Last updated on February 12th, 2013 at 12:21 am
Marco Rubio is supposed to be the Golden Boy Trojan Horse for the GOP with the Hispanic community, but at least one Spanish-language television network Univisión staffer isn’t buying it.
The Miami Herald reported that Angelica Artiles, assistant to Univisión’s Vice President of news, took to Rubio’s aide’s Facebook page to unload freely, calling the Republican lawmaker a “loser” and “a token slave boy.”
“Oh. wow, the loser is going to speak after our President,” Artiles wrote on spokesman Alex Burgos’ Facebook page at 9:33 p.m. Wednesday. “Anything to get publicity. Ask him to do us a favor and stay home that night.”
A fight ensued with the Rubio aide. Patriotism was brought up. Etc. Rubio aide Burgos wrote, “While you may be content with mediocrity under this President, I am not. And fortunately neither are patriots like Marco Rubio who have opportunities like next Tuesday night to offer an alternative way forward. I am proud to work for him and actually feel sorry for you for writing this.”
She then used a diminutive term for Rubio’s first name, “Marquito,” and proceeded to compare him to a Disney dwarf, a “token slave boy” and a “fool” who was passed over by Republican Mitt Romney on his presidential ticket last November.
The Miami Herald reports that her feelings reflect the feelings of many at Univisión, “Sentiments like that reflect the prevailing political feeling among Univisión’s higher-ups at its Doral headquarters, say Univisión insiders.”
Artiles has since deleted her comments and her Facebook account is inactive.
Now for the gold, considering this is coming from the party of Fox News, where they don’t save slams like “Disney dwarf” for Facebook, but rather use them in primetime to delegitimize the President. Carlos Curbelo, a Republican Miami-Dade School Board member, told the Miami Herald, “I was shocked to learn this was a Univisión Network employee. This again points to an unfortunate anti-Rubio, anti-Republican culture at Univisión which threatens the network’s credibility.” Indeed.
Republicans charge that Univisión is anti-Republican because the network is owned by a major Democratic donor, Haim Saban. But Al Jazeera has accused the network of being uber conservative, “Israeli-American businessman Haim Saban, a self-described “one-issue guy” – that issue being Israel – who has been up front about purchasing media outlets to promote his own political views.” Univision joined ABC in a joint partnership in May of 2012.
Univisión wasn’t started as a fair and balanced news network, though it does boast an award winning newscast. It started as mostly entertainment, geared toward a Spanish speaking audience. It should hardly come as a surprise that a venture started precisely for a specific audience also seeks to amplify the voices of that audience on policy matters.
But we should note that Republicans call it biased when Univisión reported on Marco Rubio’s brother’s trouble with the law, as their network runs false stories about President Obama the Kenyan Marxist coming for the white man’s guns.
It is not the R after Rubio’s name that is the issue; it is his opposition to the DREAM Act. It just so happens that most Republicans share that opposition and this makes them unattractive to people who disagree with them.
Republicans don’t seem to understand the difference between being anti-Republican out of nothing but spiteful hate and being anti-Republican because Republican policies have been hating on Hispanics and using them as a get out the vote punching bag for their bitter base. Republican policies have treated minorities in general like they are the problem. Republicans keep whining about Univisión supporting Democratic immigration proposals, as if it’s biased for Hispanics to prefer policies that do not demonize undocumented workers.
Yes, it seems that many at Univisión have a position on immigration. This does not mean that they are not truthful. Having a position is not the same thing as being dishonest in order to advance that position (see Fox News). So long as donations are disclosed openly, and positions are made clear, representing a voice in the debate does not automatically render one unfair. Republicans have zero room to wiggle on this issue, given Fox News’ failure to disclose donations to Republicans and free air time to the 2012 Republican presidential line up.
The fact that Hispanics have a right to their point of view and this is not a bias but rather participation in the debate was made by Univisión to The Hollywood Reporter:
Of course, many media critics and pundits, especially from factions hostile to immigration, have accused Univision’s news division of engaging in “advocacy journalism.” But Salinas contends the network does not take a position on issues. “I think of it more as contributing to democracy and to the debate on immigration,” she says. “Because without our point of view it’s not a debate, it’s a monologue of blaming immigrants for all the ills of this country.”
Leave it to Republicans to feel victimized by other people’s life experiences.
It’s mean to call a Republican anti-immigrant, even after they told undocumented workers to self-deport, passed the Papers Please law in Arizona and touted it nationally during the GOP primaries, and won’t stop nattering on about fences. See, when the Republicans beat you up, you’re supposed to like it, especially if they dress it up to appeal to you, ala Marco Rubio. Or as some people put it so harshly, “Loser, token slave, and Disney dwarf!”
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