Thread: ALIPAC: McCain's political herpes makes press! Migrant bill

Migrant bill volatile for McCain

Mike Madden
Republic Washington Bureau
Jun. 9, 2007 12:00 AM

WASHINGTON - John McCain's immigration problem is not going anywhere.

For months, McCain and other Republicans who want to overhaul immigration laws have pushed back against grass-roots conservatives outraged over the legislation, which stalled in the Senate on Thursday night but is not dead.

As the bill evolved, the issue emerged as one of the most volatile for the Republican senator from Arizona as he seeks his party's nomination for president. Rivals and voters alike have accused him of seeking amnesty for immigrants who broke the law to live here.

Supporters of the bill, including President Bush, Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl, Democrats in Congress and immigrant advocacy groups, have promised to try to bring it back. That means the intense pressure from conservative voters isn't likely to let up.

"If McCain really wants to poke the Republican base in the eye, trying to revive this bill would be the best way to do that," said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, Calif. "If he derives perverse pleasure from dividing his party, that's what'll do it. He could end up having a lot of fun, but he's not going to be president."

Campaigning in Iowa on Friday, McCain said most of the country approved of the bill. But he also said he would push ahead regardless of the politics of the issue.

"I do what I know is right for America," he said. "The people of Arizona sent me to Washington to do the hard things. They didn't expect me to go there and say 'No,' and do nothing about our broken border in Arizona. They expect me to act to preserve our security and also address the humane side of it. Two hundred people died in the desert of Arizona last year trying to come across."

The bipartisan immigration compromise in the Senate didn't thrill anyone, Republican or Democrat, whether they favored its basic concepts or not. It was carefully balanced to win support from Kyl, Bush and about a dozen senators who helped draft it. But that left conservatives and liberals who didn't sign off on the compromise chipping away at it.

The bill would allow millions of undocumented immigrants to gain legal status and establish a new temporary-worker program to let foreigners come for jobs. It would strengthen border security and require companies to verify that their employees are legally permitted to work here. The system for distributing immigrant visas, which now go mostly to relatives of U.S. citizens and immigrants, would be replaced with a merit-based system using points.

National polls show wide support for the bill's concepts, but its opponents are more passionate than its supporters.

Bush, already unpopular with a growing number of conservatives, infuriated many last week when he said the bill's opponents "don't want to do what's right for America." Other supporters said the comment probably didn't help.

Kyl, a hero to conservatives last year when he opposed similar legislation, shocked the GOP base this year when he became one of the linchpins of the compromise.

Insisting on tougher provisions than many Democrats wanted in exchange for his support, he worked closely with Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, for months.

"I came here to do my very best on problems that are important problems, and I have done that here," Kyl said Friday. "And I understand that there are severe political implications, but I also believe that in the long run people will appreciate a good effort toward a good cause, and clearly, everybody wants this problem dealt with."

Conservatives didn't sound particularly forgiving as they celebrated the bill's defeat.

"Once you've been in bed with Ted Kennedy on immigration, you've got political herpes," said William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, which opposed the legislation. "John McCain, you will never, ever be the president of the United States of America because of your betrayal of the American public on immigration. You're done. You might as well drop out now."

McCain's top-tier rivals, such as former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, have criticized the bill. But McCain's supporters said the candidates have failed to offer any real alternative.

"Those who don't like his position will certainly criticize him and run TV ads and everything else on it, regardless of whether it passes (eventually) or not," said Charlie Black, a GOP consultant close to the White House who is advising McCain's campaign.

"If they're not for this, they need to be for something."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who supports McCain and helped draft the immigration bill, said the legislation could only get worse for the GOP if doesn't pass now, when the party holds the White House.

"The Republican Party will never get a deal like this in my lifetime if this bill fails," Graham said. "When do we do this bill, when we have no other control of the government? I mean, when is the right time to do this, when Hillary Clinton or someone else is president?"

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... ain06.html

It gives me great pleasure to know that John McCain and his staff are reading my statement this morning and spitting their coffee out on the paper!

W

Jeremiah 29:11

Thats awesome W. What we truly need is comprehensive represenative reform !!

McCain thinks that he is so much smarter than rest of America.
If this bill comes back we need to have a plan to show why the entire plan is unfair to Americans and only benefits illegals.

for instance if illegals don't have to pay back taxes then americans owing back taxes don't have to pay.

illegals who have committed any crime that is going to be overlooked the same crimes are forgiven for americans.

If senators cannot then see the insantity associated with this bill, then they have problems being in positions of responsibility and we need to get rid of them all.

I hope it brings them nightmares too ...McCain and his gang deserve it

Victory tastes so good!

I find it amazing that we have to become "radicals and zealots" to just protect the Constitution, our laws and our country. If Kennedy, Bush, McCain et. al. get immigration reform through, America will no longer be a melting pot but will become a garbage can.
__________________________________________________ ____________________

Now remember, when things look bad and it looks like you're not gonna make it, then you got to get mean. I mean plumb, mad-dog mean! Cause if you lose your head and you give up, then you neither live nor win. That's just the way it is........ Outlaw Josey Wales

Political herpes, I like the term, it just fits. I guess Lindesy Graham has got it too.

Johnny

"Nuts"

Good job, W. We will continue to fight this thing until it's settled in our favor.