I am going to assume that every opinionated politico has at one point believed that the 2016 Republican presidential primary race would come down to either Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, if and when these two friends were to decide to run for president.
Newsflash. Both Rubio and Bush are running for president.
Now that Bush has finally joined Rubio as a presidential candidate, both men can now officially fight over Republican voters in their home state of Florida, which is seen as the ultimate presidential swing state.
Bush and Rubio are both considered top tier candidates, but of the two, who is the candidate that best represents Hispanics?
Fox News' Geraldo Rivera comically stated that he believes Bush is more Latino than Rubio, leaving me to believe that the nationally televised blow to the nose he received years ago on his "Geraldo" TV show, may have cause lasting brain damage.
Geraldo thinks Bush is more Latino than Rubio simply because the elder statesman is married to a Mexican woman, and because he believes that Bush's Spanish is comparable to that of Rubio's.
“Jeb Bush is married to a Mexican-Latino woman,” he continued. “George P. Bush, the land commissioner of Texas, his son, and namesake there – named George Prescott Bush is totally fluent. This is a family that really lives in a bilingual world. They’re respectful of it. I think that Jeb Bush would beat Marco Rubio head-to-head in Florida and that’s what you’re talking about.”-Source
Let me just point out that Rubio's parents immigrated from Cuba, a Latin American country, whereas the Bushes hail from the great state of Texas.
When talking about their wives backgrounds, Rubio's wife Jeanette is the offspring of immigrants who immigrated to the United States from Colombia. Jeb's parents hail from the great state of Texas.
The Rubio's' children, who were all born in Miami, either speak or can at the very least, understand Spanish. Jeb and Columba's kids, who also hail from the great state of Texas, are also bilingual.
I will assume that the reason why Geraldo and others believe Jeb is more Latino than Rubio, is because Jeb is a staunch supporter for a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
Rubio once supported a pathway to citizenship, but has since evolved back into the immigration hawk that Americans knew him to be.
While Bush's "Hispanic outreach" or promise of rewarding illegal immigrants with a pathway to citizenship resonates with many Hispanics, Rubio is one of them, and can speak directly to the needs and concerns of that community.
So who is the most "Latino" of the two friends?
Will Bush and Rubio may have to engage in a political Salsa dance-off to help Geraldo and others definitively state who is the most Latino of the two men.
Socio! Crank up the Willy Chirino!
Willy Chirino is a Cuban-born salsa singer, in case you didn't know.
