Shocking WaPo headline on Rubio arrest a big letdown

John Ekdahl of the Ace of Spades blog added sarcastically, “Luxury boat-owning, high-heel boot wearing sociopath caught trolling public parks after dark.”

The Post set a dramatic backdrop for the story of Rubio’s arrest.

“Marco Rubio’s first year of college at a small school in Missouri ended badly. His grades were awful. A neck injury dashed any hopes of achieving greatness on the football field. He was hurting for money. He resolved to go back to Florida and get his life on a path to success,” reporters Manuel Roig-Franzia and Scott Higham wrote.

“Instead the 18-year-old added to his troubles after returning to Miami for summer break: He was arrested one night in May 1990 for being in a crime-plagued public park after closing time,” they added.

The report is based on police records and an account from a person who police said was with Rubio that night.

The incident was chalked up to a misdemeanor, and eventually dismissed.

The Post noted that Rubio himself has never spoken publicly about the arrest. The report also tied the 1990 event to the conviction of Rubio’s brother-in-law in a “major drug-trafficking case,” which took a “devastating” toll on the family, noting that the senator’s arrest came just one year later.

Roig-Franzia and Scott Higham set down a second dramatic backdrop to discuss the repercussions of Rubio’s 1990 arrest.

“[T]hat summer also marks a turning point for Rubio, the moment when a somewhat aimless young man found a direction and purpose that shaped the highly focused politician who now sits among the leading candidates in the Republican presidential primary,” they wrote.

Rubio’s team appeared perplexed that the Post was even writing about the arrest in the first place, telling the reporters in a comment that it seemed like they were making a mountain out of a molehill.

“When he was 18 years old, he violated a municipal code for drinking beer in a park after hours,” Harris said. “He was never taken into custody, never hired a lawyer and never appeared in court. Why The Washington Post thinks that is a story is beyond me,” said Rubio campaign strategist Todd Harris.