Senator John McCain's recent embrace of border walls and Arizona's draconian immigration enforcement bill would seem shocking -- that is, if we hadn't already seen this play before. His erratic and fanatical flip-flopping on the issue of immigration has become so legendary that it's a wonder the news media still covers it.
We first saw it during the 2008 Presidential campaign trail, when Senator McCain would pledge to Spanish language audiences his undying support for comprehensive immigration reform. Then in the afternoon, he'd get on mainstream airwaves and promote border walls and massive deportations.
Before that, in 2005, 2006 and 2007, Sen. McCain made his support for comprehensive immigration reform one of his "maverick" issues. He proudly touted the smart policy benefits of the "three-legged stool," a comprehensive reform package that would truly end illegal immigration by coupling immigration enforcement with earned legalization and a controlled system to bring foreign workers to the U.S. in the future.
What happened to that bold Sen. McCain?
This week, in an outrageous attempt to out-maneuver his zealous anti-immigrant competitor -- former Congressman J.D. Hayworth -- McCain has tacked so far right that it's hard to imagine he'll ever find his way back. As he embraces Arizona's new anti-immigrant bill, SB 1070, pushing unworkable, extremist policies to score cheap points with the shrinking Republican base, McCain increasingly alienates the Latino voters he needs to win the general election. Already, the grassroots group Mi Familia Vota -- through its Civic Participation Campaign -- is calling every Latino voter in the state to engage them in the fight against SB 1070. And you can bet that activism will come back to bite McCain on Election Day.
In fact, you would think that John McCain would remember this from his 2008 Presidential bid. In 2004 President George W. Bush, then a proponent of comprehensive immigration reform, got about 40 percent of the Latino vote. But after McCain started proposing reactionary, anti-immigrant policies -- and the Republican party extremists filled the airwaves with anti-immigrant and -Latino rhetoric -- he only got 32 percent of the Latino vote in the general election. That damage to the Republican brand in the Latino community and the resulting eight percent drop in Latino voter support cost him the election in key states like Florida, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.
Even McCain's fanatical anti-immigrant competitor, J.D. Hayworth, should know better. He lost his 2006 re-election bid -- in a Republican district -- to Democratic Party candidate Harry Mitchell after publishing his "deportationist" immigration views in his book, By Any Means. In Latino heavy precincts Hayworth's vote share declined from 48 percent in 2004 to 36 percent in 2006. The conservative-leaning Arizona Republic actually withdrew its previous endorsement, citing Hayworth's extreme views on immigration:
Hayworth has devolved from a windy and sometimes cartoonish politician into an angry demagogue who has shamelessly and divisively exploited the immigration issue, arguably the No. 1 concern of Arizonans.
This time around, the leader of the Somos Republicans, an Arizona Latino GOP group, recently referred to Hayworth as a "lunatic." And now that McCain had jumped on the anti-immigrant bandwagon, you have to wonder where Latino Republicans will turn?
Latinos are the largest minority group in the country, and they typically use immigration reform and anti-immigrant demagoguery as a litmus test to judge candidates. If John McCain thinks Latinos will forget his pandering to the sentiments of certain fringe elements of the Republican Party come November, he should think again. Poll after poll shows that more than 87 percent of Latino voters nationwide will not support political candidates who are against comprehensive immigration reform. (And by the way, polls also show that mainstream Americans and independent voters similarly reject such radical, anti-immigrant views on the campaign trail.)
Seems like it's time to hire some new campaign strategists.
At this point, McCain and J.D. Hayworth may well be lost causes. But in other states across the country, there is space for Republicans to step into the leadership void, refuse to allow the Glenn Becks, Rush Limbaughs, and Tom Tancredoo's to be the face of their party to Latinos, reach out across the aisle and help deliver the kind of smart solutions on immigration reform that this country needs.
McCain was right two years ago when he said, "We have economic and humanitarian responsibilities as well, and they require no less dedication from us in meeting them." Indeed, this old McCain would have a future in American politics today. Unfortunately, he's nowhere to be seen.
It's time Republican strategists learn from the mistakes of their past and give us true leaders that don't let the winds of political expediency undermine their higher call to fix our nation's most serious problems. Otherwise, Republicans better get used to their place as the permanent minority party.
Axel W. Caballero: No Brownies Welcome: the Arizona Persecution
Without a doubt the law will eventually be stricken down as unconstitutional, but not before many families and lives are broken. This is a direct attack to the Latino community. We must tell Gov. Brewer, she is the one no longer welcome.
This could have been more easily addressed at the twin root of the problem -- those employers who prefer a cheap and frightened workforce of "illegals", and the "war on drugs" which causes most of the violence. But the repubs don't see either of these issues as problems, as usual, they are not living in a reality-based world.
Or you might believe Greg Palast's surmise that this is yet another pathetic Roveian attempt at voter suppression: http://www.gregpalast.com/behind-the-arizona-immigration-lawgop-game-to-swipe-the-november-election/#more-3592
Before John McCain was an Arizona senator pandering for the vote with his support of SB 1070, he was a prisoner of war who greatly suffered because he fought to bring the dignity of democracy to the oppressed Vietnamese.
Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070 is an attack on the very democracy McCain fought for violates our Bill of Rights because it subjects Latinos to “unreasonable searches and seizures”.
Senator John McCain needs to take a look at our brave troops who, as he did during the Vietnam War, volunteer to fight and risk their lives defending our nation’s democracy against our enemies, al Qaeda and the Taliban. Many of them are the children of God’s children or God's children.
Only the illegal ones, and they shouldn't be voting anyway.
Keep in mind, I don't think SB1070 is an answer to much of anything. Having read the actual bill I find it vague enough that I don't think it's going to stand up in court. Hopefully it will wake up the Feds and get them to do something different though.
In Ohio the GOP told a female candidate running for office that they were going to "send her back to the kitchen". That comment isn't going to them any good with the female vote.
The obvious racist messages shown by the "tea party" and the declaration of "Confederate" history month didn't do them any good with the ethnic vote and they will remember come election time.
They push farther to the right on immigration doing a complete turn around from Reagan which will alienate any Latino votes from legal citizens.
What exactly is their strategy?
If the recently released "tea party" numbers show a membership of only 18% of Americans and the polls show only 25% of Americans support the "tea party" what does the GOP expect to get from the extremely small far right group that is nothing more than an arm of the GOP?
The GOP ignores the 82% of Americans who don't belong to the "tea party".
The GOP ignores the other 75% of Americans who don't support the "tea party".
Even Fox and the GOP are now trying to distance themselves from the "tea party" so with all the tactics that have alienated nearly every other group of voters I don't know what they expect.
They supported the Bush bailout but won't even debate the subject or get behind reform.
http://ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=877515