out “stop all government spending!” even though you still expect to get your mail.
But enough of my ranting. Let’s hear from Charlie Crist, who whatever you think of him, is clearly the reality-based candidate in the GOP primary.
Crist has remarked that Rubio’s “notion that you wouldn’t want to accept federal funding to make a political point is absurd.” Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) stated, “It [not counting undocumented immigrants] would be pretty damaging to Florida. … Pretending they’re not there, not counting them, doesn’t make them go away.” State Rep. Dean Cannon commented that “it’s just important that the count be accurate regardless of their [immigrant] status.” Even Rubio supporter State Rep. Esteban Bovo (R) said, “So much funding is tied to the Census, and to be undercounted could have devastating effects down the line. … I really don’t want our community to get shortchanged.” Rubio later backtracked on his remarks to clarify that he was only referring to undocumented immigrants, not green card-holders like his Cuban immigrant parents once were.
Except that the supposed backing off brings us right back to where we started — with Rubio postulating that Florida should turn down federal money just to make a silly right wing point. And this from a guy who, while saying Ronald Reagan was wrong on amnesty, held back the Florida House on the “illegals” issue when he was in a position to do something about it (not for nothing, but I liked him better then.)
Click here for other Florida Republicans who think Rubio’s out of his mind on this one.
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[...] up to the crazy, Tancredo-style racist nativists who hate Hispanics just like him, by saying we shouldn’t count illegal immigrants in the Census, because, hey, what’s a few hundreds of millions of dollars to him when he’s no longer [...]
Marco Rubio will carry the extreme right wing separatist thinking Miami Cuban vote which by my standards/opinion is the MAJORITY of these 1 issue,ethnic voting Miami Cubans in this politically corrupt banana republic and I say this as a Cuban American in Miami.
Yes things are changing but slowly sadly REAL REAL SLOWLY. As far as Miami Cuban political corruption I see nothing changing
I can not fathom any NON Cubans other than rednecks voting for him.
I sure as hell will vote against Rubio as tired of the Miami low standard extremist junta running things.