Marco Rubio defends himself amid family exile saga

Marco Rubio defends himself amid family exile saga

Controversy erupted over whether Sen. Marco Rubio has exploited his Cuban family’s immigration story to advance his political ambitions. Rubio is outraged.
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By Marc Caputo
mcaputo@MiamiHerald.com

A Cuban couple’s journey to America more than 50 years ago became a media firestorm this week when their son, Sen. Marco Rubio, was challenged about whether he misused the story of their immigration and exile experience to promote his successful political career.

A Republican, Rubio acknowledged making a mistake on his official Senate website, which inaccurately said his parents "came to America following Fidel Castro’s takeover" in 1959. His family actually came initially in 1956.

The Washington Post late Thursday accused him of repeatedly and publicly embellishing his parents’ story for political gain.

Rubio said the Post story was “outrageous” and left a false impression.

“I didn’t lie about the date. I wasn’t aware of it,” Rubio told The Miami Herald, noting his parents’ immigration from Cuba happened a half century ago and that he was basing his story on a family oral history.

“It’s irrelevant to the central narrative,” he said. “The date doesn’t really add anything. It doesn’t embellish anything. The date is less relevant than the experience, the experience of people who came here to make a better life and who could never go back.”

On Friday, Rubio penned a written response to the Post article that was published on Politico, the national political website.

The controversy took on a life of its own in the nation’s political echo chamber as the left and right picked sides over whether the vice presidential short-lister was a liar or a victim.

Beyond the typical conservative-liberal feud, the issue became a point of departure over immigration and just what constitutes a political “exile.” It also served as a stark reminder that any politician seeking higher office will have every word parsed in a nonstop news cycle fueled by blogs, Twitter and YouTube.

The political ruckus also put the heat on The Washington Post because the story —inspired by documents from a birther activist who claims Rubio can’t be vice president — became the subject of criticism among several national media outlets.

The first paragraph of the Washington Post report suggested Rubio himself said "he was the son of exiles, he told audiences, Cuban Americans forced off their beloved island after ’a thug,’ Fidel Castro, took power."

However, the story didn’t cite any speech in which Rubio actually made the remark.

To back up the allegation, the Post took excerpts from a 2006 address in the Florida House where Rubio said “in January of 1959 a thug named Fidel Castro took power in Cuba and countless Cubans were forced to flee. ... Today your children and grandchildren are the secretary of commerce of the United States and multiple members of Congress ...and soon, even speaker of the Florida House.”

In the speech, Rubio didn’t say that his parents fled the island nation and he wasn’t referring to just those who specifically fled Cuba after Castro took power. Instead, he specifically said he was talking about "a community of exiles." That is: He was talking about all the Cubans who live in Miami.

Regardless of when his parents left Cuba, they were exiles because they stayed in the United States, specifically Miami, in a community where they soon felt they couldn’t go back to their homeland.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/21/2465750/rubio-defends-himself-amid-media.html?asset_id=Marco%20Rubio%3A%20%22The%20son%20of%20exiles.%22&asset_type=html_module#ixzz1bTGOFkwT