(Image source: Esquire)

BY ZACH TOOMBS

He’s been described as the Republican Party’s Barack Obama — a rising star and a possible vice presidential pick for 2012. But Florida Senator Marco Rubio is caught up in controversy after a Washington Post article Friday revealed the young lawmaker might be embellishing a key part of his family’s past.

The Post reports:

“During his rise to political prominence, Sen. Marco Rubio frequently repeated a compelling version of his family’s history that had special resonance in South Florida. He was the ‘son of exiles,’ he told audiences, Cuban Americans forced off their beloved island after ‘a thug,’ Fidel Castro, took power. But a review of documents... show(s) that Rubio’s parents came to the United States... more than two-and-a-half years before Castro’s forces overthrew the Cuban government and took power on New Year’s Day 1959."

The report points out that Castro was in Mexico at the time of Rubio’s parents’ immigration to the U.S., still years from taking Cuba in a coup.

MSNBC’s Hardball chimes in among heavy criticism for the senator, saying he fabricated details of his past for political gain..

CHRIS MATTHEWS: “It seems like what’s going on is an attempt to foist an unfactual history to win over the approval of the right-wingers across the country.”
JOE CONASON: “Yes, of course. He wants to cloak himself in that history, Chris, and in that ideology."

Rubio was quick to respond to the report, appearing on FOX News’ Studio B.

“Look, if they want to attack me for getting the dates wrong, they’re right. I thought the dates were right. I don’t walk around with my parents’ passports in my pocket.”

“My parents were never able to return to the country of their birth -- not to visit and certainly not to live, unless they were willing to live under Communism. To say they’re not exiles is outrageous, and there’s not a single credible voice in the Cuban exile community that would agree with that -- not one.”  

Still, there’s plenty of evidence of Rubio getting those dates wrong -- and in very political settings.

American Bridge 21st Century, an offshoot of Media Matters, put together a montage of Rubio claiming his parents were indeed Cuban exiles.

“I think the direction we’re going in Washington, D.C. would make us more like the rest of the world and not like the exceptional nation that my parents found when they came here from Cuba in 1959. As the son of exiles, I know firsthand that it’s possible to lose your country. I was raised by exiles, by people who know what it’s like to lose your country.”

Rubio has had plenty of prominent voices come to his aid, including that of former Sen. Mel Martinez, who is, himself, a Cuban exile. He told The Miami Herald:

"The recent Washington Post story regarding Senator Rubio’s parents and their immigration from Cuba shows a gross lack of understanding about the Cuban exile experience. The fact is that they would not have left Cuba permanently if not for extreme fear of persecution and in search of freedom, like so many of us did."

Still, the question still on pundits’ minds is how this controversy could affect Rubio’s once-bright political future. Esquire writes:

“It's impossible to overstate how much the (Republican) party is depending on Rubio as a good piece of its future... His eventual elevation to the vice-presidency, under whoever topped the 2012 ticket, was virtually assumed... He was the GOP's Barack Obama, complete with his own compelling only-in-America biography to sell... Now, though, he's hit something of a bump in the road.”

Transcript by Newsy.