Meek Surges, Crist Will Not Rise Again
In the race for Florida Senate it's crunch time, and the latest polls show our candidate Kendrick Meek surging as Dems come home and No Party Charlie Crist slips to an inevitable third place finish.
Crist’s support has now dropped 10-points since May, while Rubio and Meek have each made gains. In essence, Crist is bleeding Democrats to Meek and independents to both Meek and Rubio. It is also noteworthy that Crist’s statewide support has fallen below the 30% threshold, leaving him far short of the minimum required to win a three-way race under the most perfect circumstances (34%).
Meek is behind but trending in the right direction. But here's the thing - Charlie Crist is looking less and less electable every day - his downward trajectory in the polls is not going to turn around. The only way to keep Marco Rubio out of the Senate at this point is to help Kendrick Meek pull off an upset victory.
I've written several pro Meek diaries on this race in the past few months and a common theme in the comments goes something like this:
Yeah, Meek is a good Dem, a strong progressive, a champion of the working class, a Democrat who votes with leadership when the stakes are down, a real Dem and a team player - just the kind of candidate we all want more of in DC. BUT I'm voting for Crist because Meek is unelectable. Meek is running a horrid campaign. Meek will lose the primary. Whatever. And Crist is good enough - at least he's not Rubio!
So here's my challenge to all you naysayers: now that your compromise candidate Crist is turning out to be less electable than a real Democrat, are you ready to fight for and support Kendrick Meek? Because at this point, if we don't rally behind our candidate, we're gonna have Senator Marco Rubio representing Florida.
It's going to be an uphill slog, but the Meek campaign is fighting hard, and they see a path to victory. One thing is certain: there is no longer a path to victory for Charlie Crist.
Meek "has an outside chance to pull off a major comeback, but it is largely predicated on his ability to convince Crist's newfound Democratic friends that the former Republican's campaign is hopeless and it is time for them to come back to their party," said Mason-Dixon pollster Brad Coker. "That will be a tough challenge, but it is now the only apparent way for Rubio to lose."
Charlie Crist cannot win this race. Crist's campaign is hopeless. Meek has a chance and is trending in the right direction, but we need to start fighting for him.
Rubio Likes Dry Feet, Not Wet Backs
NOTE: The title references two US immigration policies. Wet Feet, Dry Feet:
...in what has become known as the "wet foot, dry foot" policy, a Cuban caught on the waters between the two nations (i.e., with "wet feet") would summarily be sent home or to a third country. One who makes it to shore ("dry feet") gets a chance to remain in the United States
and Operation Wetback:
Operation Wetback was a repatriation project of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service to remove illegal Mexican immigrants ("wetbacks") from the Southwest.
The intent of the double entendre is to tersely describe the shockingly inappropriate and illogical positions taken by a first generation American. I do not mean to offend, but I, like Atrios, understand that your mileage may vary.
The story reads like a script from the ultimate Tea Party horror film: waves of foreigners illegally cross our southern border fully intending to seamlessly integrate into the expat community - folks who spurn English in favor of their native Spanish, people who retain their traditional dress and mores despite the obvious superiority of the tawdry fads of their host nation.
The foreigners undermine our laws with their exotic abattoirs and their support of terrorism. Crime rates increase dramatically. The immigrants' sheer numbers combined with their stubborn refusal to learn English force entire cities to waste precious resources going bilingual
The illegals plan to defy our laws and make a permanent life in this community, working, learning, worshipping, and popping out anchor babies ASAP to keep themselves moored in Miami.
And after literally thousands of them navigate through our porous border, the sniveling spineless America hating President grants them amnesty!
The stars of this Tea Party Circus of Horrors are the illegal immigrant parents of Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio.
The elder Rubios, despite their reported status as uneducated peasants, managed to flee Castro's Cuba in 1959 - either by sea or by air - with the first wave of mostly elite, ruling class land owners. They illegally entered our country, gave birth to an anchor baby in 1960 - Marco's older sister - and were subsequently granted amnesty by Presidential Pardon.
In the Western Hemisphere, Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba in 1959 and embarked upon a policy making it a communist country. These wars, along with Castro's victory, led to another wave of refugees. Shortly after Castro won control, some elite Cubans fled to Miami. As the flow grew, Presidents Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson used the parole power to admit them. From 1959 to the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, more than 200,000 arrived. Flights were suspended after the missile crisis, although some escaped by boat to Florida.
So with such a rich family history, where does Marco Rubio stand on the hot button immigration issues that are so important to his fans?
Flip flops, tightropes, and crickets.
Rubio was criticized as a Tea Party Pooper when he came out against Arizona's immigration law. He executed a classic flip flop as he declared that the law would not, after all, lead to a police state - it turns out that Rubio is very much against immigrants who walk in through the desert.
On the campaign trail, Rubio walks a tightrope as he extols the sacrifice and hard work of his parents...
His message, though, resonates: His parents migrated from Cuba to Miami to give him a better life; the Obama administration is dangerous; the federal debt will crush the next generation.
"We are at a real crossroads," he gravely tells the gathering. "There are only two ways we can go. Either my children, your children, and your grandchildren can grow up to be the freest, most prosperous Americans ever... or else they will be the first generation to inherit from their parents and grandparents a diminished nation."
...while lambasting amnesty and calling for tough immigration policies against newcomers.
"I believe we must fix our immigration system by first securing the border, fixing the visa and entry process and opposing amnesty in any reform," he said.
So, he's against amnesty. Except for his parents. And presumably his older brother. But what about the whole 14th Amendment debate? Does Rubio think it should be repealed so that anchor babies like his sister can be deported along with their parents (unless, of course, said parents were HIS parents...)
Crickets. More crickets. And here.
Finally, today, the St. Petersburg Times reports that despite his illegal mother's apparent refusal to learn and use english,
"The fundamental issue we need to focus on is border security. These other things are really not at this moment pressing issues," said Rubio, when asked about calls to revise the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
..."I've been raised around immigration and immigrants my whole life," he said. "Legal immigration is good for America, but I also know we can't be the only country in the world that doesn't enforce its immigration laws."
It was a careful choice of words for a prominent Hispanic candidate caught between a growing national furor over illegal immigration and a cultural connection to the source of that fury.
Rubio is the son of Cuban immigrants. His wife is of Colombian descent. His mother prefers to communicate in Spanish over English.
Okay - Cuban immigrants good. Colombian immigrants good. Mexican immigrants... well, let's just sum up Marco Rubio's complex and thoughtful stance on immigration with some campaign friendly bullet points (with apologies to Orwell):
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Whoever immigrates upon two legs is an enemy.
Whoever immigrates upon water, or upon wings, is a friend.
And, of course, an addendum: All immigrants are equal but some immigrants are more equal than others.