Does liking hip-hop mean you can’t be in favor of family values? That’s what James Rosen of the Miami Herald seems to think. His title of “Family values? Marco Rubio hates hip-hop, except when he loves it,” makes a far-fetched claim about the presidential candidate. It also leaves little to the imagination about what he’s suggesting.
Rosen points to statements Rubio made last week in N.H. Despite Rosen’s claim, Rubio did not mention anything about hating hip-hop:
Rosen, who also links to the Washington Post, mentioned that “the passage was made famous because Rubio actually repeated the statement twice, playing into earlier criticism about robotic adherence to talking points.” Rubio is hardly the last candidate, of either party, to make similar or even the same statements more than once.
A bulk of Rosen’s piece is spent on what appears to be an attempt to raise shock, horror, and cries of hypocrisy over Rubio’s personal interest in hip-hop music.
Yes, Pitbull is his friend, and Rubio likes music from N.W.A., Tupac, Eminem, and Nikki Minaj. Who cares?
While some of Rubio’s favorite songs do contain explicit and obscene lyrics, Rosen fails to convince his readers that there’s any cause for alarm. Much of the piece contains song lyrics, or notes that some lyrics can’t be printed. It goes completely unmentioned though that Rubio is a 44-year old adult with a personal preference for such music.
If Rosen had been able to point out that Rubio played these songs to his own four children, the oldest who is 15, or any others, he would perhaps have a point. With some readers that is.
Rosen’s piece raises important points about the media and their attitudes towards candidates. But, it also does about candidates and their values. Rubio is an adult who can listen to whatever music he wishes. He also seems to believe that other adults should have that right, and similarly the right to decide what their children are exposed to. If Rubio said otherwise, Rosen would likely still have found a reason to rant against him.
Rosen’s critique is unlikely to go over big with voters, except those who decry the hatchet job and want to know who cares what music Rubio listens to? For voters who are also fans of hip-hop, Rubio may just become that much more appealing. More likely is that such a piece only further shows how the top voter complaint is bias from the mainstream media this election.
