McCain Turns Into Frontrunner By Turning Away From Principles
February 6, 2008
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]
Before hitting the campaign trail, John McCain was a key architect of a comprehensive immigration reform bill that linked border security with a temporary worker program and would have provided millions of undocumented workers a path to citizenship. After the right wing anti-immigrant branch of his party protested, McCain reversed course, now even backing criminalization. His own reason for switching sides: he "got the message" from the far right. [AP, 11/3/07]
"John McCain turned himself into the Republican frontrunner yesterday by turning away from his previously espoused principles," said Democratic National Committee spokesman Luis Miranda. "McCain's shifting position on immigration is just one example of how the real John McCain will do anything to win and can't be trusted to deliver the change the American people want."
McCain Runs From the Border:
In 2005 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." [Los Angeles Times, 11/29/05]
In an Effort to Please Conservatives, McCain Turned His Back on Immigration Reform. McCain said he would reconsider his position on immigration. "McCain's hesitancy about joining (Sen.) 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." [Boston Globe, 3/22/07; New York Times, 3/20/07]
But Then Parachuted In at the Last Minute to Take Credit, and Lash Out at a Republican Colleague. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) reportedly criticized McCain during the immigration compromise announcement, saying, "I've been sitting in here for all of these negotiations and you just parachute in here on the last day. You're out of line." McCain responded by accusing Cornyn of "making a 'chickens-t' argument to try to sink the delicate immigration package" and shouting, "(Expletive) you! I know more about this than anyone else in the room." [Washingtonpost.com, 5/18/07; Roll Call, 5/21/07]
Now McCain Backs Criminalization. McCain backed criminalization to save his struggling Presidential campaign. According to the AP, "Republican presidential hopeful John McCain on Thursday backed a scaled-down proposal that imposes strict rules to end illegal immigration but doesn't include a path to citizenship...Among other things, the bill makes being in the country illegally a criminal misdemeanor and toughens penalties for re-entering after being deported." [AP, 8/2/07]
