Sen. John McCain used a blogger conference call today to unleash his toughest -- and most personal -- attack yet on former Gov. Mitt Romney.

Per a McCain aide, one of the bloggers asked about the immigration issue and Romney's attack on the compromise.

"Maybe I should wait a couple of weeks and see if it changes because its changed in less than a year from his position before," McCain responded, referring to his rival's immigration stance. "And maybe his solution will be to get out his small varmint gun and drive those Guatemalans off his lawn."

McCain's reference to "Guatemalans" was an allusion to the Boston Globe story from late last year that reported Romney used illegal immigrants from that country to do work on his lawn.

Asked to respond, Romney spokesman Kevin Madden counter-punched on the controversial topic.

"It seems that certain candidates who brokered this flawed plan are having a very difficult time grappling with or coming to terms with the political fallout that has ensued in a substantive manner," Madden said.

Romney, Madden stated, "has been very clear that he opposes this immigration agreement."

UPDATE: The McCain campaign provided audio of the immigration question that was posed by the New York Sun's Ryan Sager. I've cleaned up the original quote to match the exact language McCain used. Note the little laugh McCain adds at the end of his jab to try to lessen the sting -- or at least make it seem less "attack-like."

A McCain aide said they knew immigration would come up, but that the exact line was "not pre-canned."

Also, as Sager notes on his blog, McCain took a small swipe at Fred Thompson, too. "I'm a little disappointed in Fred because again he had a very different position not that long ago," McCain said.




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