McCain Tells GOP Candidates to Cool It on Immigration
NPR interviewed Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Monday, after a town hall meeting in a suburban Philadelphia country club.
He was introduced by Craig Williams, a local GOP congressional candidate and former federal prosecutor of illegal immigrants:
"I'm going to tell the truth about illegal immigration: You go to the borders and you lock them down...then you come back inside the United States and you take care of the illegal immigration problem right here... We're going to fix this problem, and we're going to fix it in the next term, under John McCain."
McCain himself didn't mention immigration -- until reporters pressed him after the event.
After pointing out that there were two million illegal immigrants with a criminal record, McCain said the other estimated 10 million undocumented aliens would have to get on line to apply for citizenship. Then he added he "would address the issue in a humane and compassionate fashion" -- campaign code for his legalization plan.
Asked about congressional races, McCain said that GOP candidates had lost some races because of their stand on immigration. He brought up Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Penn.), "who emphasized that issue and lost by a large number," and Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), who "had very strong anti-immigrant rhetoric." McCain urged Republican congressional candidates "to understand the political practicalities of this issue."
His GOP colleagues in Congress, however, are taking a different tack.
In the House, Republicans are pushing a discharge petition to force an enforcement bill onto the floor.
In the Senate, Republicans have submitted a parallel bill package to crack down further on illegal immigrants.
Which way will the GOP move?
Also on Monday, the San Jose Mercury News in Silicon Valley, where hi-tech specialists are always in demand, came down on McCain's side. In an editorial titled, "GOP should quit playing games with immigration" it said:
Immigration should be a bigger issue in the presidential campaign. But it's shameful that Republican lawmakers are trying to pump it up for purely political gain.
The maneuvers involve crackdown legislation aimed at dividing Democrats and pushing Sen. John McCain into a harsher anti-immigrant stance.
This enforcement-only approach fails to advance true reform that would benefit the nation's economy. Reform should include a path to legalization for people already established here, a guest worker program for desperately needed farmworkers and more visas for skilled technical workers. Those were all part of legislation McCain co-authored with Sen. Ted Kennedy that died in June.
Senate Republicans introduced a package of bills that call for more deportations, more border guards and some purely mean-spirited provisions, like ending language assistance at federal agencies. Let's get serious.
Comments:
Posted 08/12/2008 11:52am with
This Arizona Republican feels that McCain is out of touch with the wishes of the American people. I feel that his wish for a path to citizenship for undocumented residents is a result of his belief in a return to slavery. John McCain voted against raising the minimum wage in, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2000, and 2006. He never once flipped to help the poorest Americans. His answer is to import more Mexicans to work for slave wages.
On April 1, 2008, John McCain offered Americans another April
Fool’s joke, proclaiming I’m not running on the Bush presidency.
McCain might want to check his campaign’s position papers. After all,
in his eternal quest for the Republican nomination, McCain has adopted
virtually the entire Bush agenda, often reversing long held positions
and compromising supposed core principles. From Iraq, tax cuts for
the wealthy, broken promises on the deficit to opposition to SCHIP,
tax credits for health care, overturning Roe v. Wade and a right-wing
Supreme Court, without question John McCain represents a third Bush term.
That is why this Arizona Republican has donated to the Obama campaign and will be Flip-Flopping in November and voting for Obama.