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Marco Rubio is getting ready for his close-up.
Following up on an item from a couple of weeks ago, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has been a senator for about a year now, but hasn't managed to do much of anything. The sum total of his legislative accomplishments? A resolution designating September 2011 as National Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month.
As Rachel explained in a recent segment, the Florida Republican "is not a particularly serious guy in terms of what he has done in his Senate life or even as a Senate candidate." That's clearly true. But given his right-wing worldview, his ethnicity, and the electoral significance of his home state, Rubio is widely seen as a strong contender for the Republican presidential ticket in 2012.
And to that end, Rubio is scrambling to prepare for the national spotlight, publishing a memoir, hiring opposition researchers to identify potential controversies in his background, and even starting work on an important piece of legislation.
Recognizing the importance of immigration policy, the far-right senator is reportedly eyeing a proposal that would be similar to the popular Dream Act, only the Rubio version would take out the important parts.
Mr. Rubio's idea to make it palatable to his party is to offer them legalization without citizenship. "You can legalize someone's status," he says, "without placing them on a path toward citizenship." He warns that if Dream Act youths became citizens, they could -- horrors -- someday sponsor family members to enter legally. This idea is nothing more than some newly invented third-class status -- not illegal, but not American.
It's the Dream Act without the dream and should be dismissed out of hand....The only Dream Act worth passing is simple. It tells high schoolers who want to make something of themselves, for the good of the country, to go ahead. Join the military or go to college and take your place as full-fledged citizens in the only country you know. That Republicans reject this shows how far they have strayed from American ideals of assimilation and welcome.
If Rubio thinks this will help him appear more credible, he really hasn't thought this through.
The larger immigration issue isn't complicated. Every year, tens of thousands of young, undocumented immigrants graduate from American high schools, but are quickly stuck -- they can't qualify for college aid, and they can't work legally. America is the only home they've ever known -- in most cases, they were, at a very young age, brought into the country illegally by their parents -- but at 18, they have few options.
The DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act), which has traditionally enjoyed bipartisan support, provides a path to citizenship for these young immigrants -- graduate from high school, get conditional permanent residency status, go to college or serve in the military, pay some steep fees, and become eligible for citizenship. The Pentagon has urged Congress to pass it, and the CBO found that it lowers the deficit, a priority Republicans at least pretend to care about.
President Obama strongly supports the bill, and were it not for a Republican filibuster, it would have become law in late 2010. That GOP lawmakers like Orrin Hatch and Dick Lugar helped write the bill is a detail that seems to have slipped down the memory hole.
Rubio seems to think he can strike a compromise with a pale imitation of a popular, bipartisan proposal, but this almost certainly can't pass, since it will satisfy no one. So why bother? I suspect it's because Rubio and his party's leadership realize the GOP has a severe problem with Latino voters, and want to be able to say, "We support a different version of the Dream Act, so feel free to vote for us."
I don't imagine voters who care about the issue will fall for this, but for a senator eager to do something notable with Senate power, it's apparently the best Rubio can come up with.
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As usual the GOP figure playing 3 card monty with Latino's is going to work, because Latino's are dumb enough to fall for it! Marco Rubio - GOP'er bad for the Senate, worse for Americans (illegal or not)!! Vote him out as quickly as possible!
What do you expect from a brainless "gusano"?
Not thinking things through appears to be a requirement for GOP lawmakers in 2012. If they are not citizens they also cannot vote, which is what, I think, is at the bottom of Rubio's idea. It will look good on the surface, cause discussion and attention for Rubio, and not cost the GOP anything in actual governance.
The less you do the less there is to attack. A simple but effective strategy.
I have maintained all along, and still do, the VP Nominee will be Marcocito because 2012 is all about 2016 for the Republicans. There is only one person who can deny him the nomination and that is JEB!?! and the reason he would is because it may interfere with his plans.
Sen. Rubio, the self-proclaimed shining light of the Republican Party and a darling of both the Tea Party and the GOP establishment, has proposed a truly horrifying idea. Marco Rubio wants to remake American society as we know it and make our country into a caste system, essentially. Hispanics will suddenly become "legal" beings without the rights of citizens -- able to work and make corporations money and exist without being arrested and thrown out of the country, but not actually humans with rights like the rest of us. In essence, Rubio wants to turn Hispanic immigrants into slaves. Slaves were "legally" in the United States, but they had no rights as citizens. Same thing here. Wow. http://www.sunstateactivist.org
You know what! I think you hit the nail on the head.
It is similar to what some states are doing with the prison inmates: allowing corporations to hire them without pay. (see Koch brothers)
It is all about cheap labour. They want worker bees. The more people corporations can hire without having to pay their salaries or very low salaries the more profit they'll make. This is by any definition is craven greed at its finest. It is also the worst for humanity.
When profit and money take priority over humankind it means 1 thing: we can no longer be considered a civilized enlightened society, but a nation of workerbees.
There are millions of legal residents in this country who have no citizenship rights. I am one of them. I have been living, working and paying taxes in this country for 11 years and I don't have citizens rights. This is not new and it's not Marco Rubio's creation. It's called a work visa and the government gives hundreds of thousands of them every year. Work visas such as the H1B are "dual intent" visas which means that, even though they are classified as non-immigrant visas they allow the visa holder to pursue legal permanent residency, and eventually citizenship, through legal means without compromising their status. People on work visas many times pay more taxes than American people and have less rights, This is a system that already exists in this country. It is very unfair, sometimes we are treated as slaves by our employers and we don't have any legal protection, to denounce our employers would mean to lose our jobs and having to go back to our our countries and lose everything that we have worked for for years and years.
what the republicans are proposing seems fair to me, give those kids work visas or student visas and let them go through the system like everybody else. Why should they be given a preferential treatment?
Rubio is the same kind of phony as Scott Brown (R) Mass is.Now that it's an election year they both want to look like their bucking the party.
....who is this guy?
Is it me, or is the concept of this bill similar to the Constitution calling slaves 3/5th of a person?
Rubio's 'wetdream act' is political masturbation. It may feel good but is essentially not productive or in any way rooted in reality when you wake up.
How much investment would there be from a permanent guest? You can attend the meetings, you just can't join our Club... is that it? Sorry, Repubs, but your chill factor is showing.
How do you act like a dream?
Marco Rube!
Maybe it's just me, but every photo I've seen of Rubio it looks like he avoids being in the sun as much as any vampire. Since Cuba was settled by the Spanish even if there is no Indian or African heritage he still has to tan rather easily. It seems to me he wants this issue both ways too. He's a "white Hispanic" (don't confuse him those other types) while he wants to represent them he likes to stay on the right side of the color line.
My mother made this argument when she "allegedly" dated a hispanic man in college. "He was a Cuban of EUROPEAN descent, and therefore white," she said; and so therefore palatable by her contrived view of society. This was all in relation to me dating a 1/2 Thai man, so it was quickly followed with, "ergo, I am not a hypocrite."
Which leads me to... is Marco Rubio not acting the hypocrite here? He was BORN of Cuban immigrants; the same ones he's attempting to deny citizenship to. If this version of the bill were to pass during his parent's time, he would absolutely NOT be a citizen and would NOT be able to run for office as he has.
I wonder what his parents think of all this.
Rubio's problem is deeper than just being an "alleged" Hispanic. The Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, and South American Hispanics see themselves as separate groups with very little in common. Just because Rubio is Hispanic descent does not guarantee he will garner more than just the Cuban votes. To the other Hispanic groups, he is just another "gringo." The second problem is his lies about his family leaving Cuba. He can spin that story to cover his lies, but it doesn't change that lie. This will just add another facet for the rest of the Hispanics not to trust him.
C'mon Blondie. Can't we at least call them second class citizens?
Seems to me Marco Rubio is a HINO...hispanic in name only.
No, this really is 3rd class status. you have citizens, permanent residents who at some point can become citizens if they choose and then this subgroup of permanent residents who can't become citizens, no matter how much they may want to.
Rubio - the new "game changer".
Also in Senator Rubio's grab bag of clever political quips:
"You can give women the right to choose... without placing them on a path toward making their own medical choices."
"You can give people the right to vote in my state, but we should do so without placing young minority voters on a path to exercising that right freely."
"You can give unions the right to negotiate contracts... but let's not put workers on the path to electing to seek unionization as a real option."
Yes because people want to be 'legal' and not have any rights (ie VOTING) of a US citizen...what KIND of a moron is this guy? Rising 'star' indeed...
Marco Rubio is just trying to find a way to placate both the Tea Party and the Latinos. He figures that if he agrees just to allow them to legalize their status and become legal permanent residents without a pathway to citizenship that will curtail the potential number of Latino voters Which makes the Tea Party happy and also giving legal status to millions of illegal aliens will prevent most of the deportations as well as giving them documents such as social security cards and drivers licenses which will make most Latinos happy
You're trying to cure a problem that doesn't exist, namely that there is a crush of people who want to be citizens as opposed to simply living here legally. The fact is that in 2009 for instance only about 10% of the 7.8 million people who were eligible to become citizens actually did so.
Rubio is probably closer to the mark on this one.
Another entry for the "The GOP is the party of sociopaths" book.
They always blame the Repubs for this Nightmare Act from not passing. But they never say it has died many times in the 10 years they have been trying to get this bad bill passed. Not to mention about a half dozen Dems voted against it also. Its plain to see that Americans don't think illegals should get a free pass. Plus the bill had huge loopholes and no way to verify what the the lying, criminal illegals would declare. The DREAM should NEVER pass !
Rubio wants to codify American apartheid. (That's very exceptional of him, isn't it.)
Really, American Apartheid?! Get a grip and a dictionary/history book if you need to be reminded what apartheid is.
apartheid [uh-pahrt-heyt, -hahyt]
noun
1. (in the Republic of South Africa) a rigid policy of segregation of the nonwhite population.
2. any system or practice that separates people according to race, caste, etc.
Creating a class of people who have grown up in America, are 'allowed' to join the military, go to college, have jobs, live here indefinitely - but never become citizens or have the right to vote??
American apartheid. Really. You can look it up.
New Republican Dream Act - Keep on Dreaming, and soon we'll have new nightmares.
Nuevo republicano Dream Act - Keep on Dreaming, y pronto tendremos nuevas pesadillas
It's too bad that Rachel Maddow can't make her point without trivializing spinal cord injury awareness. I don't care for Rubio or the GOP and I hope they lose this year, but it disappoints me as a paraplegic to see Rachel speak about spinal cord injuries with such a sarcastic tone. She wouldn't have said the same thing if it was cancer awareness month.