UNBELIEVABLE!!! SHAME, SHAME, SHAME, SHAME, SHAME ON JOHN McSHAME!!!

Hispanics mixed on McCain's compassion for migrants

Jul 15, 2008

NACO, Ariz., (Reuters) - Republican John McCain made a dramatic plea for Hispanic votes on Monday, reading from a roll-call of some of the hundreds of illegal immigrants who die each year crossing the border from Mexico.

"Maria Hernandez Perez was No. 93. She was almost 2. She had thick brown hair and eyes the color of chocolate," McCain said in an address to the Latino advocacy group the National Council of La Raza, in San Diego, California.

"Kelia Velazquez-Gonzales, 16, carried a Bible in her backpack. She was No. 109.

"John Doe, No. 143, died with a rosary encircling his neck. His eyes were wide open."

Curbing Illegal immigration has become a hot button topic in the United States in this election year, and striking the right note with Hispanic voters on the issue is tricky for both McCain and Democrat rival Sen Barack Obama.

Both candidates need to achieve a balance between reassuring many voters who want secure borders, while not alienating Hispanics, the fastest growing block who make up nine percent of the electorate.

Latino voters in the fatal corridor of southern Arizona, which bears the brunt of the several hundred illegal immigrants who perish each year as they cross from Mexico, were mixed in their response to McCain's compassionate outreach on Monday.

"If these people were horses dying every day on the border, they'd be doing something about it," said Lionel Urcadez, the proprietor of a bar a few yards from the rusty border fence in Naco, who welcomed the Arizona senator's words.

"These are human beings, they are trying to better themselves. John McCain cares and that matters to me," he added.

TRAILING SUPPORT

McCain's support among Hispanic Americans is lagging behind that of Obama, who backs comprehensive immigration reform and has attracted many Latino voters who had supported Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.

McCain got in trouble in 2007 with Republican hardliners for pushing a proposed immigration law that would grant millions of illegal immigrants a path to U.S. citizenship.

He had to change his tune when the legislation collapsed in the U.S. Senate.

McCain now argues for securing the U.S. border with Mexico first and then embarking on legislation to allow illegal immigrants to work legally in the United States, although some Hispanics in his home state said they are wary of him.

"We are very grateful for his feelings. ... My only concern is that if he gets elected he is going to be surrounded by people in his party who don't believe that," said Bob Fernandez, vice mayor of Douglas, a border town a few miles east of Naco.

Fernandez, a former Republican supporter, said he now leaned toward the Democrats, who are less divided on the issue of immigration.

Other Latinos in the sun-scorched corridor said worries over high fuel prices and the delicate state of the economy were more important to them when it came to choosing a candidate than compassion for illegal immigrants.

"McCain is from Arizona, and I know he cares for Hispanics, but what I want to see are some changes around here," deliveryman Tony Pizano said at a gas station in the old mining town of Warren, a mile or so from the Mexico border.

"Diesel is more than $4 a gallon ... and I like Obama on the issues."



http://www.reuters.com/article/politics ... ws&sp=true