The Most Prominent Conservative-Versus-Moderate Republican Primary Campaign In The Country

Like John McCormack in the far right Weekly Standard, I'm cheering for the conservative, "Jeb Bush protégé," as McCormack so helpfully describes him, Marco Rubio. That's because I want to see progressive Democrat Dan Gelber as the next senator from Florida, a way to give that important state a powerful voice and brilliant critical thinker in the upper house, something that has been sorely missing as we look back over a parade of corrupt hacks and rubber stamps-- on both sides of the aisle.

We covered Rubio's declaration last Tuesday and remarked on Dan Gelber, who was the Democratic Minority Leader of the House when Rubio was Speaker, welcoming him to the race:

"I have a lot of respect for Marco Rubio. He has never broken away from his very conservative principles, even after the course of history has proven many of their ideas to be wrongheaded. The GOP is in the midst of a fight for its basic heart and soul, not to mention its very relevance in the American political discussion, and I know Marco will be a loud and effective voice for those who believe that the direction of the last eight years was the correct one and for the small percentage of Floridians and Americans who believe that a massive shift to the right is the best medicine for what ails America."

I doubt the Weekly Standard would disagree-- except for the "wrongheaded" aspersion. McComack, heart aflutter, is obviously smitten with the "fresh-faced charismatic Cuban American" evangelical extremist and he sees him as the Republicans' Barack Obama. Most Americans are celebrating Obama's cautious steps towards reclaiming U.S.-Cuba policy for the State Department-- and taking it out of the hands of a gang of wealthy, corrupt and, of course, right-wing gangsters (and their sons) who have kept the U.S. from normalizing relations with one of our closest neighbors for decades. But not Rubio.

[H]e addressed the College Republicans and Students for a Free Cuba at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Cuba, he said, presents us with "an opportunity just 90 miles off our shores to defend and stand up for the constitutional and Founding principles of this country."

Rubio called the U.S. embargo "our last and only leverage point" for negotiating Cuban freedom with a successor regime. He added, "I wish we could do in China what I hope we'll do in Cuba, but we can't. There are geopolitical realities."

The students-- a sympathetic audience-- were wowed by the speech, delivered without notes. "I think we just saw the future president of the United States!" exclaimed one undergrad leaving the event. "I just wanted to say thanks... for bringing us some hope in the GOP," another student told Rubio.

Maybe he can go fight it out with Lincoln Diaz-Balart, who also has pretensions for becoming the president of a post-Castro Cuba. That's the only presidency-- other than of the Miami Dade Cuban-American Chamber of Commerce-- Rubio is likely to ever get a chance to vie for. and he won't get a chance to vie for that either. I called my friend Reese Erlich, one of this country's experts on Cuba-America relations and author of the incredible new book, Dateline Havana. He isn't as impressed with Rubio as McCormack is.

Marco Rubio represents the last gasp of the ultra-rightists who want to tell Cubans how to live their lives. Why is it that Republicans favor small government, except when it comes to imposing US power on other countries?

Rubio and some mainstream Democrats argue that the US must pressure Cuba to uphold democracy and human rights. They ignore the history of US support for every two-bit dictator that came to power in Cuba from 1901-1959. If the US was so concerned about democracy, why did it recognize Fulgencio Batista’s military government one day after his 1952 coup?

Cuba has plenty of problems, but that’s for Cubans themselves to resolve. When people like Rubio insist on maintaining the embargo, it only strengthens the widespread belief in Cuba that the US seeks to overthrow their government and restore the ultra-rightist Miami Cubans to power.

Few Americans have been aware of the specifics of how right-wing Cubans-- led by extremists like the Diaz-Balarts and Rubio-- have directed U.S. policy towards the island nation right off our southern coast. When Colin Powell's top aide was asked to assess the threat from Cuba to U.S. security said the U.S. military didn't think Cuba was a threat at all. Let me quote from Dateline Havana:

"Wilkerson participated in war games designed to plan United States response to various Cuban crises. The military's nightmare scenario consisted of political instability in Cuba leading to a large-scale assault by Cuban Americans on the island. Wilkerson said, "What really struck me about the Cuban contingencies when we exercised and gamed was that it didn't turn into any kind of U.S. force presence in Cuba. It turned into a cordoning off Florida to keep Cuban Americans with various small arms... from invading Cuba."

And there is historical precedent for the U.S. military's concerns about out-of-control violent rightists attacking Cuba. They've done it before-- and far more than most Americans are aware, and sometimes with over U.S. help. Were you frightened in the last few weeks about swine flu? No one knows how it started but it scared a lot of people in this country.

In 1971, during the Nixon administration, U.S. agents introduced swine fever virus into Cuba. Cuba had to slaughter over 500,000 infected hogs. The virus originated in Africa and had been unknown in Cuba before the outbreak. Newsday revealed that a CIA-trained Cuban exile had been given the swine virus at Ft. Gulick in the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal Zone. U.S. operatives gave him instructions to deliver the virus to Cuba. Even though the CIA denied involvement, the article showed a clear link to U.S. clandestine efforts. In 1977, the Washington Post confirmed, "The CIA had a program aimed at Cuban agriculture, and since 1962 Pentagon specialists had been manufacturing biological agents to be used for this purpose."

In 1981, during the Reagan administration, some 350,000 Cubans were infected with type II dengue virus, which produces potentially deadly fevers. According to Cuban sources, 158 people died, 101 of whom were children. The virus had not been known anywhere in the world and had been created in a laboratory. In 1984, a leader of Omega 7, a terrorist exile group in Miami, admitted in court to spreading the dengue virus.

Rightist fanatics would like nothing more than to insert a "fresh-faced charismatic" young extremist like Rubio into the American political system.

McCormack sees mainstream conservative Charlie Crist as the impediment because Crist is likely to jump into the Florida senatorial race. Recent polls show him thrashing the lunatic fringe Rubio 53-4% in a primary battle and even if Crist decides to not run-- unlikely-- right-wing congressional hacks Connie Mack and Vern Buchanan (each nearly mainstream compared to Rubio) lead him by double-digits. The advantage of a primary with Rubio participating is that it is sure to be bloody. To Rubio Crist isn't obstructionist enough, isn't anti-choice enough, is too pro-environment, isn't in favor of as many anti-working family tax policies as he should be and favors many ideas Floridians like and right-wing maniacs like Rubio, hate. And to Rubio's supporters, Crist is a homo, something the media rarely mentions but something wingers will never stop talking about-- at least en Español.




UPDATE: Outrage-- The Film

I just came back from seeing Mike Roger's movie, Outrage. If Republican voters in Florida see the film, Crist's goose is COOKED. He comes across as such a hypocrite-- and as soooo gay-- that he'd have a really tough time in a closed Republican primary. It'll be interesting to see if Rubio tries to exploit it in some way.