Univision's news division is nothing if not laughably predictable. As sure as the day is long and the Sun rises in the east, this election cycle was not going to pass without Univision News finding a way to reignite its war with U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL).
Here's how the network covered the Miami New Times' rehash of the story that Univision's investigative team originally broke in 2011:
MARÍA ELENA SALINAS, ANCHOR, UNIVISIÓN: Univisión Investiga revealed five years ago that the house in Miami where Senator Marco Rubio’s sister lived with her husband, Orlando Cecilia, was confiscated in 1988 after it was proven that it was being used to distribute cocaine. Cecilia was prosecuted. While at first, the Senator kept silent, months later he explained that at the time, when he was 14 years old, neither he nor his family knew about the activities of their brother-in-law. Now, documents obtained by the newspaper Miami New Times indicate that Rubio and his family lived temporarily in the same house where Cecilia manipulated the cocaine. Gerardo Reyes explains.
This isn't even the first rehashing of this story. Recall that the Washington Post did the same at the end of last year. This is what we said back then:
When Univision first ran the story about Rubio's brother-in-law, the Gang of Eight immigration bill was not yet in existence. Marco Rubio was considered an immigration heretic who was opposed to the DREAM Act and refused to condemn Arizona’s controversial SB 1070, considered to be extremely dangerous because of his ability to communicate and connect in two languages.
The purpose of the story - to otherize and racially vitiate Rubio to potential voters from across the ideological spectrum - remains unchanged from five years ago.
That story ultimately backfired, gaining little to no traction outside of local press and conservative media. However, the mainstream media did capitalize on the permission structure created by this story. In many ways, this story begat some of the nonsense we see today, such as the New York Times' laughable "Rubio yacht" story, and Mark Halperin's ridiculous quizzing of Ted Cruz' Hispanity.
With the passage of time and much higher stakes, the Washington Post has decided to regurgitate this story - to the point of using Univision stills in the article - thus becoming a full participant in the disgusting racial vilification of those who do not toe the left’s line for minorities.
No one who reads this byline should be shocked that Univision would try to take another last shot at ye olde Rubio narco-smear before this election cycle is up.
That Univision would co-sign such an obvious attempt at an October Surprise against its old nemesis should not shock anyone who reads this byline. This is the same network that first sought to make a major splash five years ago -at Rubio's expense- by using Escobar-style "plata o plomo" tactics. This same network published an opinion column celebrating Rubio's defeat as righteous comeuppance for race-betrayal, and found to have colluded in support of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.
It is natural -with an eye on 2020 and beyond- that Univision would try to take another shot at Rubio as a tight Senate reelection race winds down, and it's a small wonder that they didn't park another van out in front of the Rubio family home. This rehash of a decades-old story for political points is no less disgusting, though.
