Why Rubio won't help GOP get Latino vote

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http://articles.cnn.com/2011-10-28/opinion/opinion_cardona-rubio-latinos_1_latino-vote-latinos-support-latino-citizens?_s=PM:OPINION

October 28, 2011|By Maria Cardona, CNN Contributor

Repeat after me, GOP: "Marco Rubio will not be our savior with Latinos in the 2012 election."

It has nothing to do with whether the U.S. senator from Florida lied about the year his parents came to the United States, though let's pause on that for a moment anyway: It should be fully explored, as it goes to his credibility.

I asked my father, a Colombian-American, what year our family came to the United States. He said in 1966. I said that was impossible because that would have meant I was born here and I wasn't. He then recalled the correct year. Which lead both of us to ponder that maybe Marco Rubio's story of mixing up the dates of when his parents came to the United States was plausible.

Except it isn't. My dad went on, "Mijita, if we had come to this country, as many Colombians have done, after surviving a kidnapping in the family, the moment of our arrival would have been burned into our memories forever." He is right. It is the same with real political exiles from Castro's Cuba: They never forget the moment their families made it out and entered the United States. But these discrepancies are not the reason why Rubio is not suited to deliver the Latino vote to Republicans.