"Old" McCain Called For Documenting Illegal Immigrants And Providing Them A Path To Citizenship. McCain, through his Kennedy-McCain immigration reforms, “want[s] to allow undocumented workers who participate in a guest worker program to be able to stay in America and apply for permanent residency or citizenship after paying fines and satisfying other requirements.” [1]
Kennedy-McCain Immigration Reforms Would Create Earned Legalization Program Following Entrance Into A Guest Worker Program. “The McCain-Kennedy guest worker program would require applicants to undergo security checks and medical exams in their home countries and pay a $500 fee to get a new, tamper-proof visa. The number of these visas would be capped at 400,000, at least initially. The visa, which could be renewed once, would be valid for three years. Then the immigrant would have to return to his home country or be in the process of getting legal residency status, in what Kennedy called an ‘earned legalization program,’ not an amnesty program.” [2]
"New" McCain Abandoning Immigration Reform With Ted Kennedy Because Of Conservative Pressure. "McCain's hesitancy about joining [Senator] Kennedy on the same issue they worked together on in the previous Congress," the Boston Globe reported, "speaks to an emerging dynamic in the Republican presidential race. McCain has encountered anger from hard-line immigration foes on the campaign trail, particularly over an aspect in last year's bill that would have allowed most undocumented immigrants to work toward citizenship." [3]
"New" McCain Said He Would Reconsider Position on Immigration. "As he left Iowa, Mr. McCain said he was reconsidering his views on how the immigration law might be changed. He said he was open to legislation that would require people who came to the United States illegally to return home before applying for citizenship, a measure proposed by Representative Mike Pence, Republican of Indiana. Mr. McCain has previously favored legislation that would allow most illegal immigrants to become citizens without leaving the country." [4]
"New" McCain Distancing Himself From Kennedy On Immigration. "Mr. McCain, for example, appeared to distance himself from Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat with whom he formed an alliance last year on an immigration bill that stalled in Congress." [5]
Recent immigration stories
McCain's Border Dance Continues
After announcing the new Spanish-language page of his website during a press conference in Arizona this morning, John McCain once again tried to have it both ways on the immigration reform debate, demonstrating yet again that he's not able to lead his own Party, much less the country.
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Oppenheimer's Straight Talk on John McCain
Columnist Andrés Oppenheimer ripped John McCain over his embrace of the right-wing on immigration in Sunday's Miami Herald. Oppenheimer, an award-winning journalist, writes that following an interview with the presumptive GOP nominee that McCain is "moving steadily backward" on immigration.
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DNC Announces Hispanic Leadership Council
This week, the Democratic National Committee announced the Hispanic Leadership Council that will be led by long-time activists Gilberto Ocañas and Ingrid Duran. Arizona Republic: "We believe this is a key for us to be able to go on the...
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Dean Calls on McCain to Apologize For Campaign Surrogate's Attack on the Pope
As John McCain attends the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington today, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean called on the Republican nominee to denounce insulting comments made by one of his campaign surrogates, Rep. Tom Tancredo. Tancredo issued a press release yesterday attacking the "Pope's comments regarding U.S. immigration policy" and accusing his position of stemming from an interest in "recruiting new members."
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McCain Running Ads on Anti-Immigrant Website
Early in the primary process, John McCain backed away from his efforts on comprehensive immigration reform by telling Republican crowds that he "got the message." Just a few weeks ago, McCain traveled to Illinois' 14th Congressional District to endorse and...
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DNC Caucus Chairs Call on McCain to Stop Advertising on Hate Site
"John McCain can't apologize for one mistake while making another of the same ilk. As recently as 1994 John McCain voted to cut off funding for the Commission promoting Dr. King's holiday, but today says he made 'a mistake.' If McCain is truly regretful of those past actions, how can he justify advertising on a website that promotes the same type of hate and division Dr. King gave his life to end?"
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John McCain Doesn't Know Who He Endorses
John McCain appeared on the NPR program, Morning Edition today. In the radio appearance, McCain cited Jim Oberweis' anti-immigrant rhetoric for the Republicans' loss of former Speaker Denny Hastert's seat to Democratic Rep. Bill Foster. Despite traveling to the district...
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McCain Skips Votes on Immigration Bills His Campaign Approved
John McCain's silence last night while his Republican colleagues in the Senate forced votes on mean-spirited enforcement-only immigration amendments speaks volumes about how far he is willing to go to pander to the far right.
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McCain Backs Criminalization... Again
John McCain's efforts to pander to the far right by betraying the Hispanic community went to a new level this week.
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MUST READ: On Signature Issues, McCain Has Shown Some Inconsistencies in the Senate
Though he claims to be a "maverick" who stands up for what he believes in no matter the cost, The New York Times this morning shows how John McCain has "meandered over the years from position to position on some topics, particularly as he has tried to court the conservatives who have long distrusted him."
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Stuck Between An Immigrant And A Border Fence?
McCain’s sharp right turn on immigration may cost him Hispanic support:
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Activist Ayensa Millan Delivers the Democratic Hispanic Radio Address
Ayensa Millan, a 24 year old community activist and DNC State Party Partnership staffer in Arizona, will deliver the Democratic Hispanic Radio Address this Saturday. Millan will discuss her impressions from meeting with Hispanic voters in Arizona and their disappointment with Senator John McCain's betrayal on the issue of immigration and his promise of a third term of George W. Bush's failed policies.
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DNC Statement on Castro Resignation
"Today's developments in Cuba are a welcome, dramatic, and long overdue change. Unfortunately, the Cuban people and the island's political dissidents will continue to face a tyrannical dictatorship led by Fidel's brother Raul. "Despite promising to help bring democracy to Cuba as a presidential candidate, President Bush has repatriated some 8,000 Cuban refugees fleeing the Castro regime during his tenure, and this week becomes the President who presided while power was transferred seamlessly from one Castro to another. The Republican frontrunner, John McCain, offered more of the same wait-and-see attitude today after months of remaining silent while his fellow Republican candidates used Castro's lines in their speeches and warned that Cuban refugees might bring suitcase bombs with them while inciting fear over immigrants. "We all stand united to help the Cuban people reclaim the freedom they have been denied for almost five decades and to help a free Cuba take its rightful place among the democratic nations of the Americas. But the Cuban people deserve straight talk, not a third Bush term of empty promises and shallow rhetoric from their elected officials."
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Bush On Fox Confirms McCain Offers Third Bush Term
On Fox News Sunday this morning, President Bush expressed his confidence that John McCain will offer a third Bush term, and made it clear he'd be "glad to help [McCain] if he's the nominee" assuring Chris Wallace that McCain is "absolutely" a conservative. [Fox News Sunday, 2/10/08]
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More McCain Double Talk in CPAC Speech
Either John McCain's shameless pandering knows no bounds or the Double Talk Express runs on ethanol. During his remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference today, Campaign McCain tried to proclaim himself a consistent conservative by claiming to have campaigned against ethanol subsidies in Iowa. But in what Fortune magazine called "a flip-flop so absurd it'll be a wonder if it doesn't get lampooned by late-night comedians" the Real McCain pandered to Iowa Republicans: declaring himself a "strong" ethanol supporter and calling it "a vital alternative energy source not only because of our dependency on foreign oil but its greenhouse gas reduction effects." [Fortune, 10/31/06]
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McCain Turns Into Frontrunner By Turning Away From Principles
John McCain turned himself into the Republican Party's establishment frontrunner yesterday, but he did it by turning himself against his past principles, and ditching his credibility as part of a do-anything-to-win strategy. As he has done with other issues he once championed like campaign finance reform, McCain abandoned his position on immigration to save his campaign, and just last week admitted he would vote against the immigration bill he personally co-sponsored in 2006. Asked by Janet Hook of the LA Times during the debate from California last week if his "original proposal came to the Senate floor, would you vote for it?" McCain admitted under pressure, "no, I would not." [CNN debate, 1/30/08; http://youtube.com/watch?v=PgvFkICnRoo]
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McCain Takes Double Talk Detour on Immigration Reform
Now that his win in Florida has thrust him back into frontrunner status, the voters are getting another look at John McCain's do-anything-to-win campaign strategy. On issue after issue, including his own signature immigration reform bill, the John McCain who once had a reputation for sticking to his principles no matter the cost has been replaced with the opportunistic John McCain who has set aside his principles.
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McCain Takes Double Talk Detour on Immigration Reform
Now that his win in Florida has thrust him back into frontrunner status, the voters are getting another look at John McCain's do-anything-to-win campaign strategy. On issue after issue, including his own signature immigration reform bill, the John McCain who once had a reputation for sticking to his principles no matter the cost has been replaced with the opportunistic John McCain who has set aside his principles.
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The Five Sharpest Turns of McCain's Double-Talk Express: Immigration
After years of championing a comprehensive immigration reform package that would have opened up a path to legalization for the millions of undocumented workers in the United States, John McCain sings a very different tune today in hopes of keeping his presidential hopes alive.
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Immigration Flip is Typical McCain Double Talk
John McCain did it again last night, turning his back on one of his signature issues in hopes of regaining traction in his sputtering presidential campaign. McCain had tried to run away from immigration reform earlier in the year, but had parachuted in at the last minute when a bipartisan compromise appeared likely.