Just weeks after much too much of Florida's political establishment and media took a dumb Crist/Rubio remix of an old YouTube meme way too seriously, there's another stupid YouTube video that certain journalists, it seems, are forcibly trying to turn into a controversy.
It's a ridiculous anti-Rubio ad that somehow tries to paint Rubio as a secret Democrat lover. The evidence: Barack Obama once said his name at a CANF event, and in his former-role as a political commenter for Univision he makes a basic observation about how failed Democratic congressional candidate Raul Martinez could improve his strategy.
It's clearly the amateur work of an Crist supporter with a bit too much time on his hands, but the biggest political news bureau in the state decided to run with it and turn it into something more. I guess they don't know that any one can upload any thing they want on this here YouTube site, and most of it doesn't need to be elevated into serious political discussion.
The Herald's political blog Naked Politics thought somehow both former Diaz-Balart staffer, current Florida director for Sen. George LeMieux, and Crist-backer Carlos Curbelo and another Balart staffer and Rubio-hater Dave Custin might have something to do with it, so they called them for a comment. Curbelo said he didn't know who was behind it. Custin couldn't be reached. It's not exactly an implication, but the idea is there.
The St. Pete Times' political blog The Buzz and Naked Politics are usually 90% the same material (the two papers share a political bureau), but for some reason Times Political editor Adam Smith weighed in on it on his own. He thinks the YouTube video is an "ethnic attack," because Hispanic Marco Rubio speaks Spanish! Uh, that's not exactly an October surprise.
"Does it not seem clearly aimed at turning off voters who might be uneasy about Rubio's Hispanic heritage?" No sir, it does not.
Funny thing is, both blogs act that they don't know who's behind the ad, but they have a pretty good idea of who's spreading it. Naked Politics had an earlier version with the name of the person who's spreading it. It's scrubbed from their site, but lives on in our RSS reader forever.
The Herald now only mentions "an alleged (he hasn't responded yet to an email) young Republican." We won't reprint the name, and maybe they have some suspicion that the guy is fake, but he comes up on Facebook (where he's a fan of Charlie Crist). The Buzz meanwhile might want to know that the person allegedly spreading this "ethnic attack" is, in fact, Hispanic himself.
Can someone just block YouTube from the Herald and Times newsrooms from now on please? They clearly have no idea how to put anything they find there in prospective.
