Rubio rakes in cash after New York Times’ hit pieces

OPINION:

Attacks by the New York Times against Republican 2016 presidential candidate Marco Rubio have backfired, bringing in wads of cash and making the once-vaunted newspaper of record look foolish.

In the last two weeks, the unabashedly liberal paper has run two hit pieces on Rubio (and in one, his wife) as well. Last week, the Times attacked the Florida senator for getting four traffic tickets in 17 years. On Tuesday, the paper hit him again for taking out student loans to pay for college and then, gasp, buying a 24-foot off-shore fishing boat (the Times, of course, called it a “luxury speedboat”).

In just the last six days, Rubio has raised more than $100,000 in donations. The campaign is making a simple pitch: “Help Marco fight back against the elitist liberal media. … Sign this petition to let the liberal media know you won’t be swayed by their attacks on strong conservatives like Marco.”

Alex Conant, communications director for the Rubio campaign, posted a piece on the website directly rebutting the Times’ articles. He said the paper “attacked Marco because he could not afford to pay for college, arrogantly describing his student loan debt as ‘a deep financial hole of his own making.’ The attack from The Times is just the latest in their continued hits against Marco and his family.

“First The New York Times attacked Marco over traffic tickets, and now they think he doesn’t have enough money. Of course if he was worth millions, The Times would then attack him for being too rich, like they did to Mitt Romney.

“What The Times misses is that getting rich is not what has driven Senator Rubio’s financial decisions. His goal at this stage in his life is to provide his four children with a good home, a quality education, and a safe and happy upbringing. As he wrote in his book, ’The mark I make in this world will not be decided by how much money I make or how many titles I attain. Rather, the greatest mark I can leave is the one I will make as a father and a husband.’ “
The post goes on to lay out “The truth about Marco’s personal finances:

“Marco has a single debt, the mortgage on his home.

“Marco has decided to send his four children to private Christian schools in Miami, and has created college savings accounts for each kid.

“Over the last several years, Marco has donated close to $150,000 to charity.

“Marco’s monthly financial obligations do not put his family finances above the 43 percent debt-to-income ratio the federal government suggests is worrisome.

“Marco’s paid off over $150,000 in student loans from his undergraduate and law degree.”

The Times went after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, alleging he was part of a scheme to punish a city’s mayor by shutting down most of a bridge, causing traffic woes. That occurred when Christie appeared to be the biggest threat to the paper’s chosen candidate, Hillary Clinton.

Which means the new attacks on Rubio signal the Times is starting to get really worried about him, too.

“Marco Rubio does not look worse as a result of this story,” wrote Ian Tuttle of the National Review. “He looks, you know, normal. It’s the Times that looks bad — petty, for expending so much effort on so minor a story, and, for expending so much energy unnecessarily concealing the source of the story, deceitful.”