Uncle Marco: Crist Says Rubio 'Turned His Back' on His 'Hispanic Family

Florida Senatorial candidate Marco Rubio (R) doesn't care about his Hispanic heritage because he's taken a tough immigration stance. That's what Independent candidate, former Republican, and current Florida governor Charlie Crist seemed to suggested during a three-person debate Friday night. Not surprisingly, Rubio didn't appreciate the suggestion.

The Palm Beach Post explains the exchange:

The most heated exchange came during a discussion of immigration when Crist told Rubio that, according to an article in a Tampa weekly publication called La Gaceta, "you turned your back on your Hispanic family" by not supporting immigration reform and the Dream Act.

"We're all used to hard-knock politics," Rubio responded, "but that's quite frankly, governor, offensive and outrageous, for you to talk about me to turn my back on my Hispanic family."

After Rubio snapped back at the governor, Crist backpedaled by claiming he was only quoting other people's words. But Rubio gave Crist a lesson in etiquette ("you shouldn't repeat things like that") and then set him straight ("let me tell you about my [Cuban-American] family").

"Not only am I not turning my back on them governor, I am fighting so that my children can inherit the kind of country they worked so hard to leave me," Rubio said.

Even the Democratic candidate, Kendrick Meek, realized Crist's remark was inflammatory: "I'm not one to attack anyone's family and I've chastised ... governor Crist on the family attack end."

Hot Air's Ed Morrissey picks up an the most ironic parts of the exchange:

It’s bad enough playing identity politics when one is of the identity in question. It’s doubly offensive when it comes from someone who shares nothing of the ethnicity they purport to represent. In Crist’s case, though, it qualifies as high satire. Isn’t Crist the candidate that just “turned his back” on the political party he led in this state only because Rubio was kicking his rear end in primary polling, and then spent the next several months reversing almost every policy position he ever held?

Yup.