The Liberal Media Begins Its Attacks on Marco Rubio

It was bound to happen. The liberal media has only one way to cover Republicans, to sink down into the sewer and attack from there. In 2008 that's how they covered Sarah Palin, ignoring her policies, but questioning whether she really gave birth to her youngest child, her daily reading and even what she wore.

This years presidential  election cycle continues the trend, even by disparaging the entire GOP field but saving their most special attacks for those in the top tier or are about to join the race.  Despite his protestations the liberal media has been clamoring for New Jersey governor Chris Christie to join the race.  Now that he is on the precipice of making a final decision, they aren't attacking his policies, no they are wondering if he is too portly to run for President.

The liberal media attack team is not only trying to politically disfigure the GOP candidates for POTUS, but they are also lurking around the lives of possible Vice Presidential candidates. One of those VP candidates who scare the liberals the most is Marco Rubio, he is young, intelligent, conservative, an excellent orator and like Palin he is part of a minority that usually votes Democratic, Palin of course is a Feminist Woman and Rubio is a Latino.

Granted I may be a bit prejudiced when it come to Rubio, he was the first speaker at my first CPAC and he brought the house down. I remember him talking about his heritage, and his parents who were refugees from Castro's Cuba. He said what makes America great, there are dreams that are impossible everywhere else, but are possible here. All over the world we find governments that control the economy and pick the winners and losers. The ones who have influence on the government wins.  Only in America could someone who is an employee one day become the employer. You see Marco Rubio is a conservative because of his heritage and what his dad had to go through.

It is precisely because of Rubio's heritage that the Hispanic TV Network Univision, tried to blackmail him into making a network appearance with a story about his brother-in-law's criminal past.

Days before Univision aired a controversial story this summer about the decades-old drug bust of Marco Rubio’s brother-in-law, top staff with the Spanish-language media powerhouse offered what sounded like a deal to the U.S. senator’s staff.

If Rubio appeared on Al Punto —Univision’s national television show where the topic of immigration would likely be discussed — then the story of his brother-in-law’s troubles would be softened or might not run at all, according to Univision insiders and the Republican senator’s staff. They say the offer was made by Univision’s president of news, Isaac Lee.

But Lee said in an email to The Miami Herald that any insinuation that he offered a quid pro quo was “incorrect” and “defamatory.”

In a written statement Friday, Lee said: “With respect to Senator Rubio, Univision covered the story in the same objective, fair manner we cover every significant story. Univision did not offer to soften or spike a story...we would not make such an offer to any other subject of a news story and did not offer it in this case.”

Senator Rubio never appeared on Al Punto, and Univision aired the story about Rubio’s brother-in-law, a lower-level player in a 1987 coke-and-pot ring, on July 11.

"I always knew Univision to be a professional organization until this happened," said Rubio, who won’t comment specifically on the case.

Univision, headquartered in Doral, is a top-rated network,....ratings are tops in prime-time in such cities as Los Angeles, San Antonio and Miami — regardless of language. It recently created an investigative team.

The Rubio brother-in-law story was its first investigation. The story about Rubio and his brother-in-law was broadcast in English and Spanish on television and the web over two days.

What Univision tried to do is tie Senator Rubio to his brother-in-law's criminal activities even though there was absolutely no connection.

Univision also pointed the story out to the governor, and emailed reporters from Washington to Miami to highlight “Rubio’s families ties to narco-trafficking.” Univision hyped it on Twitter with the hashtag code "#rubio, # drugs."

Mainstream media sources and bloggers barely gave it play due to the quarter century-old nature of the case and the fact it had no apparent peg to current news.

Univision wanted the Conservative Republican to be part of their immigration debate, so they can skewer his policy opinions, and this was the network's way of getting back at him.

On the night of July 5, Rubio received a call from his sister, Barbara Cicilia. She was distraught. A Univision reporter had called her about the arrest and incarceration of her husband, Orlando Cicilia, in the 1987 federal bust called “Operation Cobra.” Rubio was 16 at the time. Before Rubio was elected to his first legislative seat, in 2000, Cicilia was cleared for early release.

According to Rubio's communication director the network made itself clear.

On July 7, Alex Burgos, Rubio’s communications director, and Rubio’s political advisor, Todd Harris, held a 45-minute conference call with a handful of top Univision editorial staffers, including Lee, the news chief who handled most of the discussions for Univision. Harris represented Rubio as Burgos took notes. Rubio was not on the call.

Toward the end of the conversation, Lee brought up Ramos’ show and suggested the drug-bust story could change — or not run at all, according to Harris and Burgos’ notes.

Said Harris: “You’re saying that if Marco does an interview with Ramos, that you will drop this investigation into his family and the story will never air?"

Lee, they say, responded with this statement: "While there are no guarantees, your understanding of the proposal is fair.”

In his statement to The Herald, Lee disputes that. He said “various” people were on the call with Rubio’s staff for what he said was an “off-the-record discussion” about the story, including two of the network’s “top internal legal counsels.”

Rubio and his office initially refused to discuss any aspect of the story with The Herald. But after Univision insiders spoke about the story, Rubio and his staff agreed to speak on the record.

The Herald obtained letters from Rubio’s office to Univision in which Burgos denounced the story and reporting as “outrageous” and “tabloid journalism.” Rubio’s office confirmed their authenticity and later furnished a follow-up letter from Lee in which he again mentioned Al Punto and another show, Aqui y Ahora.

But the Univision sources, with knowledge of the discussions, affirmed Harris’ version of events.

"We were stunned,’’ one Univision executive said. "Can you imagine how embarrassing it is?"

The message to Senator Rubio was clear, play the game our way, think what we think, or we will do our best to destroy you.  Marco Rubio should get used to attacks like this no matter how distant the charges may be.  Rubio and people like him are the future of the GOP, I would not be surprised seeing his name as the GOP presidential candidate...he is just that good! Someone with those qualifications is bound to scare the left and thus make him the center of media attacks. Its the way the left does things.