(p. A11) D. Joy Riley, 59, of Brentwood, Tenn., who went to hear Mr. Rubio speak last weekend in the affluent Nashville suburb of Franklin, said that his story struck a chord with her personally. Her father was a coal miner. She is now a physician with a master’s degree in bioethics. “We’re all one or two generations away from some story like that,” she said, repeating a line Mr. Rubio often uses in his speeches.
. . .
Mr. Rubio’s story is intended to pull at the heartstrings. At his rally in Franklin, he spoke of his mother’s struggles growing up in poverty in rural Cuba.
“My mother was one of seven girls raised by a disabled father,” he said as he looked out on a horde of gingham shirts, khaki, fine Sunday dresses and derby hats.
He recalled how she left him with a strong understanding of selflessness and sacrifice. “My mother says her and her sisters never went to bed hungry,” he continued. “But she’s sure her parents did many nights.”
As he tells these personal stories, Mr. Rubio weaves in the policy prescriptions he would act on as president, making his case for a smaller, more conservative government.
When he talks of the need for lower taxes, he cites the work his parents found in hospitality. The only reason the hotel where his father worked could exist, he insists, was because the business climate in Miami Beach was friendly enough that someone wanted to invest. And had it not been for taxes that were low enough to allow people the disposable income to vacation in Las Vegas, he says, his mother would not have had any hotel rooms to clean.
. . .
Nancy Conklin, 52, a business owner from North Hampton, N.H., was nodding along as Mr. Rubio spoke near Portsmouth last month. “You get older, have a family, employ people, and you start to realize how difficult all these regulations are,” she said. “You don’t want to have a business because you can’t afford it.”
For the full story, see:
JEREMY W. PETERS. “Rubio’s Bootstraps Entice a Receptive Constituency: The Well-to-Do.” The New York Times (Sat., FEB. 27, 2016): A11.
(Note: ellipses added.)
(Note: the online version of the story has the date FEB. 26, 2016, and has the title “Marco Rubio Entices a Receptive Constituency: The Well-to-Do.”)