Liberal Media and Extremist Gay Hate Groups Won "RINO" Carlos Gimenez the Mayoral Election, According to Conservatives

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​There's a cancerous strain of political outlook on both sides that views politics as nothing more than a game played by two sides. Somehow the conservative Sunshine State News Service managed to inject that outlook into the results of the Miami-Dade mayoral election, a non-partisan race that pitted two candidates who are privately registered as Republicans against each other. According to writer Kenric Ward's not-so-subtle inferences, Gimenez only won election off the back of Miami's liberal media and extremist homosexual hate groups (or as most of us know them as, "Gay Rights Groups"). Oh brother.

In a post entitled "Were Democrats the Winners in Carlos Gimenez's Miami-Dade Victory?" Ward tries to argue that Gimenez's victory was a boon for Democrats. The article mentions daily attacks on Robaina from "Miami's liberal media," support from homosexuals, and inferred Gimenez is a "Republican in Name Only," AKA a RINO.

First of all, Gimenez did catch scrutiny from the media. Riptide alone published "Five Reasons Carlos Gimenez Is The Wrong Man For The Job" and "Five Times Carlos Gimenez Screwed The Taxpayers." True, both articles were paired with similar posts about Robaina, and if there were more articles "attacking" Robaina its simply because his private business dealings and time in Hialeah city hall left more questions that needed to be answered and discussed.

Second off, Sunshine News declares that no Democrat finished higher than fourth place in the initial election. That Democrat was of course New Times columnist Luther Campbell. Ward fails to mention that Campbell, the "Democrat," endorsed Robaina and that we gave him ample page space to explain that endorsement.

Robaina also won the black vote, a group that is solidly registered Democrats, by a wide 56 to 44 margin.

Thirdly, Ward gives a lot of space in his article to quotes from the Christian Family Council. That group is hardly influential in local politics, and only mattered in this race because Julio Robaina made a bizarre decision to flip flop on his views on gay rights in order to win the election. True, gay voters had extra reason to vote for Gimenez because of that, but other voters questioned Robaina's integrity simply because of his swift change in positions.

Ward quotes a statement by a CFC leader proclaiming, "The new mayor's election by only 4,375 votes compels him to prove his ability to truly represent all Miami-Dade residents, including Christians and people of faith, whose moral values and ethical principles are unjustly attacked by the extremist hate groups Gimenez irresponsibly cavorted with during the campaign."

Christ on a throne, really? This election wasn't about social issues, and any group that calls even the most mainstream GLBT rights groups "extremist hate groups" is clearly off its rockers. Miami-Dade was ground zero for Anita Brynat's, uh, extremist gay hate campaign. We're done with those days. Gimenez's statements on gay rights just upheld the already established status quo in Miami-Dade on this issues.

Finally, Ward calls into question whether or not Gimenez has a mandate to rule. Let's get one thing straight. A monkey in high heels could have won this election by one vote and still would have had a mandate. That's because voters gave their mandate by kicking out Alvarez. Their instructions to the next mayor were "Don't be a dick like Alvarez, don't give ridiculously high paying jobs to your idiot cronies, get the budget under control, and don't raise property taxes." This wasn't an election over two separate agendas really. Robaina and Gimenez's platforms were remarkably similar. Gimenez was chosen as the guy to carry that platform out. He has the mandate. Simple as that.

That article was almost as ridiculous as the time Tea Partiers tried to claim victory in kicking out Alvarez. This election was never about left-right issues, and doesn't fit neatly into any two party system. Anyone trying to claim otherwise has no idea what they're talking about.

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