(CNN) - Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney was joking when he said at a Florida fundraiser last spring that he would have a better shot at winning the presidency if he were Latino, Sen. Marco Rubio said Wednesday.
On a conference call with reporters, Rubio said that the comments - recorded secretly and published earlier this week along with other clips of the same event by a left-leaning magazine - were intended to be a line of humor.
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"Well I think he meant it as a joke," Rubio said. "At least, that's how most reasonable people would take it."
In the fundraiser, Romney said, "My dad, you probably know, was the governor of Michigan and was the head of a car company, but he was born in Mexico.
"Had he been born of Mexican parents, I'd have a better shot at winning this, but he was unfortunately born of Americans living in Mexico," Romney said to laughter at the fundraiser. "They'd lived there for a number of years, and I mean I say that jokingly, but it'd be helpful if they'd been Latino."
Rubio, who is Cuban American and a rising star in the GOP, and Romney acknowledged the candidate was on the list of people he was vetting to join his presidential ticket.
The Senator from Florida said Romney has made a similar reference or joke like that in the past.
Romney is to speak Thursday evening at a forum hosted by the Spanish-language television network Univision, then hold a rally in Miami, Florida.
Also see:
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- Obama camp wastes no time highlighting Romney tapes
From CNN Politics
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It was a joke. And we are all laughing at you mittens
And Who in the world said that Rubio is Latino!!!! He can talk all he wants about his Cuban heritage... but He will never in his live can comment about Latinos.
If it was a joke, please explain it to me. What's the punchline? What phrase was funny- the implication that Latinos are given every conceivable benefit by the government and are too lazy to work for a real living wage. Rubio, you are a laugh a minute
This tape tells America all we need to know about Romney & Ryan Corporation
that's nice. i'm glad rubio likes being laughed at my rich money.
Had his parents been Mexican, then his father would not have been governor nor head of a car company. More importantly, our amigo mitt, would not have been grandfathered into an ivy league college or come anywhere close to running a private equity company with his parents' friends money.
A lot of people laugh at racist jokes, that doesn't make them right. Shame on you Mr Rubio, what is wrong with you
Rubio will lose his senate seat next election.
His comment was bigoted and Rubio knows it.
Romney is the JOKE!
I'm pretty sure everyone tool it as a terrible attempt st a joke. The problem is, he is an equally bad comedian and presidential candidate. I think everyone also realizes that this was an attempt to put down hispanics. If he is about equal opportunity e should patiently wait on Asian and black jokes.
If it's a joke, what makes it funny? Is it self deprecation because he's making fun of the idea that dumb republicans actually think being white is a disadvantage in this country? Otherwise I don't see how it could mean anything other that what he said
Well Rubio, you don't speak for ALL Latinos!
Romney is a joke. GOP is a joke. Not a funny joke, bad joke. they are trying to destroy America for 99% of us.
Was Romney joking when he said, "If the Hispanic voting bloc becomes as committed to the Democrats as the African-American voting bloc has in the past, why, we're in trouble as a party and, I think, as a nation [...]"??
Romney didn't mean it as a joke although it sounded like a joke. He really believe being a latino will help, note the "but" in "but it'd be helpful if they'd been Latino."
And that is the most racist thing for a presidential hopeful to say. Its terrible,
Apparently Rubio didn't hear the real so-called joke on the Latino community. Romney said that the growth of Latino voters was bad for the (GOP) party, and bad for the nation. Ouch! Not much of a joke there ...
The same Marco Rubio? That Talks Big but Fails to Deliver?
cuban medicare fraud and marco rubio is silent about
South Florida is known as the capital of Medicare fraud,
Feds in Miami: Millions stolen from Medicare wound up in Cuban banking system In an unprecedented case, federal prosecutors have charged a Miami man with engaging in a massive money laundering scheme that moved millions stolen from the federal Medicare program into Cuban banks.
I want to protect Medicare. I want to save it," Rubio told CNN.
"It's going bankrupt. And so the only way to save it is to come up
with a solution that allows our parents and our grandparents to see
absolutely no changes to their Medicare," Rubio added.
what a joke
Good job at defending your master, little lapdog.
Rubio should just be honest, and state what most "reasonable" people believe, that the Romney campaign and the GOP is a joke.
Yeah, really funny, haha. I just fall down in stitches when the GOP encourages America to think all the brown people are illegals here to steal their jobs. All the browns, those born in Juarez, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Los Angeles, San Diego, El Paso, Denver, Milwaukee. Those are the ones you really have to watch out for - the ones crafty enough to have been born in the US. They even try to claim their citizens. The nerve.
OH HO HO HO
What a kidder you are, Mitt.
Rubio is Cuban and other Latino do get along with them because the Cuban think they are this elite Latino. Remember it was the rich Cuban that fled Cuba when Castro took over.
It was a joke that doesn't seem very funny. How does one nationality get you better odds to win? Just because you are one group or another doesn't make you a better candidate. Kennedy proved that with speech about being Catholic.
Ha! Ha! Yeah! I GET IT! Rubio is to the Average Latino as Romney is to the average middle class white guy!...anyone have a fork? These guys are DONE!