Team McCain: Immigration statement poorly worded
posted at 12:45 pm on May 23, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
Jim Geraghty reached out to the John McCain campaign to ask them …. well, to ask them what the hell John McCain was thinking yesterday. Instead of dancing around it, Geraghty’s source acknowledged the damage done by the statement, but insisted it was just an example of poor wording. Their commitment to border security first has not changed, they said:
I doubt this will mitigate the anger of bloggers like John Hawkins much, but Team McCain tells me there’s been no change in his stance on immigration — secure the border first, deal with other aspects of illegal immigration once the border is secure. Recently, McCain made comments that seemed to suggest he was eager to get to the second part, which conservatives and border security types are understandably wary about. ….
Team McCain tells me the senator’s comments were poorly worded. There’s been no discussion within the campaign of altering their stance on illegal immigration, and as far as everyone on the campaign is concerned, the policy is still, ‘secure the border first.’
If so, then Senator McCain needs to make a rather high-profile attempt to clear up the confusion. I didn’t think he had departed from his previous positions, but clearly that was the impression that was left with people, and not necessarily unreasonably so.
It’s admirable that they acknowledged the mistake, but McCain needs to perform better now that he’s won the nomination, especially on this hot-button issue. He has to know that a large number of conservatives mistrust him on this specific issue, and that anything said on the trail about immigration will get very close scrutiny. He can’t afford missteps like this.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Comment pages: « Previous 1 2 3 4 … 7 Next »
.
The illegals are not destroying us, our policies are. You want to fix the problem? Easy – overturn the law that says emergency rooms must treat all comers without considering ability to pay. Overturn the law that says all children must attend public school (or approved substitute) regardless of whether they are citizens or not. Overturn the law that demands motor voter registrations. Overturn the laws that say that illegals are entitled to food stamps and AFDC. A lot of illegals would leave voluntarily. The problem is economic, not ethnic. If you think differently, you have a problem, and I am then reminded of the treatment my Irish great-grandfather received when he arrived.
Think_b4_speaking on May 23, 2008 at 2:08 PM
It’s no so much influence as it is marketing just enough of the hypnotized, big-government lemmings.
Saltysam on May 23, 2008 at 2:08 PM
HEY ! MCCAIN ! GET A CLUE ! IT’T THE AMNESTY STUPID !
Nyog_of_the_Bog on May 23, 2008 at 2:09 PM
Nothing “admirable” about it, Ed. I’d bet it was more a case of a lot of angry calls and e-mails to his HQ which prompted his handlers to tell him he’d overstepped, and to remind him that the election hasn’t happened yet.
Back to the best example- the uproar of the immigration bill last year. If enough of you stay informed and vocal, they pay attention. They only start wiping their feet on you when they think you’re not paying attention.
tomk59 on May 23, 2008 at 2:09 PM
Yeah, if you work for the Government, take Monday off.
right2bright on May 23, 2008 at 2:10 PM
Flenser, those ‘Muslim whack-jobs’ certainly weren’t ‘on the other side of the globe’ on 9-11.
McCain will persevere in Iraq, and in the GWOT generally; Obama will capitulate in Iraq, and dismiss or ignore our jihadist enemies around the globe. If we leave Iraq before it is secured, genocide will ensue. Iran and Ql Qaeda will credibly claim victory over us. Our allies won’t trust us. Our enemies won’t respect us. And the damage to our position in the world will be profound, and last for decades.
Next to THAT prospect, EVERY other concern is a spiteful dwarf.
Salamantis on May 23, 2008 at 2:10 PM
Reporter: Senator McCain, is it true that if you become President you will put a real fence along the border with Mexico rather than just some phony so called “virtual fence”? And a follow up question sir, if so what will the physical fence look like?
John McCain: That is a very good question and yes when I become el President I will put up a physical fence. What will it look like? Well it will run the full length of the border and have special security gates every 100 feet.
All the security gates will have on them:
1) Press one for Spanish (with a response of “Welcome Amigo, my country is your country and please take a free map to the wonderful plantation owner employer of your choice. Also please feel free to enroll you children in our schools and demand that they be taught in Spanish and please also feel free to avail yourself of all the free medical care that you want.”).
2) Press two for English (with a response of “Go to
Infierno you damned bigoted nativist lazy madre fornicario gringo who does not want what is right for America del Norte!!! And what are you sorry conservative chumps going to do about it anyway, vote for Obama?”).
MB4 on May 23, 2008 at 2:11 PM
You McCain-haters wouldn’t have voted for Mitt, or Fred, or Reagan, because they ALL have done left-of-center things, such as Reagan’s REAL amnesty & his tax increase.
You’re Obamaniacs by default.
jgapinoy on May 23, 2008 at 2:11 PM
They can only do that if we let them into the country. McCain wants to let them into the country.
How is an open borders policy part of a genuine “war on terror”?
Less so than McCain at any rate, in the same way that Bush has done far more damage to conservatism than Bill Clinton ever did.
flenser on May 23, 2008 at 2:11 PM
Nice try Ed….but the crowd doesn’t appear to be willing to call a time out.
I’ve done plenty of hollering about the fence but I’m off the reservation now and will support Johnny Mac. It appears there aren’t many left who will switch back. The McNo camp is set and nothing is going to bring em back. Count me in unless he shows up at a rally with an inverted pentagram tattooed to his forhead.
I do hope Johnny Mac and the GOP are paying attention. This may be their last election cycle if they aren’t. One way or another 09 is going to be very interesting. (Lots and lots of traffic!).
Limerick on May 23, 2008 at 2:12 PM
Maybe both sides can use Fridays for do-overs.
JiangxiDad on May 23, 2008 at 2:13 PM
McCain never changed his mind. That is he always was and still is for amnesty first.
SIJ6141 on May 23, 2008 at 2:13 PM
You left-wingers.
You’re a left-winger by default. You have no principles, it’s all about your team winning.
flenser on May 23, 2008 at 2:14 PM
That will show him you are serious.. way to go.
DaveC on May 23, 2008 at 2:14 PM
I understand they’re able to do those very tastefully these days. Please keep an open mind.
JiangxiDad on May 23, 2008 at 2:14 PM
And what do you base that apocalyptic prediction on?
Faith? Like Al Gore with his Apocalyptic Global Warming?
MB4 on May 23, 2008 at 2:15 PM
Weak.
JiangxiDad on May 23, 2008 at 2:15 PM
If the rest of the country could spend just one night in an emergency room in So. Cal, they would be shocked. They would think it was a “set-up”, hundreds of “patients”, no english spoken, hundreds of kids, no pay…in every emergency room in So. Cal. Repeated in hundreds of hospitals.
Living in N.C., when I tell them this they think I am exaggerating. They don’t get it.
right2bright on May 23, 2008 at 2:16 PM
I didn’t support McCain while the nomination was open but when he became the nominee I swung behind him. The more I learned about Obama, the stronger my support became. I put another clothespin on my nose while McCain waded through bailouts, while he embraced the nonsense of AGW.
But this is a bridge too far. It’s not only that he is once again on a crusade for Amnesty as a top priority. It’s that he has been exposed as a flagrant liar.
I’m out. I’ll still vote downticket this year. I’ll contribute to individual candidates. But the only thing that matters at this point in my opinion is how we reclaim the Republican Party in 2012 as a vehicle for conservative policies & principles. I’d like to see Palin and Jindl in either combination as the nominees in the next election, offering an alternative to the disaster of the Obama Presidency. There is hope long term.
McCain will lead the pro-Amnesty wing of the Republican Party to a major defeat this November. They will learn a painful lesson that a “coalition” means everybody gives something up and gets something back. Well obviously they were unwilling to give up Amnesty. It shows up every other month in some underhanded way. So the coalition is dead until the Amnesty proponents are willing to face reality. That’s how I view it. Enjoy your higher taxes, maybe even nationalization of the oil companies under the Obama Presidency. The country will pay a heavy price for the fecklessness of the willing to lie but unwilling to compromise pro-Amnesty remnants of the Republican Party.
DaMav on May 23, 2008 at 2:16 PM
.
The illegals are not destroying us, our policies are. You want to fix the problem? Easy – overturn the law that says emergency rooms must treat all comers without considering ability to pay. Overturn the law that says all children must attend public school (or approved substitute) regardless of whether they are citizens or not. Overturn the law that demands motor voter registrations. Overturn the laws that say that illegals are entitled to food stamps and AFDC. A lot of illegals would leave voluntarily. The problem is economic, not ethnic. If you think differently, you have a problem, and I am then reminded of the treatment my Irish great-grandfather received when he arrived.
Think_b4_speaking on May 23, 2008 at 2:16 PM
Hmmm… well, as a FISCAL Conservative, both parties slowed p the rate of growth of the government, and managed to balance the budget…
Sounds like the whacko did a real service to this nation.
Never would have happened if he had not run. The issue was not even on the agenda for those elections, until Perot made it an issue.
Romeo13 on May 23, 2008 at 2:17 PM
Why weren’t they? It strikes me that the solution to that is border security, including visa security. But McCain is not exactly on board with those things, is he?
flenser on May 23, 2008 at 2:17 PM
Oops, sorry for the double post
Think_b4_speaking on May 23, 2008 at 2:17 PM
Sigh. At least we have a shot at getting McCain’s advisors to notice us, I guess.
shrug, it better be a good, serious conservative VP pick, which means Crist and Ridge…please say goodbye fellas. Please.
funky chicken on May 23, 2008 at 2:17 PM
It beats rolling over like an omega dog and confirming the belief that conservatives are easy to kill.
Saltysam on May 23, 2008 at 2:17 PM
And we have the two teams playing it out, which one do you want to win?
right2bright on May 23, 2008 at 2:17 PM
Doesn’t mean I can’t keep hollering, but it does mean that I have set my priorities. You have to set yours. The McNos have their reasons for the no, the McYes’ have their reasons. After months and months of this same debate, with the same pros and cons, I’ve made up my mind.
Limerick on May 23, 2008 at 2:17 PM
If you can’t get all you want, you’ll pick up your toys and go home. Then, because you weren’t on the playground voting, your worst nightmare will be elected playground boss, and he’ll take all the toys you have left, and let the thugs with knives and robes from across the bay make you bend over for an atomic wedgie.
Salamantis on May 23, 2008 at 2:20 PM
Oh, how easy! I’m sure McCain wil introduce legislation to that effect today, and it will be passed by next week.
Why not live in the real world? MCain supported legislation to send Federal money to bail out hospitals going broke from catering to illegals. You’re not being serious.
flenser on May 23, 2008 at 2:20 PM
We just defeated another one, two days ago.
Keep on top of this at numbersUSA, people!
NTWR on May 23, 2008 at 2:21 PM
It’s serious, world class dumbassery that he even talked about this issue beyond saying he’s committed to having a secure, safe border region of the nation.
Next question, please.
sigh
funky chicken on May 23, 2008 at 2:22 PM
I don’t want McCain defining amnesty. true Presidential Amnesty are weasel words.
Senator Jeff Session from his Masters of the Universe speech,
INC on May 23, 2008 at 2:22 PM
Where’s the sense in fighting an enemy overseas while allowing ourselves to be destroyed from within? The reason I want to defeat Islamism is to preserve our nation and way of life.
FloatingRock on May 23, 2008 at 2:22 PM
McCain is our worst nightmare – a “Republican” president who is identical to a liberal Democrat. If we must have left wing policies, let’s let the Democats be the ones to implement them.
flenser on May 23, 2008 at 2:23 PM
.
I’m telling you how to fix the problem, not how McCain would. The issue at hand is that either McCain or Obama are the next president, and their responses to illegals and moslem terrorists are what we need to judge to choose between them.
Think_b4_speaking on May 23, 2008 at 2:23 PM
You see and you observe Watson.
Holmes on May 23, 2008 at 2:24 PM
Yeah; those Mexicans are gonna behead you if you don’t become catholic…/sarc
Salamantis on May 23, 2008 at 2:25 PM
I understand your frustration, Funky Chicken. But the formula really is that simple. Elections- vote your conscience on what you feel is best for the country, and the candidates best to carry that out. The rest of the time, between elections, stay informed, stay vocal, and stay on their case.
It’ll be a long hard road turning this mess around, but it can be done.
tomk59 on May 23, 2008 at 2:25 PM
That’s the point. There is really only one team. Democrat, or Democrat lite. I hate the lite version of anything. If it’s good enough to be the original, then leave it the hell alone. We’ve walked away from our conservative roots, and the Conservatives have walked away from the Republicans. Now, we’re trying to out Democrat the Democrats, and you can’t do it. McCain is going to lose in November. He is getting a tied average in polling now, and the Democrats are still fighting amongst themselves. If the best McCain can do is tie those who are fighting amongst themselves, then what happens when the Demo machine turns it’s attention to McCain?
What will he do to move further left now that he’s got the nomination? Surrender in Iraq to get Move on to support him?
Snake307 on May 23, 2008 at 2:25 PM
It beats rolling over how? It is rolling over. McCain’s too soft on immigration, so let’s elect someone even softer on immigration (plus he’s quasi-socialist!). What is the logic here?
RightOFLeft on May 23, 2008 at 2:25 PM
.
I think the enemy overseas is the bigger problem. I have a problem with illegals, but I do not have a problem with their ethnicity. If you do, perhaps we are farther apart than I at first thought.
Think_b4_speaking on May 23, 2008 at 2:25 PM
Damn. Hadn’t heard that. Makes me ill.
JiangxiDad on May 23, 2008 at 2:25 PM
I agree, don’t like it, but I agree.
And our phone calls have the most effect on our state legislators and senators…if strong employer sanctions become the law in your state, and if welfare isn’t available to the illegals, they do tend to self-deport.
They may just self-deport to a friendlier state like Massachusetts, but at least they leave your state.
It’s frustrating, but local/state government is where the action will be on this issue.
funky chicken on May 23, 2008 at 2:25 PM
THANK YOU. As staunch of an opponent I am to illegal immigration, I’m not STUPID enough to think that by electing Obama McCain will learn anything. Nor will the GOP. This needs to start at the base, with people like us running for local office, then moving up.
Obama will not only legalize illegals, he’ll also turn us into a Marxist society and surrender to Jihadis. For God’s sake people, it’s Memorial Day weekend. Our soldiers died so we could be part of the electoral process. We need to fight Obammunism like it’s Nazism. It’s THAT important.
NTWR on May 23, 2008 at 2:26 PM
Yeah, it was poorly worded. A poorly worded lie McCain’s telling to hide the truth that he is going to stab the vast majority of the American public in the back just as soon as he gets into office.
John Hawkins had a quote by McCain displaying his “screw the law, screw what the public thinks” Congressional elitism:
“We get in this kind of a circular firing squad on immigration reform in the Congress of the United States and the lesson I learned from it is we’ve got to have comprehensive immigration reform.”
It’s not about the law. It’s not about what the people want. It’s not even about what’s the right thing to do. It’s all about those in office who know better and what they want (re: corruption). And you know that once these “Know Betters” get the law passed, they’ll also know better than to continue to enforce the border or the other immigration laws and we’ll be back at this again after these clowns are gone from the scene.
Dusty on May 23, 2008 at 2:26 PM
No, everyone’s worst nightmare is someone who will capitulate on Iraq, cease activity on the wider GWOT, and hand us a second Vietnam.
Salamantis on May 23, 2008 at 2:26 PM
My two teams are the conservatives and liberals. Your two teams are the Democrats and Republicans.
I want the conservative team to win. You want the Republican team to win. So we part company. I support the GOP only to the extent that it advances conservatism. If it hurts conservatism, why should I support it?
From a politcal party standpoint there are more than two teams out there.
flenser on May 23, 2008 at 2:27 PM
Why is that a worse nightmare than fifty million new socialist voters in America? Why do you care what happens in Iraq at all?
flenser on May 23, 2008 at 2:28 PM
You people are insane.
flenser on May 23, 2008 at 2:29 PM
Seriously. Must feel liberating…uh.err..you know. Weight lifted and all that.
captivated_dem on May 23, 2008 at 2:30 PM
RightOFLeft on May 23, 2008 at 2:25 PM
You’d have to read the entire thread (just a few posts).
I shouldn’t have responded to “flenser on May 23, 2008 at 1:59 PM”, because h/she sort of took my point out of context.
Saltysam on May 23, 2008 at 2:30 PM
Someone could cut down the biggest tree on the planet and make a clothespin out of it and it wouldn’t be big enough to get me to vote for that crazy old amnesty coot.
MB4 on May 23, 2008 at 2:30 PM
Suicide for a brighter future! Suicide makes you look strong!
Wait to see if he picks somebody actually decent for VP. It’s 50/50 odds at this point, but if you want a voice in his decision, I suggest you not scream that you will never vote for him no matter who he chooses as VP.
Why on earth would you expect him to perhaps consider your opinions if you insist you’d never vote for him regardless?
funky chicken on May 23, 2008 at 2:30 PM
You know, I hear this argument over and over again. If you people who don’t like McCain bail on him, Obama win win and we’ll lose in Iraq and there’ll be a genocide and it’ll be horrible and it’ll all be on you *breath*…but I have just one little question. How is it on us, exactly?
You ask why we, the millions of voters of the conservative movement, won’t get behind John McCain in order to win the GWOT. I ask you, why does McCain, one person, refuse to compromise with conservatives in order to win the GWOT?
doubleplusundead on May 23, 2008 at 2:30 PM
The entire point of McCains amnesty is to prevent state/local government from doing the things they have been doing.
flenser on May 23, 2008 at 2:31 PM
You say “you people” often. Are you representing some other group, or are you speaking just for yourself.
JiangxiDad on May 23, 2008 at 2:31 PM
If Obama wins, all the GOP will “learn” is that the US populace has moved way, way left, and they had better learn to cater to that audience.
funky chicken on May 23, 2008 at 2:32 PM
You can read into my statement what you want, but to answer, no not really. As I stated in the other McYes/McNo thread today, I am, for this election, a single issue voter.
Sure I want all my issues on the table but finally have decided to cut my losses. No big deal, just my individual choice. I’ve heard the McNos and heard the McYes’s and have decided on the McYes side.
Limerick on May 23, 2008 at 2:33 PM
Some of them do appear to need some strong medication and I would by no means rule out electro-shock therapy for some of the more extreme cases.
Sigy on May 23, 2008 at 2:33 PM
Had a similar thought when it was revealed he didn’t vote for Bush, thus helping Kerry, but expects others now to do what he was apparently incapable of doing.
JiangxiDad on May 23, 2008 at 2:33 PM
.
That is certainly the lesson they took from 2006.
Think_b4_speaking on May 23, 2008 at 2:34 PM
Senator McCain doesn’t have to get a clue…all you dillweed republicans that are planning to vote for him do! I will not vote for another liberal Republican EVER! As long as the republican party wants to throw us conservatives under the bus, it’s their party and they can have it without us! They let Newt swing from the Gallows along with Delay as the Press and the Left attacked them daily without any defense from the republican establishment! How are things working out for the GOP since Newt and Delay left, by the way? How is the “new leadership” thing going? How’s the vision for the future of the party working out? How did the last off-year election go with GW, Trent Lott and Lindsay Grahm running things? What’s it like to have Arlen Specter as your leading voice these days? Working out well for you is it? Nice! Have fun you all…
sabbott on May 23, 2008 at 2:34 PM
Not true. Fire his advisor and swear no amnesty, reject the global warming hoax and I’ll be MUCH more inclined to vote for him.
See, the thing is, it’s up to McShamnesty to give us a reason to vote for him. It’s not our obligation to vote for him, even/especially when he fights against our values and ideals.
Darksean on May 23, 2008 at 2:34 PM
Why on earth would he spend his career running against conservates, and then expect us to vote for him? If a candiadte wants my vote then I expect him to display some interest in my point of view, not to make it clear that he can’t stand my point of view.
Does McCain have ANY obligation, in your eyes, to actually try to win conservative support?
flenser on May 23, 2008 at 2:35 PM
Swords or guns. Chacun a son goute.
JiangxiDad on May 23, 2008 at 2:35 PM
Ok, that was a little exaggerated. But c’mon, Obama wants to control what we eat, our thermostats, the cars we drive,
and he wants the US to SURRENDER in Iraq.
We are already weak and unable to create our own energy. Our dollar isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on and we can’t even produce educated students to fill in the needs we have for technological advances.
I scrounged up $50 for numbers usa and haven’t given a dime to the republicrats because of the illegal immigration bullshit. But Obama is worse than anything we’ve experienced from a leader thus far. And Hillary’s not far off either. People are following Obama like acult leader. We need to fight back and not be whiny little bitches about immigration reform that we aren’t even willing to demand in our home towns.
NTWR on May 23, 2008 at 2:36 PM
I had almost convinced myself that I could pinch my nose hard enough to vote for McCain just to keep Obama / Clinton out of the White House and then he just has to open his mouth and remind me why I will not vote for him.
FWIW, there are beheadings happening on the border, perhaps some view them differently because they aren’t religious in nature but I think that distinction is lost on the victims. Narco Terrorism is still terrorism and where I live we fear MS13 more than al Qaeda and Iran put togather.
Buzzy on May 23, 2008 at 2:37 PM
sabbott on May 23, 2008 at 2:34 PM
Do you vote in GOP primaries?
Saltysam on May 23, 2008 at 2:37 PM
.
Plus ce change, plus ce le meme chose. For the record, I choose balloons and blunderbusses.
Think_b4_speaking on May 23, 2008 at 2:37 PM
The GOP leadeship is way way left. They don’t need to “learn” it. The only question is whether the people who elect the GOP leadership will learn anything, or whether they will keep electing the same politicians and then crying over the fact that they don’t get right wing policies.
flenser on May 23, 2008 at 2:38 PM
Who cares who it’s on? It’s still going to happen.
RightOFLeft on May 23, 2008 at 2:38 PM
A vote for McCain is not always a vote for McCain, it can also be a vote against Obama.
The problem is not what candidates that GOP have, as much as why conservatives are not nominated by the American people.
When the republican primary came to my state, I voted for my candidate, not McCain and it didn’t make any difference, because McCain had already gotten the momentum and was ahead. My vote “against” McCain was worthless because it had no effect. I’d love to see the system changed. Until that happens, we are stuck with the crappy results that we have.
wise_man on May 23, 2008 at 2:39 PM
In a speech to the crowd, Obama sharpened his rhetoric against some of the most vocal voices against immigrant workers and migrant worker programs.
“A certain segment has basically been feeding a kind of xenophobia. There’s a reason why hate crimes against Hispanic people doubled last year,” Obama said. “If you have people like Lou Dobbs and Rush Limbaugh ginning things up, it’s not surprising that would happen.”
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/palmbeach/floridapolitics/entries/2008/05/23/obama_collects_another_500000.html
Is Obama trying to save McCain’s bacon on immigration? Trying to make an enemy out of Limbaugh and Dobbs right before they were sure to blister McCain on their Monday shows?
More world class dumbassery on immigration.
funky chicken on May 23, 2008 at 2:40 PM
I assume that the firebombing of Detroit, Denver, and Atlanta will commence shortly.
flenser on May 23, 2008 at 2:40 PM
Ah, a McCain man.
JiangxiDad on May 23, 2008 at 2:40 PM
, everyone’s worst nightmare is someone who will capitulate on Iraq
Why is that a worse nightmare than fifty million new socialist voters in America? Why do you care what happens in Iraq at all?
flenser on May 23, 2008 at 2:28 PM
Cross-posted from another thread:
Remember what happened the last time we allowed our government, pressed by feckless Democrats, to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. More than a million people who had trusted us with their lives and freedoms died. Our allies ceased to trust us. Our adversaries ceased to respect us. We are still recovering from the travesty that was Vietnam.
And now, for the sake of partisan domestic politics, some purity trolls here, willing to embrace the absolute worst for the sake of perfection, are willing to walk down that horrific path again. They remind me of Palestinians who do not achieve their own nation because they will settle for no less than the impossible goal of all of Israel. But it is much worse than that.
Bush Sr., at the end of Gulf War I, ignobly forsook all the Iraqis who, answering his call, rebelled against Saddam in 14 of 18 Iraqi provinces, and instead, he released the bottled up Republican Guard tank divisions, which then returned to Iraq and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of mostly unarmed freedom-desiring Iraqi civilian citizens whose only mistake was to trust the US with their lives, families, freedoms and futures. That fatal turning away remains one of the darkest stains on our national honor this century, and most certainly the darkest since we sold the Vietnamese down the river and into rickety South China Sea boats. The UN-mandated no-fly zones enforced by the US and UK were for the purpose of preventing Iraq’s bombers and helicopter gunships from aiding the tanks in that horrific Saddamic massacre. No wonder the Iraqis were exceedingly slow to trust us again.
But now they have. The Anbar Awakening and the Sons of Iraq fight and bleed and kill and die beside us against Baathist remnants, Iranian-backed Mahdist death squads, and Al Qaedan foreign jihadi infiltrators. And we are undeniably winning. In Anbar. In Basra. In Baghdad. And soon, in Mosul as well.
If, just because you have some sort of spiteful punish-your-own-country absolutist domestic policy hissy fit, you allow Barak Obama to become our Commander-in-Chief, he WILL immediately begin pulling us out of Iraq, regardless of the situation on the ground there, and catastrophic disaster will ensue. As a result, we may NEVER, this time, regain the trust of our allies or the respect of our adversaries. But our problems will go much deeper than this. I foresee a subsequent brutal and massive bloodletting to come. I foresee Iran gaining de facto control over Shia southern Iraq, Turkey moving in on the Kurds, and an Al Qaeda resurgence in Anbar, where they will train jihadis to commit further 9-11 terror flyer atrocities within our shores – or worse. And they will find ready recruits from among the Iraqis themselves, who will, in bitterness from being abandoned and betrayed by us twice in two generations, sign up so they can exact what they will consider to be justifiable retribution and revenge.
And, as much as I don’t want to see it happen, I really can’t say that I will be able to blame them.
This is why the GWOT generally, and finishing the job in Iraq specifically, is my SOLE issue this election, the ONE issue that eclipses ALL OTHERS. And on that one issue, there is neither contest nor even comparison. We dare not stoop to the level of the Democrats and grant partisan political considerations precedence over the safety and security of our nation.
Salamantis on May 23, 2008 at 2:41 PM
Are you McCain people terminally ignorant of history.
Remember Vietnam?
Remember who was President when we left the Vietnamese and Cambodians to die? A Republican. One that is exactly the same type of Republican that McCain is. A centrist with a modicum of sense w.r.t. foreign policy.
Do you remember why we left Vietnam? Congress. The same type of Congress that existed in 1975, if a bit more incompetent.
McCain is enervating the base, severely. He’s sapping the strength of the coalition that he has and outright rejecting what used to be the most energetic section of the Big Tent, the soCons and Christian conservatives.
He’s running as a Democrat, to the left of GWB.
spmat on May 23, 2008 at 2:41 PM
After some of the things that happened in the North Carolina primary, can you blame McCain?
(think you meant helping Gore, just a friendly nitpick)
RightOFLeft on May 23, 2008 at 2:44 PM
.
Actually, I have wanted to use that since I first saw:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Those_Magnificent_Men_in_Their_Flying_Machines
Think_b4_speaking on May 23, 2008 at 2:44 PM
Yeah, in friggin’ Pennsylvania, my presidential primary vote is meaningless. I wrote in Zombie Reagan, BTW.
doubleplusundead on May 23, 2008 at 2:44 PM
How is that any different from the things McCain and his amnesty allies have said?
Regardless, it is a vote for liberalism. Can you say “third party”? Let the liberals split the liberal vote between the two liberal candidates, and the conservatives can take the whole thing.
flenser on May 23, 2008 at 2:44 PM
Yeah yeah yeah, it is a major and lame exagerration but when we have democrats talking about nationalizing our oil, healthcare, and taking control of our personal liberties we need to fight back. Ugh I knew that one sentence would be the only thing “you people” would actually pick up on but I hoped you’d be able to understand my tongue-in-cheekness. I always forget that liberals do not have a sense of humor and despise satire.
Enjoy your Marxist president, senate, and congress and the majority-liberal Supreme Court that will ensue, rebels! You are sooo tough.
NTWR on May 23, 2008 at 2:45 PM
wise man….correct. I’m going to vote “for” NObama, which means I’ll pull straight Republican ticket. I often vote a mixed bag based upon individual candidates or will vote libertarian if I’m not crazy about either major party candidate….not this year.
See, I’m trying send a message to the Democrat party that the US electorate isn’t interested in a hard core leftist who sees Ayers and Dohrn as mainstream.
The dems would be wise to listen to Zell Miller, and I intend to use my vote(s) this year to try to deliver that message.
It’s all I’ve got.
funky chicken on May 23, 2008 at 2:45 PM
Over the line.
Let me tell you, pal, I don’t just remember it, I lived it. April 29 and 30 1975. Yes there was a Republican in the WH and it was the Democratic congress who withdrew funding for the Republic of South Vietnam, not Jerry Ford.
I’ve seen the flight decks, the choppers, the faces. I’ve worked the refugee camps. Don’t try to pull that Republican’s lost the war in Vietnam crap on me.
April 30, 1975. To borrow a phrase…..Never Forget!
Limerick on May 23, 2008 at 2:45 PM
New McCain Bumber sticker -
Vote for Juan McCain even though he sucks
otherwise Herr Adolf Obama will destroy the whole world!
MB4 on May 23, 2008 at 2:46 PM
No candidate of either party is more staunchly pro-GWOPT generally, and pro-finishing-the-job-in-Iraq particularly, than John McCain. The guy put his political career on the line pushing for the Petraeus Surge when even many Republicans were running away from it, in the darkest moments of the civil strife in Iraq, simply because he believed that it was the right thing to do – and it was.
Salamantis on May 23, 2008 at 2:47 PM
Iraq has damm all to do with “the safety and security of our nation”.
What, Vietnamese terrorists waged war on the US?
Read spmat at 2:14. You are encouraging the thing you say you are fighting.
flenser on May 23, 2008 at 2:49 PM
You’re advocating surrender on one front to fight on another when both are necessary to the preservation of our nation.
Are you inferring that I’m a racist? On what basis?
FloatingRock on May 23, 2008 at 2:49 PM
It’s not like they are even trying to hide it any more. But braying jackasses will work happily to help elect them so they can do it.
funky chicken on May 23, 2008 at 2:51 PM
Have you people ever LOOKED at McCain? His record? His proposals? You are not “fighting back”. You are going along with the things you say you are opposed to.
flenser on May 23, 2008 at 2:52 PM
Regardless, it is a vote for liberalism. Can you say “third party”? Let the liberals split the liberal vote between the two liberal candidates, and the conservatives can take the whole thing.
flenser on May 23, 2008 at 2:44 PM
Right now the democrats are supporting Obama (and some Hillary but it’s pretty much a lost cause) and they are all attacking McCain. And some republicans are attacking McCain. I don’t see as you suggest two groups of liberals splitting the vote for Obama and McCain against an imaginary conservative republican that is not running for office or anything else such as a massive write in campaign for someone like Thompson.
The furthest a third party candidate ever got was Ross Perot and he he came in third.
wise_man on May 23, 2008 at 2:52 PM
No, the Vietnamese stayed put.
But 9-11 has taught us that Middle Easterners will not.
Salamantis on May 23, 2008 at 2:52 PM
Salamantis on May 23, 2008 at 2:41 PM
The long term effects of capitulation after committing troops should be blatantly obvious.
It’s a shame that it needs to be explained; it’s eye opening when it’s not understood.
Saltysam on May 23, 2008 at 2:52 PM
“Illegal aliens commit at least 2,158 murders each year – a number that represents three times greater participation than their proportion of the population”
From: http://www.usillegalaliens.com/impacts_of_illegal_immigration_crime_summary.html
Lets see… 4080 killed in Iraq, 3000 on 9/11…. 490 Afganistan.. about 7,570 killed in the WOT…
10,759 MURDERED by illegals in this country since then… and this does not include DUI related deaths, which would probably make this rise much further….
So, your point?
Romeo13 on May 23, 2008 at 2:55 PM
Sorry, my last post was just for Murders for the past 5 years…. since we’ve been in Iraq…
Romeo13 on May 23, 2008 at 2:56 PM
This isn’t just petty partisan bickering, and you can get bent for suggesting otherwise. Answer my question, if McCain really cares about what happens in Iraq and Afghanistan, and you do too, why does McCain refuse to compromise with conservatives on this and other issues?
doubleplusundead on May 23, 2008 at 2:56 PM
.
I have been here on the border for 25 years. Are illegals a problem? Yes, they absorb economic benefits that exceed their input. Our laws have been perverted to benefit illegals before citizens. On all this we agree. Most illegals are from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador, and are socially conservative, religious people who share many of my beliefs in family, God, etc. Assuming they came across the border legally, I enjoy their culture and their company. I do not see them as socialists, nor a threat to ‘my culture’. We have a long history of shared culture in Texas. I can agree we need to change the laws to not favor illegals (from anywhere). I can agree we need a way to stop the influx of more illegals. I cannot agree that their culture detracts from mine, nor that they are incipient socialists.
Think_b4_speaking on May 23, 2008 at 2:58 PM
What do you think McCain is going to do with our personal freedoms regarding Global Warming? He voted to give us those damn CFL bulbs filled with Mercury. Freedom? What freedom do we have that we’re going to lose?
Perhaps we’re free to drill for oil. Nope. Not under McCain we’re not. Perhaps we’re going to allow people to buy whatever kind of car they want? Nope, not with McCain we won’t. Perhaps people will have the freedom to keep more of their money? From McCain’s cap and trade tax? Or McCain the voted against a tax cut.
Perhaps people will be free from illegal aliens running amok within their towns and cities? Well they might be, but only after McCain grants those twenty million or so illegals amnesty. There isn’t a dimes worth or difference between McCain and the rest of the Democrats. He’s just as big a socialist as they are, and he’s just as big of a liar.
Snake307 on May 23, 2008 at 2:58 PM
and now we have conservatives like JOhn Hawkins doing what he can to get Obama elected…the brilliance of conservatives!
I’m sorry, but I love my country more than I hate McCain
jp on May 23, 2008 at 2:00 PM
Can you believe that Obama was stupid enough to go out and say that crap the day after McCain stepped on his weenie on the same issue?
And Obama upped the ante by throwing in a slur on Limbaugh and Dobbs and their fans.
wow
funky chicken on May 23, 2008 at 2:57 PM
funky chicken on May 23, 2008 at 2:58 PM
He has been “poorly wording” these comments for weeks now. You McCain-bots will never acknowledge the truth.
Valiant on May 23, 2008 at 2:59 PM
Comment pages: « Previous 1 2 3 4 … 7 Next »