GOP courts Latinos on immigration
August 22, 2008 02:35 PM

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The Republican National Committee unveiled a Spanish-language radio ad today that it plans to run during next week's Democratic convention that promotes John McCain's support for comprehensive immigration reform, while deriding Obama as all talk and no action.

McCain reached across the aisle to Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts on the reform, which also had the support of President Bush. But the proposal died in Congress last year after opposition from those who said the path to citizenship amounted to amnesty.

During the Republican primaries, McCain soft-pedaled his support for the plan, declaring that he wouldn't push it again until the borders were made secure. Both he and Democrat Barack Obama are courting Hispanic voters, who could be the difference in swing states such as Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico.

"How do you know someone is a friend? You know because they stand up and defend you when it is hard. When Hispanics needed a friend in Congress during the immigration debate, who stood up? Who spoke out? John McCain," the announcer says, according to a translation by CNN.

"Senator McCain worked with Republicans and Democrats alike to form immigration legislation. And while the bill didn’t pass, only McCain demonstrated a real commitment to reforming immigration in a way that honored our laws as well as our immigrants and traditions," the announcer continues.

"And Barack Obama? Obama did not stand up. Obama did not speak out. And when the time came for him to do the right thing, he did not. Obama supported measures designed to insert a deadly 'poison pill' to kill the immigration legislation. If Obama didn’t even have the courage to stand up for immigrants, how can he claim to have the strength to change the way Washington works? John McCain is ready to lead. Barack Obama is not."
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/pol ... _lati.html