Showing posts with label Rush Limbaugh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rush Limbaugh. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Kindness and generosity in the political/policy world of Washington, D.C. is not an unknown quality. But too often, the public doesn't hear the true story about someone and their personality until after they die. And so it was with Kate Walsh O’Beirne. Here's what you ought to know...

Kindness and generosity in the political/policy world of Washington, D.C. is not an unknown quality. But too often, the public doesn't hear the true story about someone and their personality until after they die. And so it was with Kate Walsh O’Beirne. Here's what you ought to know...

Mieux vaut tard que jamais - Better late than never...

Updated 2017-05-04 255 PM

I'd meant to post some thoughts last week on my blog about the recent passing of Kate Walsh O’Beirne, but somehow, I got so distracted by the dozens of other things on my mind these days that the first time I had a chance to publicly comment on her death, it was via Twitter, which for all of 140 reasons, is simply too small a platform for me to share what I knew with you loyal readers of the blog.

With the epidemic of shallow and biased news reporting going on all around us in South Florida on local and network TV, as well as what's in print locally and nationally, where a once-iconic magazine like TIME magazine is a shell of its former self -to say nothing of what's become of the once impressive reporting talent at the Miami Herald of the mid-1980's, when there were few newspapers in the U.S. who had a better group of clever and curious foreign correspondents trying to ferret out facts and trends worth knowing- I'm trying to rectify that oversight of mine regarding Kate O'Beirne today.

My reasons for doing so are both altruistic and self-serving. 
Self-serving in the sense that I always like to have an opportunity to remind you in a very tangible way that my blog and I can offer you a unique perspective on the news and current events of the day, locally and nationally, that you simply can't find elsewhere in South Florida or Florida.

Altruistic because I want you loyal readers of the blog to have the advantage of learning and knowing something very fundamental about the ways of Washington, D.C. that are usually ignored by the news media but which I came to learn from personal experience via my 15 years of living and working in the Washington, D.C.area, and getting to meet and know personally some of the biggest political, social and media personalities of the area from 1988-2003.
People whose names and work you know and whom you recognize the moment they appear on TV, even before they're identified on-screen.
People whose work and reputation at or whom are closely identified with The Washington Post, the New York Times, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News and the Brookings Institution and CSIS to name but a few places... 

I suppose the best way to express my feeling is to say that more than the vast majority of you readers can possibly imagine, even the more open-minded among you, there really ARE LOTS of very smart, opinionated and hard-working people in DC who, while perhaps holding diametrically opposing political or policy points of view from you, are not just lots of fun to be with personally, but are, fortunately, possessed of a unique kindness and sense of generosity that 99% of the people with whom you probably politically self-identify with, simply are NOT.
But Kate Walsh O’Beirne was one such person.

In the entirety of the 15 years I lived and worked in the DC area, meeting and working with a wide variety of very smart and conscientious people in all kinds of political and policy areas, there was never a year I was there when at least one person -and often several- and very well-known persons at that, who trusted me to keep their confidence, didn't at some point confide to me a positive story or anecdote they had to share about the exceptional nature of Kate Walsh O’Beirne's personal kindness.

Since I need to respect that confidence that was placed in me, I choose here, now, to share the story of someone who personally knows of her kindness and generosity, and whom, regardless of what you may think about him personally or politically, is better known than any of those people whose names I could name-drop here - Rush Limbaugh.

He, along with Ramesh Ponnuru's spot-on appreciation of her in his National Review column, tell a compelling story of a very influential woman.
Rush, thru the magic power of radio and painting a picture of her that's better and more true than almost anyone else I can think of on the current stage today could.

As it happens, I listened to Rush Limbaugh's nationally-syndicated radio show that day, as I do most days, and knew that it must be important because he started off his show -the single most-listened to radio program in America- with this very telling anecdote.
And as soon as he said her name, I knew exactly what was coming...

(Below, I have posted the video of that Limbaugh radio show segment that is, in a word, amazing. Or as I described it in my tweet last week, GOLD.)

And in listening to Rush Limbaugh relate the story of how she came to take an active interest in someone like him who was then an unknown quantity on the DC political stage, and someone that even many Conservatives and GOP partisans were highly-suspicious of, and often outright condescending of, it made me smile.
Smile because Rush was sharing a story that I personally knew to be true from experience over the years. 
But it's also a story which also made me quite sad because it only reaffirmed the reality that it's usually the case that most people in a community, even the very small community that political/media DC really is, don't hear about those truly selfless positive stories until after someone has passed away.
Trust me, there are a lot of people in Washington at all sorts of places who have felt true #gratitude.

And when you think about it, it also makes you wonder why we can't hear about these sorts of stories about other well-known people when it actually might matter and serve as a model for others, right?


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National Review
Kate Walsh O’Beirne R.I.P. 
By Ramesh Ponnuru
April 23, 2017 3:05 PM 
@RAMESHPONNURU

Kate O’Beirne was part of National Review’s world before she joined the staff. When she became the magazine’s Washington editor in 1995 her resume already included stints at Senator Jim Buckley’s office, the Reagan administration, and the Heritage Foundation. She served NR in that position for eleven years and then became president of National Review Institute for six more. 
She brought a witty and well-informed conservatism to a national television audience as well through weekly appearances on CNN’s marquee political talk show “Capital Gang.” Conservatives were outnumbered there as on cable news generally at that time, but it never seemed that way as long as she was on.
Both her “Bread and Circuses” column for NR and her television commentary were marked by a rare combination of a deep interest in conservative policy, psychological insight, and common sense. Many of those same qualities put her advice — on politics, editorials, careers, and personal matters — in high demand.



Kate O’Beirne: Godmother of the Modern Conservative Movement
Transcript of this segment is here:
https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2017/04/24/kate-obeirne-godmother-of-the-modern-conservative-movement/
I encourage you to read it, too, since it might make even more of an impact.


In his column, Ramesh Ponnuru uses the phrase rare combination of a deep interest in conservative policy, psychological insight, and common sense

It's also what, after I changed my party registration from Democrat to Republican after moving back here from DC in 2003, I observed is so clearly and frequently missing in Florida and South Florida commentary, esp. among the GOP set who so often are jaw-droppingly disconnected from pop culture. 
Or boring.
Or boring and depressing to be around!


Both her “Bread and Circuses” column for NR and her television commentary were marked by a rare combination of a deep interest in conservative policy, psychological insight, and common sense. Many of those same qualities put her advice — on politics, editorials, careers, and personal matters — in high demand.

And yes, in case you forgot, Ramesh Ponnuru was talking her working for the Sen. James Buckley who was William Buckley's older brother, so she knew both brothers about as well as anyone could know them.




Dave 


Saturday, June 29, 2013

How do you solve a problem like Marco Rubio? With lots of fact-filled Kaus-centricity! Mickey Kaus continues to write honestly about Rubio while Florida news media remains too cowed to report truth about him; After 19 days of Marco Rubio censoring his own Twitter feed, @MarcoRubio, just like the Miami Herald's two week #newsblackout of anti-amnesty, anti-Rubio news in-print and online, Rubio tweeted, well, more piety; @kausmickey, #RubiosFolly


Rush Limbaugh on reluctance of Republicans to openly criticize Marco Rubio for his pro-amnesty first position. Uploaded June 28, 2013. http://youtu.be/gaFXjKb7UYE.


Caller to Rush Limbaugh Show from El Paso, Texas area relates conversation he had with illegal aliens from Mexico about what they saw as the downside to Schumer-Rubio bill from their perspective: more competition for menial jobs from coming surge of people across border, people who don't want to become citizens. Uploaded June 28, 2013. http://youtu.be/HetlXjLrhqY
How do you solve a problem like Marco Rubio? With lots of fact-filled Kaus-centricity! Mickey Kaus continues to write honestly about Rubio while Florida news media remains too cowed to report truth about him; After 19 days of Marco Rubio censoring his own Twitter feed, @MarcoRubio, just like the Miami Herald's two week #newsblackout of anti-amnesty, anti-Rubio news in-print and online, Rubio tweeted, well, more piety; @kausmickey, #RubiosFolly
Unlocked! 
Now you can finally see for yourself what the Miami Herald has desperately trying to keep quiet about in Ryan Lizza's New Yorker column for the past two weeks, where never was heard a discouraging word -about Rubio (and the Herald's) pro-amnesty first policy.

The New Yorker
GETTING TO MAYBE
Inside the Gang of Eight’s immigration deal
By Ryan Lizza
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/06/24/130624fa_fact_lizza



Here's what Rubio wrote after 19 days of nothing on Twitter:




























































































Friday, June 21, 2013

Now starting #newsblackout Day 5 at Miami Herald re Ryan Lizza's New Yorker column & Marco Rubio; Tampa Bay Times gave up Tues., Orlando Sentinel on Wednesday; Miami, often still barely part of America, and almost completely journalism-free this Summer.

musha hadeen YouTube Channel: Syndicated radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh discussed the fact that the old cliché about U.S. Big Business always supporting the Republican party is no longer true, and explains why that has changed. "At the root of this is money." Exactly. 
Now, instead of publicly fighting government encroachment and red-tape, Big Business supports and even depends upon Big Government programs -and the cheap loans that they can receive via crony capitalism. It's for this reason and many others -including cheap labor in places like Florida- that Big Business is now so intent on pressuring the GOP to pass the pro-amnesty Schumer-Rubio immigration bill, S.744, or else risk getting no campaign contributions in the future. This has led been led by many large and powerful GOP donors who have become conditioned to getting their way because of their money -and the GOP consultant class that are always hip to act morally superior and act as go-betweens for the folks with big checkbooks! Now both groups are acting like they are the ones who are casting the votes, not Congress, not unlike lots of schlocky films of the '70's involving political intrigue, mindless conspiracies and a basic premise that business people owned elected officials. 
Rush Limbaugh mentions GE, the Koch Brothers and Sheldon Adelson by name as examples of this elite class who are pushing hard for amnesty for all 11 million illegal aliens in the U.S., regardless of what it actually does to the country and whether it actually solves any problems. That's OUR problem, not theirs!
Uploaded June 17, 2013. http://youtu.be/_jzVx8QTGJU

Whether you're a conservative, moderate or liberal, this far-ranging discussion is by far the most-accurate thing that has been broadcast on U.S. radio so far this year, and yet I'm sure it was quite upsetting to many of his listeners across the country who weren't quite prepared to believe it when Rush said it. 
Yes, it looks like many of his millions of listeners will have to let go of their old ways of thinking and quickly adapt  their political calculations and accept that the political world hasn't just changed, but changed dramatically as a result of what is being attempted by the GOP Establishment.
Time to push those old clichés out the door and see the world for what it truly is -full of opportunistic, know-it-alls who in some cases are Republican-leaning business people -and their hired hands- who want pols to sell their principles in exchange for their campaign checks, leaving you to have to watch from the sidelines. 

As most of you who have been paying attention know, the Once Upon a Time decent-but-never-great Miami Herald has really fallen down the journalism rabbit hole the past 15 years, due largely to some consistently poor management, a lack of commitment to quality local reporting and an abject refusal to evolve with the times and give customers the sort of compelling original content they want about the area they live in.

The sad reality for me is that they cover Cuba about as much if not more than they cover Broward County where I live, less than 14 miles north of where the Heat played the Spurs Thursday night in downtown Miami. 

As I've stated here on the blog before, Broward County is largely terra incognita to the Herald, especially now at their new HQ in the make-believe city of Doral, the city of warehouses and persistent street flooding that strands citizens and commerce even worse than in Hallandale Beach.

That has been even more the case as the paper has cut back on frontline reporting personnel, and in my opinion, keeping more of the problems instead of trading them out for fresh eyes that can see what's right in front of them.

Real Clear Politics
Top 10 Newspapers in Trouble
#4 Miami Herald
05.22.12, 08:54 AM CDT

I mention this because the Herald's longstanding pro-amnesty bias, obvious for quite some time, regardless of the facts or the circumstance, has allowed their other biases on behalf of Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, that is, ONCE THEY GOT ELECTED to Tallahassee and D.C., to again cloud their news judgment and any claim to news objectivity.

In case you forgot, I commend to you, 
The Atlantic Wire
Miami Herald Is Better at Marco Rubio Damage Control Than Rubio
By John Hudson

Here's what I posted early Thursday morning
http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/republican-votes-for-gang-of-eight.html
Republican votes for the Gang of Eight immigration bill continue to fall away even 
as the Miami Herald continued their news blackout for a third day regarding Ryan
Lizza's New Yorker column and the truth about S.744, and the bad news for Marco
Rubio and the newspaper continues apace, as the truth about both continues to seep
out over the Internet

It's the perfect book-end to Wednesday.

Yes, lots of genuine frustration that an important public policy issue that directly affects this area of the country more than any 95% of the U.S., negatively in my opinion, is being completely ignored -on purpose

Not surprisingly, this being South Florida, and the Summer, it's not like the four English-language TV stations are doing anything to fill the news vacuum.
They've done nothing about it and are, in fact, resorting to their usual summer habits: -either sleepwalking or taking a siesta for the whole summer.

But don't worry, they'll wake-up and pretend they're serious reporters again around Labor Day, esp. if it looks like a hurricane may pass thru South Florida.
Yes, then they are all Edward R. Murrow speaking gravely into their microphone.

In fact, Thursday night, even given the unique circumstances of the NBA Finals, during 90 minutes of ABC's Miami affiliate, WPLG's newcast from 5-6:30, other than the 4 breaks for weather updates, the only non-Miami Heat story was the George Zimmerman trial.
That's the whole list.

(I even watched it again on my DVR before writing this just to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.)

Miami, often still barely part of America, and almost completely journalism-free this Summer.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

When Rush Limbaugh admits he's disappointed in Marco Rubio's flip-flop on immigration, it's only going to get worse for Rubio. Only positive of S.744, the Schumer-Rubio “comprehensive” immigration amnesty bill, i.e the #setup4sellout, IF it passes, is that Rubio gets properly 'schooled' and roughed-up a bit to wear off his new car smell and conservatives see his true faults for what they are -he's still too gullible. Consider that Mission (already) Accomplished; Mickey Kaus is masterfully connecting-the-dots on why defeating this is more important to U.S. long-term than getting more info re Benghazi, IRS, NSA snooping scandals


The Daily Caller video: Rush Limbaugh "disappointed" in Sen. Marco Rubio for changing his "set-in-stone" position on immigration and border security and now telling Spanish-language media (Univision) something different from what he'd been saying before.
http://dailycaller.com/2013/06/11/rush-limbaugh-disappointed-in-rubio-audio/

Senator Rubio now says he favors amnesty first and border security second, which in my opinion is not a good policy for this country's future because we know from past experience that the federal government will NOT fairly enforce new rules any more than they are enforcing the current ones. 
Especially under President Obama












On Tuesday, a big day for S.744, in the so-called gateway to Latin America, it was 16 minutes into the CBS4/Miami 11 p.m. newscast before immigration was even brought up -and that was less than 45 secs!

Not that it came as any surprise to your faithful observer of the passing political scene here at the blog, but on Tuesday, a big day on Capitol Hill for S.744, the Schumer-Rubio “comprehensive” immigration amnesty bill, here in what is constantly called The Gateway to Latin America, it was 16 minutes into the CBS4/Miami 11 p.m. newscast (while Miami Heat's blowout loss to the Spurs was still going on over at ABC) before immigration was even brought up -and was less than 45 secs!

Is that a result of the fact that the corporate management types at South Florida news media outlets, to say nothing of their sycophantic advertising people, are SO biased in favor of AMNESTY at all costs, that it never even occurs to them that it might not get the 60 votes?

Is that a result of them being in complete lockstep over this issue and NEVER allowing their own people or others to write, report or comment intelligently on why so many Americans are genuinely opposed to the bad and unsound provisions of this bill?


Never allow any public discussion about why so many smug Democrats nationally and in Florida just shrug their shoulders over security and border control on our own borders, but when it comes to Israel's, well, that's another story.


THAT requires them to actually fly to Israel to -yes- "stand with Israel" after their taxpayer-financed spokesperson fires off some self-serving press releases to the lapdog legacy media

so that Jewish voters hereabouts know they've jumped thru the hoop again.

How many times over the years have we read about national, state and South Florida pols who are happy "to stand with Israel" but who don't give a crap about their fellow American on the Arizona border who lives on a farm or a ranch miles and miles from any police protection.


Yes, when strong borders have to do with Israel, a firm stance predicated on safety and security is always to be admired and never undermined.

Do they think we do not see the hypocrisy of this, the condescending and patronizing tone and the self-evident showboating?

Is that what we should expect from people in the media who never want to publicly discuss this hypocrisy and  border protection at all, or even gets into the particulars of what is being discussed?
Yes, yes and yes.


Laura Ingraham: Marco Rubio has betrayed conservatives

Washington Post
The Plum Line 
Marco Rubio’s careful immigration dance
By Greg Sargent, Updated: June 10, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/06/10/marco-rubios-careful-immigration-dance/

Washington Examiner
Marco Rubio: In immigration reform, legalization comes first — ‘It is not conditional’, 
By Byron York
June 10, 2013 | 12:36 pm | Modified: June 10, 2013 at 2:00 pm
http://washingtonexaminer.com/marco-rubio-in-immigration-reform-legalization-comes-first-it-is-not-conditional/article/2531504

Much of this genuine concern about the reliability of Marco Rubio and his willingness to actually adopt or formulate a position and keep it, recalls my blog post of April 27, 2013, which also featured a video of Rush Limbaugh talking about immigration.
Except that it was a conversation with Rubio on the air, with him in Washington, trying to defend his ever-changing position, and yet, seemingly, only making things worse for himself as far as reassuring his own past supporters, which has been a quite noticeable development over the past nine months.

Some people I talk to regularly in South Florida and in Washington who like Rubio but who are far from fanboys, wonder if that is because, quite frankly, the GOP has forced Rubio to be the face of the party nationally on far too many issues, while other Republican senators seem top be doing nothing at all. (Or less than nothing-at all, given how rarely you hear their names.)
In short, Rubio's over-exposure is now starting to rub people the wrong way.

That post was titled, BUSTED! Breitbart's Matthew Boyle reports that Sen. Marco Rubio was "outed" by a constituent over Rubio's lack of personal effort to meet with LEOs BEFORE the Gang of Eight released their very-flawed immigration bill; Daily Caller's Byron York on the deluge of angry anti-immigration bill email into Sen. Rubio's office; The shiny, new toy that is Rubio is now not-so shiny; audio of Rubio's interviews with Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin

Meanwhile, blogger Mickey Kaus, long one of my favorite pundits going back to my days in Washington D.C. because of his great enthusiasm, mordant wit and willingness to actually READ everything on a subject instead of commenting on things he's never read -like South Florida's reps in Congress, who are a pretty dim crew collectively- has been doing everything he can to let people know that the defeat of this intellectually LITE immigration bill, NOT learning more details on Benghazi or the IRS or NSA scandals, is actually THE most important and far-reaching issue on the public docket now.
He's right, of course.  
Put trigger before legalization.

Below, Mickey makes the case against it.

The Daily Caller
Kaus Files blog
Handy U-Print-It Pocket Guide: Why S.744′s a Fraud
By Mickey Kaus
5:34 PM 06/06/2013
http://dailycaller.com/2013/06/06/handy-u-print-it-pocket-guide-why-s-744s-a-fraud/

http://dailycaller.com/author/mickeykaus/
https://twitter.com/kausmickey


Saturday, April 27, 2013

BUSTED! Breitbart's Matthew Boyle reports that Sen. Marco Rubio was "outed" by a constituent over Rubio's lack of personal effort to meet with LEOs BEFORE the Gang of Eight released their very-flawed immigration bill; Daily Caller's Byron York on the deluge of angry anti-immigration bill email into Sen. Rubio's office; The shiny, new toy that is Rubio is now not-so shiny; audio of Rubio's interviews with Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin


Right Scoop YouTube Channel video: FULL INTERVIEW: Nationally-syndicated radio show host Rush Limbaugh, the most-listened-to personality on American radio, discusses the Gang of Eight's immigration bill and its possible consequences with Florida Senator Marco Rubio. Uploaded April 18, 2013. http://youtu.be/dJjDbj6M16M 
BUSTED! Breitbart's Matthew Boyle reports that Sen. Marco Rubio was "outed" by a constituent over Rubio's lack of personal effort to meet with LEOs BEFORE the Gang of Eight released their very-flawed immigration bill; Daily Caller's Byron York on the deluge of angry anti-immigration bill email into Sen.  Rubio's office; The shiny, new toy that is Rubio is now not- so shiny; audio of Rubio's interviews with Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin
BUSTED! Late Friday night we learned via Breitbart's Matthew Boyle that Sen. Marco Rubio was outed by a constituent over Rubio's lack of personal effort to meet with law enforcement officers, especially ICE agents, BEFORE the Gang of Eight released their very-flawed immigration bill. 

The bill was made public the day after Sen. Rubio met with the union head of ICE agents -for ONE HOUR!- and after Rubio and the others had secretly been meeting with pro-amnesty & GOP business establishment groups in Washington and elsewhere for MANY, MANY WEEKS

Personally, as a Rubio supporter, someone who was for him in 2009 when the Florida news media had already pretty-well handed the 2010 GOP U.S. Senate nomination to Florida Governor Charlie Crist, I think this public miscue is one that WILL haunt Rubio for a long time, since it is both symbolic and TRUE.

I think it directly undercuts his claim to both "authenticity" and being an honest broker on this issue, one that many Republicans had perhaps too willingly given him lots of latitude on, assuming that he would be someone who could take a public role larger than his two years in the Senate warranted, and meet with groups that had something tangible to add to the mix on border security before the bill was finalized.

And important because it reveals Rubio's blind spot, which is that he sometimes believes what he says about himself too much -not enough hubris!

I also think that much more than any of the Florida-based reporters or columnists or "experts" know or will acknowledge, this effort of Rubio to finesse something very important, will likely prove to some within the GOP's national rank-and-file that just like other American pols, though perhaps less frequently than most, there's what Rubio says, and then there's what he actually does when nobody is looking. 

For people who want border security first, and are not willing to compromise on that, for good reason, people like me, the upshot is that this mis-step proves to some of them that he is NOT yet someone to be implicitly trusted.

Especially in light of how little he has actually accomplished in Washington his first two years, outside of drawing attention to himself and the Syria issue, where he has been miles and miles ahead of both President Obama, Hillary Clinton and the U.S. Mainstream Media, as I've noted frequently on these pages.






Rubio's inability or unwillingness to meet with people weeks ago whom he SHOULD HAVE, people with a real tangible insight into the immigration issue from a first-hand perspective, makes him appear to be what he is on this issue -NOT as tough or fair-minded as he advertises himself.

I honestly believe that because this issue is so important to many rank-and-file Republicans in parts of the country where they don't have a news media that is SO easily cowed by the professional amnesty and immigration rights groups the way they are routinely here in Florida
-esp. here in Miami and South Florida as I've documented dozens of times over the years here on the blog- where the groups practically hand reporters a script and the reporters dutifully read their lines as written.
On this issue, it's NOT journalism, it's public relations.

No place in the country is more skittish and less-honest in reporting truthfully on the negative effect of runaway illegal immigration, or unwilling to ask tough questions, than South Florida's news media, especially the Miami Herald.

(Even new young reporters to this market, like a certain new female reporter at WFOR-TV I could name, seem to absorb by osmosis the general understanding that seldom is heard a discouraging word on immigration, and thus they routinely do segments that are completely one-sided, and don't even think to ask questions that should be asked, but which here in Miami are never, ever asked for fear of what, being fired? 
Those of you who don't live here can't fully appreciate it, but reporting honestly on immigration is the Third Rail of South Florida, talked about in the abstract, perhaps, mostly here on this blog, but never ever actually seen on-the-air or in-print.)

So begins the first serious patch of political mis-steps, bad headlines and obvious displays of tone-deafness by Sen. Rubio, as his lofty abstract ideas about public policy get held up to their proper scrutiny and he is found wanting. 
It'll be interesting to see how he responds to this.
Will he adapt, evolve or double-down on what he's been doing and think he can ride it out.
While he'll probably be able to do the latter here in Florida, in the rest of the country, I wouldn't be so sanguine.

I believe that his personal reputation is about to get roughed-up but good by sincere and caring people outside of Florida who don't have to just grin-and-bear it like they do here in Florida.

I further believe that 2013 will prove to be the year where Rubio's sometimes patronizing myopia and faulty antennae will lead to him making some SERIOUS political enemies among fellow national Republicans and their supporters at the state and county levels.

And based on conversations with people and reading certain things I have, some of that antipathy and disregard he earns will last the rest of his political career, and cost him in ways that he can't even imagine now, because those people who are upset are mostly below the media's radar right now.
But by 2016, they'll be County party chairs in Iowa... and they'll be quoted in 2015 by the New York Times and by Politico and The National Journal...

People who never pass on an opportunity to make Rubio and his staffers suffer in small ways, or make him work much-harder than he needs to simply because they don't like the way that he's handled an issue that they care passionately about, and see Rubio as someone who didn't fight hard enough and long enough.

In short, someone who was too willing to work with Democrats to give them what they wanted, which is not enough attention to border security. 
Really.

You'll see.

The South Florida news media is, of course, completely under-reporting this issue, just as they do so many other issues that ought to be getting attention but don't.

They'll wait for someone else in another city to do that particular story, and then act like they were always working on it themselves, which is the usual excuse given when you talk to local reporters in-person and ask why real political news is NOT appearing in-print or on-air immediately like it would in other parts of the country, but instead, put in a freezer whjere they can report it when it's no longer relevant.

And it'll all be his own fault, too, since he's now starting to be viewed more realistically -as someone who perhaps prefers the spotlight a little TOO MUCH, prefers to go-along to actually standing strong against the GOP's Beltway/Chamber of Commerce Establishment that was, for decades, more-than-willing to take advantage of illegal immigrants, esp. in the agricultural sector.. 

Marco Rubio's charmed existence in the U.S. Senate so far is about to get some much-overdue and, it would seem to me, much-deserved turbulence.
But it will have little to do with anything any FL-based reporters or columnists say or write or uncover, but rather everything to do with his own bad choices and myopia, especially on the issue of immigration and its consequences.

The shiny, new toy is now not so shiny.
And will be less so by the end of the year.

RUBIO TOUTS TALK WITH ICE OFFICIAL WHICH SPURRED NO CHANGES TO IMMIGRATION BILL
by Matthew Boyle
27 Apr 2013, 12:58 AM PDT
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/04/26/Rubio-struggles-to-explain-to-constituents-why-ICE-agents-had-no-real-prior-input-into-immigration-bill




Right Scoop YouTube Channel video: Nationally-syndicated radio show host Mark Levine discusses the immigration bill and its possible consequences with Florida Senator Marco Rubio. Uploaded April 17, 2013. http://youtu.be/USG2SLWbKew
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http://www.therightscoop.com