Thread: McCain visits Sumter vets - avoids immigration discussion

McCain visits Sumter vets
GOP presidential candidate discusses Iraq war at VFW

By CRYSTAL OWENS
Item Staff Writer

[Picture: Republican presidential candidate U.S. Sen. John McCain talks to the crowd assembled at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3034 in Sumter on Monday.]

Republican presidential candidate U.S. Sen. John McCain said Monday he thinks the surge tactics now being employed in Iraq are working.
A day before Senate Democrats were scheduled to try to collect enough votes to demand a withdrawal of troops from Iraq, the Arizona senator made a stop in Sumter to drum up support among veterans.
"... I'm going to be with (U.S. Sen.) Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) trying to do work in the city of Satan and we need all the help we can get," McCain joked with veterans in Sumter about today's debate in the Senate before leaving Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3034.
McCain, accompanied by four South Carolina Army National Guardsmen, squeezed inside a small packed room at the VFW and said he understands that the American people are frustrated with the war in Iraq, but pulling troops from the country now would lead to chaos and genocide.
"If I didn't believe that the consequences would be greater if we withdrew, I wouldn't be here now talking to you," he said.
In a brief interview aboard his "No Surrender" tour bus prior to his arrival in Sumter, the senator said the Bush administration's projections at the beginning of the war were unrealistic.
"It was like watching a train wreck," he said. "General (Eric) Shinseki was right."
Then the Army Chief of Staff, Shinseki testified in Congress in February 2003 that peacekeeping operations in Iraq would likely require several hundred thousand troops, in part because of the country's ethnic tensions.
McCain defended Army Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, at the Sumter rally and described as "disgraceful" an advertisement taken out in a recent edition of The New York Times by left-wing organization Moveon.org that criticized the top military official.
He also criticized Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government, saying it's not making adequate political progress.

[Picture: McCain's stop in Sumter was the last leg of his "No Surrender" tour that began Sept. 11.]

The presidential candidate's stop in Sumter on Monday was the last leg of the "No Surrender" tour that began Sept. 11. Since then, he's been making appearances at barbecues, parades and rallies in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, all early voting states in next year's presidential primaries.
McCain, a former Navy pilot who spent nearly six years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, has been staking his bid for the presidency on his views of the war in Iraq.
Stops at South Carolina's VFWs on Sunday and Monday showed a big turnout of veterans from the Korean, Vietnam and Iraqi wars.
"South Carolina has made quite a sacrifice for this country," McCain told the group of S.C. Army National Guardsmen who were riding on the "No Surrender" bus with him on Monday.
State Rep. Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, who introduced McCain, said the senator should be commended for his support of the country's troops.
"The worst thing we can do right now is politicize support for our troops," he said.

[Picture: McCain signs a copy of his book for Rose Marie Newman during his campaign stop.]

Sumter Vietnam veteran Fred Davey said he agreed with McCain's views that the war in Iraq started out with poor planning, but now that our troops are there, "we should do the job, get it right and come home."
"As long as they do the job right," he said. "I don't want to see another Vietnam."
But not all veterans were as happy with McCain and his campaign messages.
Lone protester [MinuteManCDC_SC], who served two years in the U.S. Coast Guard, stood outside the Gion Street VFW holding a sign that asked if [Sen.] McCain is a "Globalist or a Patriot?" and handing out copies of the senator's voting record.
As a member of the Texas Border Volunteers, [MinuteManCDC_SC] criticized McCain's stance on illegal immigration.
"For the last 17 years he's voted for globalist causes rather than for the American people," he said.

2006-2007 - Sen. John McCain co-sponsored the Kennedy-McCain-Graham amnesty.

2007 - S.A.2797 (passed 75-23-2) - Sen. McCain did not vote on the Dorgan amendment prohibiting Mexican trucks.
Even Senators Bayh (D-IN), Biden (D-DE), Boxer (D-CA), Byrd (D-WV), Clinton (D-NY), Dodd (D-CT), Durbin (D-IL), Feingold (D-WI), Feinstein (D-CA), Graham (R-SC), Inouye (D-HI), Kennedy (D-MA), Kerry (D-MA), Kohl (D-WI), Leahy (D-VT), Levin (D-MI), Obama (D-IL), Reed (D-RI), Reid (D-NV), Rockefeller (D-WV), Schumer (D-NY), Specter (R-PA), and Voinovich (R-OH) all voted to prohibit Mexican trucks, but not you, Sen. McCain.

Sen. McCain voted for:
2007 - S.774 DREAM act - amnesty and in-state tuition for illegal aliens under 21
2007 - S.340 Ag-jobs amnesty for nearly a million agricultural workers
2007 - S.1639 guestworker-amnesty bill
2007 - S.1348 guestworker-amnesty bill
2006 - S.2611 amnesty for illegal aliens
2006 - SA 4188 amendment to kill border fence
(before he voted for H.R.6061 to build a 700 mile border fence, of which 19 miles have been built a year later)
2006 - SA 4066 Kennedy amendment to not require employer certification of workers
2005 - S.2075 DREAM act - in-state tuition and amnesty for illegal aliens under 21
2005 - S.1307 DR-CAFTA Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement.
2005 - S.1033 a path to jobs and residency for illegal aliens
2005 - AgJobs amnesty for agricultural workers
2005 - S.359 amnesty for agricultural workers
2005 - SA 387 increase in low-skill H-2B visas
2004 - S.2252 increase low-skill H-2B visas by 60%
2003 - S.1645 AgJobs amnesty for agricultural workers
2003 - S.1545 DREAM act - amnesty and in-state tuition for illegal aliens under 21
2003 - S.1461 to legalize almost all illegal aliens and grant green cards after 6 years
2002 - H.R.3009 2001-2002 Fast Track / Trade Promotion Authority (Andean Trade Preference Act)
2000 - H.R.4444 China PNTR - granting permanent normalized trade relations to the People's Republic of China
2000 - S.2045 nearly tripled high-tech H-1B visas (by 585,000)
1998 - S.1723 nearly doubled high-tech H-1B visas (by 150,000)
1996 - Abraham amendment to S.1664 to kill voluntary worker verification programs in high-immigration states
1994 - H.R.5110 to implement WTO
1993 - H.R.3450 to implement NAFTA
1993 - H.R.1876 to implement 1993 (Uruguay) Fast Track
1990 - S.358 to amend Immigration and Nationality Act to change level and preference system for admitting immigrants

Sen. McCain voted against:
2007 - SA 1316 Dorgan amendment to sunset immigration provisions
2007 - SA 1184 Cornyn amendment barring gang members, terrorists, and criminals
2007 - SA 1181 Dorgan amendment to sunset immigration provisions
2007 - SA 1157 Vitter amendment striking amnesty provisions from S.1348
2006 - H.R.5441 Sessions amendment for 800 more immigration investigators
2006 - H.R.5441 Sessions amendment to extend border fence by 370 miles
2006 - SA 4131 Bingaman employment visa cap
2006 - SA 4095 Dorgan sunset on H-2C visas
2006 - SA 4017 Dorgan "no guestworker" amendment
2006 - SA 3985 Ensign amendment barring Social Security payments without a valid SSN
2006 - SA 3969 Kyl amendment to S.2611 guestworker amnesty
2006 - SA 3965 Cornyn amendment protecting U.S. workers from displacement
2006 - SA 3963 Vitter amendment striking amnesty provisions from S.2611
2005 - Byrd Amendment to stop immigration increases
2005 - SA 516 funding 1068 more border patrol and immigration agents
1998 - requiring U.S. firms to attest to first seeking a U.S. worker
1998 - Kennedy amendment to S.1723, prohibiting replacing U.S. workers
1996 - Simpson immigration limits to S.1664, and again, Feinstein immigration limits to S.1664

Sen. McCain may vote in the future on:
2007 - S.A.2237 DREAM Act - amnesty and in-state tuition for illegal aliens under 21
2007 - H.C.R.40, that the United States should not engage in the construction of a
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Superhighway System or enter into a
North American Union with Mexico and Canada.

This traitor will NEVER get my vote