FL-25: Mario Diaz-Balart, demagogue hack

Miami Democrat Joe Garcia, candidate for the U.S. House in Florida's 25th district and a recent addition to Blue Majority, seems to be doing quite well so far. He's doing all the things good candidates do, like raising money and cultivating relationships with powerful incumbent Representatives whose assistance he may need once he arrives in Washington.

Well, leave it to the 25th District's incumbent hack, Mario Diaz-Balart, to turn these things into negatives.

Garcia has scheduled a fundraiser in New York City for April 21, at which Representative Charles Rangel, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, will appear.

That's innocent enough, I should think. But Mario Diaz-Balart, desperate to score political points by any means necessary, apparently feels that associating with Rangel, a longtime critic of U.S. policy toward Cuba, is some kind of unpardonable offense:

''Joe Garcia continues to align himself with left-wing extremists. The latest to join the ranks is Congressman Charlie Rangel,'' reads a statement from Diaz-Balart's campaign. ``He has a long and well-known history of supporting a radical left-wing agenda including supporting higher taxes on working families and appeasing our nation's enemies. Left-wing birds of a feather, tax and spend together.''

Gotta love that last bon mot, which I suppose is what passes for Republican creativity these days.

Lost in Diaz-Balart's fury, of course, is the fact that Garcia actually disagrees with Rangel on Cuba. But who needs facts?

''I'm not going to fall into the ridiculous red-baiting that my opponent does,'' Garcia said.

Garcia, who previously served as executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation, said he has ''serious disagreements'' with Rangel on Cuba. But having a relationship with the chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee would help him bring federal money back to the district, he said.

''I'm going to disagree with Charlie Rangel on a few issues, but agreeing on some other things will help me bring jobs to Miami-Dade County and put money in the economy,'' he said.

Hmm...bringing jobs into the district and putting money into the local economy...aren't those the kind of things a good Representative is supposed to do? How come Super Mario can't overcome his disagreements with Charlie Rangel to try and do the same thing?

One has to ask: how exactly does angrily flailing away at the House Ways and Means chairman help Diaz-Balart in his capacity as a Representative? Is he tacitly admitting his own inability to work with the leaders of the Democratic majority to try and do some good for his constituents?

I mean, I would think that cultivating some kind of relationship across party lines with the Ways and Means chair-or at least not alienating him by calling him nasty names-might be mildly useful in steering federal money and projects towards the 25th District, right?

There's always the chance, of course, that Diaz-Balart doesn't actually care about his constituents, and is merely concerned with scoring political points in order to hang on to his precious Congressional seat.

But come on, he wouldn't be that transparently cynical, would he?