When a 2 or 3 year old is caught doing something wrong, they often react with complete shock they did something wrong. They genuinely believe whatever it is they were doing was perfectly fine and cannot comprehend why they’re being scolded. The media is often like that of a small child. A toddler.
At the start of June, the NY Times and Washington Post weighed in with articles about Marco Rubio’s finances. The headline at the NY Times read, “Marco Rubio’s Career Bedeviled by Financial Struggles.”
Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post quipped, “Here’s the real issue with Marco Rubio’s finances” and wrote:
That’s all totally fine. If Rubio wants a boat, he can buy a boat. The issue for Rubio is that he is investing so much of his appeal on his “I have lived the American Dream” story that he necessarily has to accept that that story will be inspected closely to see what it tells us about him and how he might run the government if he is entrusted with doing so.Buying a boat when you insist finances are tight or cashing out a $68,000 retirement fund or selling a house for $18,000 less than you paid for it 10 years ago — all of which is in the Times story — do raise questions about Rubio’s financial judgment. They are not questions that can’t be effectively answered, but they are questions worth raising when a person is running, at least in part, to manage the country’s finances.
The country is $18 trillion in debt despite being run by hundreds of people who are no doubt, financially solvent.
The “story” was so silly that even Jon Stewart slammed the NY Times for covering it (along with the breaking news about Rubio’s traffic tickets):
Naturally, the “Rubio is so irresponsible with money we can’t allow him to run the county ” narrative did not stick, the media looks like they are going to return to their usual angle when it comes to Republicans: They’re rich!
Here’s a new story in the Washington Post. The headline reads:
How Marco Rubio turned political star power into a soaring personal income.
Imagine that. And just how rich is Marco Rubio?
Although he began his legislative career as a man of modest means, Rubio in 2008 reached an income level that placed him in the top 1 percent of American earners. His outside work included helping real estate developers navigate city hall bureaucracies, assisting a law firm in adding ethnic diversity to its client base and lawyer roster, teaching college-level political science classes, and coordinating conference calls for a Washington lobbyist seeking federal funding for Miami hospitals.Rubio’s annual income grew from about $72,000 when he was elected to the state House in 2000 to $414,000 in 2008, when his two-year speakership ended, according to financial disclosure forms and interviews with Rubio campaign staff members.
He’s part of the Top 1 Percent!
This is precisely the type of silliness we should expect from the media during the GOP primary. That silliness will go to eleven once the general election starts. In the meantime, the media will give a wink and nod to the Clintons who have earned $30 million… since January of 2014.
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