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Raul's Crocodile Tears
Raul Martinez is upset that Radio Mambi programming director Armando Perez-Roura doesn't like him too much and isn't shy about it. The Herald has the scoop here.
Grow up, Mr. Mayor. Last time I checked, radio commentators had the right to express their opinions on issues and political candidates. Not everybody has to like what they have to say, but a veteran politico such as Martinez can't be serious when he claims that he's upset that Radio Mambi commentators are critical of him.
Martinez claims that it's the unsubstantiated attacks on him that he's upset about, and that he hasn't been given "equal air time" to dispute the attacks. OK, I think radio commentators have a responsibility to not allow or encourage the broadcast of unsubstantiated attacks without an appropriate response. Martinez has a point there. But in the end, this is less about that and more about a fight for votes in an election where he rightly sees himself as the underdog. That's my feeling.
Should Radio Mambi have invited Martinez himself to appear on the show instead of Alberto Milian? Perhaps, but Milian is an intelligent and influential person in South Florida politics. He's no slacker. Martinez himself called into the show a few days later, and I have seen and heard him numerous times on local TV and radio, more so than his opponent Lincoln Diaz-Balart.
My conclusion to all this is that Raul is whining because he's no longer the big shot mayor who ruled over Hialeah for many years. He can no longer run around and sucker-punch and verbally insult constituents anymore. He's running for a bigger prize, and with that comes the occasional pot shots and accusations that, whether in good taste or not, are part of the game that Raul Martinez has known and played all too well.
Raul Martinez: cry me a river.
Grow up, Mr. Mayor. Last time I checked, radio commentators had the right to express their opinions on issues and political candidates. Not everybody has to like what they have to say, but a veteran politico such as Martinez can't be serious when he claims that he's upset that Radio Mambi commentators are critical of him.
Martinez claims that it's the unsubstantiated attacks on him that he's upset about, and that he hasn't been given "equal air time" to dispute the attacks. OK, I think radio commentators have a responsibility to not allow or encourage the broadcast of unsubstantiated attacks without an appropriate response. Martinez has a point there. But in the end, this is less about that and more about a fight for votes in an election where he rightly sees himself as the underdog. That's my feeling.
Should Radio Mambi have invited Martinez himself to appear on the show instead of Alberto Milian? Perhaps, but Milian is an intelligent and influential person in South Florida politics. He's no slacker. Martinez himself called into the show a few days later, and I have seen and heard him numerous times on local TV and radio, more so than his opponent Lincoln Diaz-Balart.
My conclusion to all this is that Raul is whining because he's no longer the big shot mayor who ruled over Hialeah for many years. He can no longer run around and sucker-punch and verbally insult constituents anymore. He's running for a bigger prize, and with that comes the occasional pot shots and accusations that, whether in good taste or not, are part of the game that Raul Martinez has known and played all too well.
Raul Martinez: cry me a river.
posted by Robert at 1:03 PM
6 Comments:
Linking to the story, which appears here, might provided 26th Parallel readers with a little more background on this story which might have helped them understand Martinez's frustration with Radio Mambi's actions.
Perhaps Martinez is being a little too whiny, but I think that not being able to effectively respond to smears can make any one, including Martinez, frustrated.
Martinez doesn't have a chance in Hell in winning the votes of anyone that listens to that garbage on Mambi. They're as far right as Limbaugh listeners, as Pérez-Roura virtually says in the Herald article. It's more his frustration with not being able to respond as he would like to and probably is used to, given any other media outlet.
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Rick,
The "background" link was already provided in the post. Thanks for the repeat link in your comment.
He has a small point in that the station program hosts should be more responsible in not letting stupid attacks go by without focusing on facts and issues. And as mentioned in the post, an invitation to the show would have been the appropriate response. Still, he's a huge whiner because someone with his experience and stature in the local and state Democrat apparatus (he's a super delegate, after all) should know how things work when you're in a hard-fought campaign. There's 5+ months to go before the election. He'll have plenty of time to make additional appearances it whatever media outlet he wishes.
In the end, it comes across as Raul trying to control the media the same way he controlled Hialeah.
Missed the link. Sorry.
I don't know. Does it mean he's trying to control the media when he complains about it? Should we apply that thinking to all babalu posts that complain about the way Cuba is portrayed in the media? Are they trying to control the message? You don't have to answer that, by the way.
People complain all the time about being mistreated by the media. Raul's mistake is that trying to set the record straight with those people is useless. They could care less.
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Stay classy, Henry! Heh.
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And who made you the arbiter of class? The same guy that elected you pope of the bloggers? Heh.
This incident was provoked by Perez-Roura in one of his daily commentaries "Tome Nota" from the first week in May I believe.
In the the commentary, Perez-Roura criticized the Cuban family travel restrictions and then criticized Martinez by name because of his support for for easing those restrictions. Perez-Roura directly challenged Martinez's character by reminding listeners that Martinez was born in Cuba, and insinuating that those who support easing travel restrictions to Cuba betray the nation and its people.
It's perfectly understandable that Martinez quickly wanted a chance to respond, especially when Perez-Roura called him out by name and questioned his character.
This has nothing to do with whining.
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