The Post reported yesterday that the parents of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) had not fled Cuba after Fidel Castro had risen to power but some years before. Nevertheless, the report found: "They showed that between the couple's admission for permanent U.S. residence and Castro's victory on Jan. 1, 1959, his father spent five days in Cuba and his mother spent no more than two months and three days there. The passports show that Rubio's mother made at least four short trips to the island after Castro's victory, including a month-long stay in February and March 1961." It was during that trip that Rubio's mother determined she couldn't live under the Communist regime.
Rubio put out a statement slamming the report:
Moreover, there is some question about whether Rubio ever specifically claimed his parents left the island after the Castro revolution. The Miami Herald, which has closely followed Rubio's career, notes that in fact Rubio has previously stated that his parents left before Castro's rise. The reporter observes:
In sum, the Herald reporter says, “Rubio’s office has told both the Washington Post, the St. Petersburg Times and The Miami Herald that his parents came to the United States prior to Castro taking power. And he has said it more than once.” If Rubio was “embellishing,” he did an awfully poor job of it. The best evidence of inaccuracy is Rubio’s Senate biography (that says his parents left after Castro), which Rubio apparently never corrected.
Certain press accounts are absurdly unfair. Alex Burns from Politico proclaims, "Richard Blumenthal won a U.S. Senate election even after it was reported that he exaggerated his Vietnam War service. Joe Biden became vice president despite having once lifted a family history from the British Labor Party Leader Neil Kinnock and passed it off as his own." If Burns has similar evidence concerning Rubio, he should cough it up.
If this is the best they have on Rubio, he’s in no peril whatsoever. To the contrary, Rubio, having gone through a mainstream press attack, will likely endear himself to an even greater degree to the conservative base. If there’s one thing that all conservatives can agree on, it is their loathing of mainstream media.