Thread: McCain: I've Earned Hispanics' Trust

(CBS/AP) John McCain says he has earned the trust of Hispanic voters by championing an immigration reform bill that nearly killed his presidential bid.

The Republican presidential candidate also says, in remarks prepared for delivery Monday in San Diego, that Democrat Barack Obama failed to take a similar stand on the politically explosive issue of illegal immigration.

McCain will speak to the annual convention of the National Council of La Raza. Obama appeared before the group on Sunday, another indication of the fierce jockeying for a critical pool of voters, a quarter of them undecided in a recent poll.

McCain, a senator from Arizona, saw his White House bid nearly collapse from conservatives' anger over his effort to pass comprehensive immigration reform, which opponents branded "amnesty" for millions of illegal immigrants.

"I took my lumps for it without complaint. My campaign was written off as a lost cause. I did so not just because I believed it was the right thing to do for Hispanic Americans. It was the right thing to do for all Americans," McCain said in the prepared remarks.

"I do ask for your trust that when I say, I remain committed to fair, practical and comprehensive immigration reform, I mean it. I think I have earned that trust," McCain said.

Since the defeat of the immigration reform bill, McCain has tried to make peace with critics in his party by stressing the need for border security before creating a path to citizenship.

While he worked with Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy on immigration reform, McCain said, "Senator Obama declined to cast some of those tough votes. He voted for and even sponsored amendments that were intended to kill the legislation."

Hispanics could play a critical role in the voting in such battleground states as Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico.

"In 2008, we're culminating on several years of activism and mobilization of the Latino community," Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials told CBS News Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez. "Let's look back two years ago, with the 2006 marches, where millions of people took to the streets, many of them young people who said, 'Today, we march, tomorrow, we vote.' Well, tomorrow has arrived." (Read more from Rodriguez on the influence of the Hispanic vote.)

A recent AP-Yahoo News poll showed Obama leading McCain among Hispanics, 47 percent to 22 percent, with 26 percent undecided.

For his part, Obama has accused McCain of abandoning the immigration effort after protests from within his party contributed to the legislation's collapse in Congress last year.

Both McCain and Obama support an eventual path to citizenship for millions of immigrants in the country illegally, although McCain, a senator from the border state of Arizona, has shifted his emphasis to securing the U.S. border.

On Sunday, Obama told La Raza he would push for a 50-percent tax credit to small U.S. businesses that provide workers with health insurance, a program he hopes has special appeal to Hispanics and other minority groups particularly hard hit by the economic slowdown.

"Make no mistake about it: The Latino community holds this election in your hands," Obama told the group Sunday.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/ ... 8445.shtml

Earned their trust, lost ours...

John McCain says he has earned the trust of Hispanic voters by championing an immigration reform bill that nearly killed his presidential bid.

If you think the 10% of hispanic voters (That's if they all turn out which they won't) who are eligible to vote in this country will get you elected - your more delusional than I first suspected.

I would be concerned with earning the "trust" of the other 90% of the voters in this country who have made it clear they are opposed to the kind of amnesty you McCain continue to shove down our throats.

Earned theirs, lost mine. Hedged your bet on the wrong group.

Originally Posted by crazybird

Earned theirs, lost mine. Hedged your bet on the wrong group.

You took the words right out of my mouth, CB! Just goes to show how stupid McCain is...he hasn't got the basic skills, judgement, or IQ to be President.. or even dog catcher. Graduated 5th from the bottom at the Naval Academy!

Originally Posted by AmericanMe

Originally Posted by crazybird

Earned theirs, lost mine. Hedged your bet on the wrong group.

You took the words right out of my mouth, CB! Just goes to show how stupid McCain is...he hasn't got the basic skills, judgement, or IQ to be President.. or even dog catcher. Graduated 5th from the bottom at the Naval Academy!

DITTO!

No sir, you HAVE NOT earned "Hispanic's trust"....you have pandered to the open-borders, pro-Mexican illegal alien advocacy cartels and profiteers of illegal immigration crowd..................

Americans of Hispanic heritage who place our national security, our border security, our standard of living, quality of life and our system of laws above the selfish interests of Mexico, and the illegal alien lobby including the ethno-supremacist, bigots at LA RAZA ....DO NOT TRUST YOU!

Talk about cutting off your noise to spite your face! In the process you have lost the majority of your own GOP and every other American who views your allegiance to illegals and mexico as the ultimate betrayl...

Just love how he he mis-used the word TRUST. No McCain.....they jumped on the quickest and easiest bandwagon to get what they want. YOU.....have nothing to do with it. And TRUST even less. They will shove you under the bus faster than you can scream.

Originally Posted by crazybird

Just love how he he mis-used the word TRUST. No McCain.....they jumped on the quickest and easiest bandwagon to get what they want. YOU.....have nothing to do with it. And TRUST even less. They will shove you under the bus faster than you can scream.

That's the Straight Talk Express "bandwagon" at your service!!