Another "lie" about John McCain

In my most recent post, I told you about an article written by radio talker Michael Medved, in which he defended John McCain's positions and branded any opposing views as "lies". I only took Medved to task on his defense of the atrocious free-speech-hating law known as the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform. However, in light of information that came to light yesterday, I have to call out Medved on another of his "lies" from the article, and that would be:

LIE #5: McCain is an advocate of “amnesty” and “open borders.”

TRUTH: As Senior Senator from Arizona, McCain has fought for years to tighten border security, stop illegal immigration, increase workplace enforcement and to resist “amnesty” for those who entered the country without authorization. McCain’s rival for the nomination, Mitt Romney, unequivocally and rightly acknowledged that his opponent’s position in no way amounts to “amnesty” or “open borders.” In the Fox News debate in South Carolina on January 10, Governor Romney declared: “All of us on this stage agree… that we secure the border, we have the fence, and we have enough Border Patrol agents to secure the border; and that we have an employment verification system of some kind….We all agree that anybody who’s committed a crime should be sent home.”

As Romney pointed then out: “The place of difference between us is what we do with the 12 million people who are here illegally.” Romney’s answer? “Those who are here illegally today would be looked at person by person, given a specific time period by which they arrange their affairs, they stay here during that time period. When that time period is over, they go home…”

Alone among Presidential candidates, McCain has shown the courage to stand up against such simplistic sloganeering. No President will ever succeed in driving out all 12 million illegals – the greatest forced migration in all human history. Illegals represent more than 5% of America’s work force and the cost of firing and, ultimately, deporting for forcing out every one of those people would cripple the economy far worse than any recession. The immigration bills McCain supported (along with President Bush and the Senate Republican leadership of Mitch McConnell, Trent Lott and John Kyl) never granted “amnesty” or automatic citizenship for undocumented aliens. Instead, McCain’s idea of immigration reform always emphasized “earned legalization” and assimilation– not automatic privileges – in an effort to separate the immigrants who wanted to begin playing by the rules and to enter the American mainstream, from those who continued to defy those rules and have no long-term stake in the country. It’s not amnesty to charge $6,000 in fines and payment of back taxes, to require background checks and mastery of English, and to demand registry with the government and acknowledgment of wrong-doing before an immigrant received legal status. Before an illegal could become a citizen, the process required at least nine years (and in most cases fourteen) of cooperation, commitment and patience. Moreover, two crucial elements of last year’s immigration bill received almost no attention: under the bill any immigrant who attempted to enter America illegally after the passage of immigration reform would be apprehended, identified, finger-printed and biometrically recorded, and forever banned from receiving legal status to work or live in the United States. Second, the unfinished (and ultimately unsuccessful) compromise bill included a “trigger provision”: no illegal immigrant would receive legal status until after Congress certified that the border had been effectively secured. McCain emphasizes this provision in his current proposals: insisting we secure the border first, before we make arrangements for future guest workers and give a chance to some (but by no means all) current illegal residents to earn legal status in the U.S.

I know that's a lot of wordiness on Medved's part, but I don't like to partially quote people. Medved's defense of McCain on immigration issues is simply laughable, because all you have to do is look at McCain's prior words and actions. McCain was quoted complaining about the "goddamn fence" when he was asked whether or not he supported the building of a proper fence on the U.S./Mexico border, and just the fact that McCain's primary co-sponsor on last summer's Shamnesty bill was none other than Mr. 1965-Immigration-Act-phony, Teddy Kennedy, is about all you need to know about McCain's position on immigration - illegal or otherwise.

Now, McCain has really outdone himself. Yesterday, Michelle Malkin broke a story about who John McCain has hired as his "Hispanic Outreach Director". The man's name is Juan Hernandez, and Mrs. Malkin has tussled with this guy before when she guest-hosted the O'Reilly Factor. Mr. Hernandez holds a dual American/Mexican citizenship, and actually served in the administration of former Mexican president, Vicente Fox. Mr. Hernandez looks at the United States and Mexico, not as two different countries, but simply as a "region". He has also admonished Americans of Mexican descent, no matter how many generations removed, to always "put Mexico first". Naturally, Mr. Hernandez is all in favor of amnesty, open borders, the whole shebang. Watch him state some of his open-borders views as he verbally jousts with Michelle Malkin:



So this is the man that John McCain has hired to "reach out" to Hispanics. Through his actions, John McCain shows us what he actually believes. Please pay more attention to what he does rather than what he says.

Good Day to You, Sir