Audio: Comprehensive immigration reform “will be my top priority yesterday, today, and tomorrow,” says McCain
posted at 4:53 pm on June 28, 2008 by Allahpundit
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Top priority overall or just top domestic priority? Iraq and the economy can wait, I guess. The clip comes, via reader Edgar M, from today’s appearance before NALEO, in which he and Obama took turns to see who could pander most cravenly on immigration. Truth be told, there’s little new here: Lip service is duly paid to securing the border despite the questioner’s emphasis on comprehensive reform “and not just enforcement,” and he recycles his old line about illegals being “God’s children too” as a way of insinuating, a la his crony’s notorious remarks about telling “the bigots” to shut up, that one really can’t oppose amnesty and be a minimally decent human being. Par for the course.
It’s nice to know, though, that the very first 100 days of a McCain administration will be consumed with an internecine fight on the right to stop his next round of crap legislation from passing. Can’t wait. If you’re curious to see what Obama said in reply, here’s a recap from Reuters. To the left, of course (minus Mickey Kaus), McCain’s problem is that he isn’t a big enough amnesty shill. Exit quotation from Obama, demonstrating a charming obliviousness to the fact that he himself flip-flopped on nearly every issue he commented on this past week: “If we are going to solve the challenges we face, we can’t vacillate, we can’t shift depending on our politics.”
Link: sevenload.com
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Indeed. Very much like how the democrat party plays the race card, then accuses the Republicans of making them do it!
SouthernGent on June 28, 2008 at 7:27 PM
I did not say it meant “nothing”,
flenser…Oh wait, mrpeasea…I said it would be a band-aid on a hemmorage. Apparently you aren’t aware that SS numbers can be stolen. I’ve done payroll before, at a restaurant. Hot place for illegals, in the kithcen, bus boys, etc. The payroll company (if it’s external) will tell you if an SS # is valid or not. If it comes up valid, and they always do (if they don’t, they come back with another number) then that’s it.Drivers license comes easy. In some states, can’t you take it in Spanish? Credit? Not when ya pay cash. A lawn guy will get one house on a street, and by word of mouth, get 4 or 5 more. On that one street.
JetBoy on June 28, 2008 at 7:30 PM
And let the record show that I am 100% against these sanctuary cities.
JetBoy on June 28, 2008 at 7:32 PM
Same thread, different day.
Can you say overkill ??
redrock on June 28, 2008 at 7:32 PM
What number am I?
bard on June 28, 2008 at 7:33 PM
I was hoping to get people to think a little deeper than that…
Although, Yes, that is a part of it, (but a nearly superficial part).
And taking that a step further, the only actual “invasionary forces” of significance that we have are the ones that McCain wants to give ‘comprehensive reform’ to.
Think deeper though:
Think: economic policy; a lot of people think that Roosevelt saved the nation from the depression… But the reality is that his economic policies extended it. Only our entry into WWII prevented the depression from extending another 5-10 years (at least). But even Roosevelt was smart enough to realize what “Cap and Trade” and limiting our use of our own energy resources would do to our economy.
Think; use of Executive Orders: Roosevelt brooked no opposition. He did with Executive Orders many things that would be held unconstitutional by any measure, even during a national emergency. FDR did what he wanted. Constitution, Legislature and will of the people be da#^ed. FDR didn’t care what anyone thought.
There are more similarities if you would take an honest look at the real, but often obscure history of both.
LegendHasIt on June 28, 2008 at 7:33 PM
He wants to give then Z-visas for now, which would make them second class/serfs to his plantation owner contributors. How could that stand in America?
MB4 on June 28, 2008 at 7:35 PM
Don’t have stats, because as far as I know no one has actualy studied this.
BUT, anecdotaly I know MANY “immigrants”, both legal and illegal, who want to go home when they retire. Its cheaper to live there, and Social Security will let you live really well. In fact, if you own “property” in Mexico, you can decide which governments income tax you want to pay… part of NAFTA.
I have a neighbor, here legaly, who is a dual citizen now. He votes in BOTH elections, and is encouraged to do so by the Mexican government.
Whole sitution is a LOT more complicated than folks want to admit… and much more screwed up for us poor native born Americans.
Romeo13 on June 28, 2008 at 7:35 PM
The #1 problem is not the lack of a continuous 20 feet fence - it’s the hypermagnet of employers getting away with hiring such cheap labor. The media, the government, left and right, and even us are not naming the real elephant. Until then, we can’t solve it.
You can’t build a 50 feet fence all around the U.S.A. Yes, we can do waaaay more to have real and virtual means to protect our border. Still that will not solve it. We can dance around this forever. So long as the honey/steak is there, the wasps are going to come.
I don’t know why this is not discussed as important as the fence, or even more so. It entails respecting our current laws, by all.
Entelechy on June 28, 2008 at 7:35 PM
Sounds like great folks. /sarc
Remind us again why vigorous opposition to them is so dreadful.
innominatus on June 28, 2008 at 7:36 PM
Obama will not bother with special visas. He’ll go full-fledged citizenship, with no conditions, with a supermajority in the House/Senate. I’m with you and flenser on the issue 100%. I just want to know how you see Obama being better on it.
Entelechy on June 28, 2008 at 7:37 PM
Well, I propose we bill the Mexican Govt for the illegals we hold in our prisons.
And we bill them for all hospital ER visits, regular visits…have a baby here? you’re illegal?
Send the bill to Mexico, including the postage that it takes to get it there.
bridgetown on June 28, 2008 at 7:38 PM
Crack down on the anti-American employees of illegals and the problem will mostly solve itself. Fine them out of business if necessary. if that doesn’t work put the bastardos in prison.
MB4 on June 28, 2008 at 7:40 PM
employeesemployersMB4 on June 28, 2008 at 7:41 PM
Hi, Ent, always good to see you(r posts). The testiness factor is high, so I look forward to some of your soothing balm.
(That’s my good buddy Evan Williams.)
So is your position that it’s futile, and we shouldn’t even try? It can’t be, but that’s the impression I get.
The bottom line, for me, is: enforcement, even the half-hearted efforts of the Bush administration, is working. The Mexican state of Sonora is complaining about the Mexicans streaming across the border. It’s going to be very hard to convince me that honest efforts, such as a federal law (yeah, that’s one of the few duties of the federal government that the Constitution actually allows, so of course, they shirk it) mandating verification, wouldn’t go a long way toward solving the problem.
And then there’s the psychological effect. If we grant amnesty to 12-20 million, like we did for 3-4 million in 1986, what will happen?
misterpeasea on June 28, 2008 at 7:42 PM
You are about half right on that, but for the wrong reason.
McCain is more likely to lock up us da#^ed nativist conservatives in camps.. Not his beloved illegal aliens.
LegendHasIt on June 28, 2008 at 7:47 PM
misterpeasea, like me, or hate me, I sincerely always feel your love. Good to see you in the HA parlor too. And don’t worry, my presence is not always balming :)
Good to see you too wccawa. Welcome back. Do visit more often.
Entelechy on June 28, 2008 at 7:47 PM
I’m not sure I appreciate your full genius, but I get the drift.
But you’re fighting an uphill battle. FDR is the biggest hero to the left (other than maybe Che), and therefore to the public education system. It’s hard for people to comprehend that he wasn’t a saint. Try to suggest that he admired and tried to emulate fascism, and you’ll probably have a fight on your hands.
“FDR rescued us from the Great Depression” is as ingrained to most Americans as “mom, baseball, and apple pie.”
But good luck.
misterpeasea on June 28, 2008 at 7:49 PM
I also think the psychological effect works the other way. As more states take action against illegals and the issue remains in the headlines, the illegals grow more uncomfortable. I’ve read quite a few weepy MSM reports of “poor, discouraged Mexicans returning home because the environment just isn’t as welcoming as it used to be.”
innominatus on June 28, 2008 at 7:49 PM
The key to this whole problem, and the problem with have with voter fraud, is that we need a national database of citizens.
I know privacy advocates will scream, but we are to the point where business HAS this type of information already, but our government can’t use it.
EVERYONE is in the Social Security system, and the Credit buereu data bases, and the driver license databases…
Its time to merge them with citizenship info, and have one coherent database. We have the technology.
And under the FEDERAL responsibility for border enforcement, and to regulate FEDERAL elections, and under interstate commerce (for drivers licenses), it would be Constitutionaly correct for the FEDS to do this.
Without it? We CAN’T solve the problem.
Romeo13 on June 28, 2008 at 7:52 PM
Yeah, funny how FDR and Lincoln, the two Presidents who disregarded the Constitution time and time again…
The two Presidents who destroyed the idea of States Rights… and took MORE power for the Fed…
Are two of the most admired Presidents…
Sad….
Romeo13 on June 28, 2008 at 7:53 PM
Do you believe this?
I am inclined to.
“The Real Reason For America’s [looming] Recession 3-13-8″
I hope the following 14 reasons for the United States financial “recession” disaster are forwarded over and over again, until American Citizens get the message and demand better government.
1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year.
2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens.
3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens.
4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English!
5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.
6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.
7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens.
8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare & social services by the American taxpayers.
9. $200 Billion Dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens.
10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that’s two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US
11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth., heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border. Homeland Security Report.
12. The National Policy Institute, ‘estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period.’
13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin.
14. ‘The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States ‘.
The total cost is a whopping $ 338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR!!!”
- Ursa Major
MB4 on June 28, 2008 at 7:54 PM
Maverick needs to go to the ATM, make a withdrawal, go to the clue store…
…and buy one.
Corky on June 28, 2008 at 7:57 PM
It is not humanly possible for him to be any worse and with him having developed a penchant to change his mind lately maybe he would be better. Much hope with Obama? Probably not. Any hope with McVain at all? None.
It would be better, as others have said, that dims get blamed for things rather than Reps which might kill off the Rep party for good.
MB4 on June 28, 2008 at 8:00 PM
Hence my:
I guess I overestimated in my assessment of the knowledge and understanding of true history amongst even the smarter HotAirians. I wonder how few of us there are that really understand these things as you and I??? Gotta be more than 2 or 3 of us….
God, I hope so….
I consider the majority of HotAir commentators to be amongst the cognoscenti… If the bulk of us are unaware of it, we are well and truly doomed as a nation.
LegendHasIt on June 28, 2008 at 8:00 PM
McCain is extremely arrogant, egotistical, and delusional for someone of such limited intelligence. He may be a maverick and a fighter, but he is not a leader. We deserve better.
huckleberryfriend on June 28, 2008 at 8:01 PM
Well, You people here have convinced me that McCain needs to take a tougher stand on this issue….
But at the same time…I cannot sit this vote out and watch Obama ride into the office…
I know you don’t want to hear it, but He Is the better option…and the only other option to Obama.
I can’t stomach Obama…it’s like the feeling I had when John Kerry almost got into Office…it freaks me out.
bridgetown on June 28, 2008 at 8:01 PM
Welcome to the club!
That’s three of us.
MORE?
Please, God, let there be more.
LegendHasIt on June 28, 2008 at 8:02 PM
I can’t stand this argument. That they’re both bad, so let Obama screw things up so us “real conservatives” can gain momentum later on.
Immigration reform. It’s ONE ISSUE people! Call me crazy, but the WoT, the economy, gas prices, drilling, etc are FAR more important to me.
JetBoy on June 28, 2008 at 8:05 PM
LegendHasIt on June 28, 2008 at 8:02 PM
I’m just learning. I never was into politics at all.
I’m an avid reader, but I swear I’ve learned more on blogs and the internet in the past couple of years than I ever learned in school or from the books I read.
And the more I learn, the more I want to go play in traffic.
:)
bridgetown on June 28, 2008 at 8:05 PM
I don’t. But then the question becomes, who do you want blamed for it? Who do you want punished for it?
I don’t find convincing the argument that 4 years of Obama will be worse than 4 years of McCain, because I’m thinking that if McCain presides over the stupid and costly policies that are to come, Republicans will be in the wilderness for 15-20 years. I’ll trade 4 years of Obama for 15-20 years of Republican resurgence due to Obama backlash.
misterpeasea on June 28, 2008 at 8:05 PM
I’m with one of the above.
McCain is making me think I would rather have the enemy I know with a D. behind his name screw things up so badly ie.
Not Drilling and energy prices thus economic disaster , Global balony thus economic disaster, amnesty thus social security and health care disaster once they are given access to SS and unlimited health resources…
…That the American people finally get fed up and take it out on the liars and socialists. I’d rather that party be the dems than a dem wrapped in Republican hides.
By the way hows’ McCain/Feingold workin out bout now John?
Suppose it would have worked if you took away all freedom and FORCED the two parties into public financing.
Socialists!
dhunter on June 28, 2008 at 8:06 PM
We hear praise of a power-wielding, arm-twisting President who “gets his program through Congress” by knowing the use of power. Throughout the course of history, there have been many other such wielders of power. There have even been dictators who regularly held plebiscites, in which their dictatorships were approved by an Ivory-soap-like percentage of the electorate. But their countries were not free, nor can any country remain free under such despotic power. Some of the current worship of powerful executives may come from those who admire strength and accomplishment of any sort. Others hail the display of Presidential strength simply because they approve of the result reached by the use of power. This is nothing less than the totalitarian philosophy that the end justifies the means If ever there was a philosophy of government totally at war with that of the Founding Fathers, it is this one.
- Barry Goldwater
MB4 on June 28, 2008 at 8:06 PM
MB4, tell Legend what FDR did to your mom and her family.
Entelechy on June 28, 2008 at 8:09 PM
LOL, I had direct ancestors on BOTH sides of the Civil war… in fact one ancestor, in a Union Artillery Battery (I have his Saber in fact), was shooting at another ancestor in a Confederate infantry Regiment during the Battle of Bull Run…
I know which side I would have fought on… because at the time the people understood that it was NOT about slavery, but about a Federal power grab over States rights. Slavery was the trip wire of a larger issue.
Romeo13 on June 28, 2008 at 8:09 PM
Well if you can’t stand it, then I could probably just rest my case right here and now.
MB4 on June 28, 2008 at 8:10 PM
We know exactly what McCain thinks about Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
S.1348 Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007:
S.Amdt. 1311: (Coburn) To require the enforcement of existing border security and immigration laws and Congressional approval before amnesty can be granted - McCain = No Vote - Amendment Rejected:
S.Amdt. 1339: (Vitter) To require that the U.S. VISIT system- the biometric border check-in/check-out system first required by Congress in 1996 that is already well past its already postponed 2005 implementation due date- be finished as part of the enforcement trigger - McCain = No - Amendment Rejected.
S.Amdt. 1374: (Ensign) To improve the criteria and weights of the merit-based evaluation system - McCain = No - Amendment Rejected.
S.Amdt. 1197: (DeMint) To require health care coverage for holders of Z nonimmigrant visas - McCain = No - Amendment Rejected.
S.Amdt. 1184: (Cornyn) To establish a permanent bar for gang members, terrorists, and other criminals - McCain = No - Amendment Rejected
S.Amdt. 1170: McConnell) To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require individuals voting in person to present photo identification - McCain = No Vote - Amendment Rejected.
S.Amdt. 1189: (Allard) To eliminate the preference given to people who entered the United States illegally over people seeking to enter the country legally in the merit-based evaluation system for visas - McCain = No Vote - Amendment Rejected.
S.Amdt. 1157: (Vitter) To strike title VI (related to Nonimmigrants in the United States Previously in Unlawful Status) - McCain = No - Amendment Rejected.
S.Amdt. 1181: (Dorgan) To sunset the Y-1 nonimmigrant visa program after a 5-year period - McCain = No - Amendment Rejected.
jaime on June 28, 2008 at 8:10 PM
I’m not tremendously excited about getting into the topic too deep because can’t effect a policy change. But I will say a couple things:
50 states can do something and it have no need to suddenly morph into federal law. States are finding a workable solution to a situation foisted on them by neglect from the national level. The reason McCain and others disparage local and state responses is because these responses work - but are not of the desired response of those whose neglect has let this situation grow to what it now is.
Do something simply for the sake of doing something is not a mark of merit. If you have a infection, you don’t put heat on it.
Spirit of 1776 on June 28, 2008 at 8:12 PM
I would say: “AMF McCain” but every time I think that, Barry comes to mind. And McCain knows it. Well, he better hope that Cindy contributes to the RNC because I won’t.
Dingbat63 on June 28, 2008 at 8:13 PM
MB4, I believe most of that, and it sickens me. But I’m not sure how much these expeditures will affect a $13 trillion economy.
What I think will cause the recession (or worse) is a two-headed snake - downward pressure on wages caused by illegals combined with increased overseas outsourcing. The blue-collar guy’s buying power is getting screwed. Instead of addressing these issues head-on, our illustrious leaders in DC grant favorable trade status to the ChiComs. That way low-wage illegals and the screwed-over blue-collar guys can buy crappy chinese DVD players for $29.99 and the pols in DC can tell us that their reckless spending isn’t causing inflation. “Inflation? You can buy a pair of crappy chinese shoes for $8!! How can there be inflation?” Meanwhile the dollar craps out and we pay $4.50 for a gallon of gas.
innominatus on June 28, 2008 at 8:16 PM
My mom’s father died from malaria after serving in the Marines (Spanish American War/Boxer Rebellion). His widow with 9 kids, 2 from his previous wife who died, got a widows pension of $56 a month. FDR cut it in half. $28 a month.
MB4 on June 28, 2008 at 8:16 PM
Mr. Reagan sure did get “punished” for it…nah.
Obama is a commie cypher, with mob appeal (the most dangerous type), with an anarchyst wife, who holds the keys to his everything. That you don’t see that makes me very sad. Same for MB4, and a few others here. We will not recognize our beloved country after 4 years, which will extend to 8-12-16. There is no Reagan behind the curtain. Mr. Jindal is not it.
The 15-20 years…will not happen either. It’s a very complicated world, only getting more so.
Rome didn’t die in one election cycle. Vote for Obama and deserve the accelleration of our demise. I’ll be here to remind you. You will cry a lot. No saviour will get you out of it in 4 years. The two parties are completely corrupt and deserve to be thrown under the bus. Unfortunately it takes a long time for a third, and viable, one to form.
We’re sooooo scrooomed. Rejoice!
Entelechy on June 28, 2008 at 8:20 PM
A protest vote for Bob Barr will be my top priority!
Dollayo on June 28, 2008 at 8:25 PM
Simpler than that. The Fed Reserve Bank, which is now got only about half the people it should have because Dodd won’t let votes go through on Bush’s nominees… had allowed the dollar to decrese in worth.
This drove up oil prices (which are bought in dollars) which in turn drove up energy prices.
Essentialy the drop in the dollar means that every dollar we earn in America is only worth about 60% of what it used to be worth… but they do not “factor” that in in the inflation numbers. Net result? unless you salary has increased by about 40% in the last few years, you have less worldwide buying power than you used to have, even at the same wage.
Federal Reserve and the Congress screwed every single American out of 40% of the worth of their retirement savings by their mismanagement… and no one is yet holding them accountable because the PRESS will not cover the story.
Romeo13 on June 28, 2008 at 8:25 PM
This speaks to McCain’s anxiousness to reach across the aisle and work with the Democrats.
For McCain, it seems making the deal is now far more important than what’s actually in the deal.
RJL on June 28, 2008 at 8:25 PM
Take heart oh ye of little faith. If Obama is elected and the country gets into really big trouble Jindal could always perform an exorcism.
MB4 on June 28, 2008 at 8:28 PM
No, he is not.
I don’t think anyone questions his ideology. I think the question is his effectiveness. If he can be less effective then McCain then the question of which means damage control is a legitimate one.
It is also worth note that a vote against one is a vote against presumed evils and a vote against the other is a vote against confirmed evils. One of the candidates has already showed his experience in defying his constituency.
Spirit of 1776 on June 28, 2008 at 8:28 PM
Naderites and Barristers (not the lawyers) sing kumbaya, together, while their country parties and burns, at once.
Entelechy on June 28, 2008 at 8:28 PM
Well said, RJL. I completely agree McCain exhibits the Senatorial mindset. The thing of poor executives, to put it mildly.
Spirit of 1776 on June 28, 2008 at 8:29 PM
Good grief .. I HATE these quantity over quality threads!!
Spirit and Limerick … IF this is the right thread, you are welcome. The reason I am familiar with that ex-order is that I did a posting recently on a blog where I co-contribute on this very subject of permanent aliens in the military .. actually there have been quite a few naturalization ceremonies in Iraq.
Texas Gal on June 28, 2008 at 8:30 PM
This is a stupid and premature argument. We’d all like to look to the past and contemplate ‘what might have been.’ But, fact is, electing McCain is a no-brainer considering the alternative.
Yes, we all know (and I agree) that McCain is on the wrong side of this issue. Pandering, perhaps - I am not convinced he is above political pandering in order to win an election he’s sought for a decade - but there is too much at stake to even remotely consider the alternative.
So please, let’s not throw out the baby with the bath water for the 15-20% of what McCain has wrong. BHO is 100% opposite, so save your arguments with McCain for after the election.
James OK on June 28, 2008 at 8:31 PM
But at least those who vote for Barr won’t have thrown any gasoline on the fire. That’s got to count for something.
MB4 on June 28, 2008 at 8:31 PM
Yeah, a couple weeks ago, I was comparing the dollar to the euro. If the dollar had stayed at 1:1 with the euro, my calc was that gas would have been about $2.65 a gallon instead of the $3.90 or so that it was at the time.
innominatus on June 28, 2008 at 8:32 PM
And PLEASE tell me Entelechy how much different from Obmanation is McCain and will his refusal to drill for our own energy, his embracing of global warming balony/ taxation and his assault on states rights and free speech not bankrupt this great nation thus garnering the republican party the blame?
dhunter on June 28, 2008 at 8:32 PM
Spirit, dearest, why would Obama not be more effective in destroying the country with one item after another, with the congress totally on his side? He’s not as dumb as Jimmy Carter, who went against his own congress.
Entelechy on June 28, 2008 at 8:33 PM
But that “15-20%” is like a patient having “only 15-20%” of his body damaged, but that “15-20%” is his brain, heart, lungs, liver and kidneys, not his right leg.
MB4 on June 28, 2008 at 8:35 PM
Funny and so sad, at once.
You and dhunter go for it. We all will deserve Obama. I’ll say “no, thank you” to this year’s raises so as to not have to pay for all of you. I’d have to be gaged if I’d pay more taxes to support your commie cypher. It’s been too hard to get to this point.
Entelechy on June 28, 2008 at 8:36 PM
Obama has mailed it in on every major controversial issue. He doesn’t have the history of getting things done or pushing issues through. And American politics is a system of seniority. To think he will get carte blanche from the Senate is not the way things always work.
Regardless, I’m not trying to argue he will or won’t be worst then McCain. In so doing, I would be arguing how people should vote, which I have never done. I’m interested in the issues. What I am saying is that that question, which would be worst, is a legitimate one.
Spirit of 1776 on June 28, 2008 at 8:37 PM
Welcome to the club… (A different club than the one previously mentioned, but you can have probationary status in that one too if you want it).
I too was a fairly happy person until I started to actually understand what actually happened and what is currently happening. Now I’m depressed all the time. Ignorance is indeed bliss.
—————————
Yeah, My Mother, three of my four grandparents, many aunts and uncles, worshiped at the feet of FDR, little knowing that he didn’t rescue them from their misery but actually extended it. Fortunately my Father and his Father had enough sense to see him for what he really was.
Few people would believe it , but in actuality, it was Hirohito, Tojo and Hitler that ended the the Great Depression, not anything that FDR or his cronies in Washington did.
LegendHasIt on June 28, 2008 at 8:39 PM
You bring up a provocative point re dual citizenship. Shouldn’t any reform of immigration include the provision that the US does not permit dual citizenship? We could prevent a lot of divided loyalties and people gaming the system with such a law.
onlineanalyst on June 28, 2008 at 8:39 PM
If Obama is elected, which now looks like about a 2 to 1 chance, then the blame will be square on Juan McVain and those who helped him get the Republican nomination. That’s about it.
MB4 on June 28, 2008 at 8:39 PM
Spirit of 1776 on June 28, 2008 at 8:37 PM
I have no problem begging for votes.
:)
People, please, vote McCain and then bombard his office and the congress with phone calls and letters about immigration, on a daily basis if we have to.
I so fear the alternative.
bridgetown on June 28, 2008 at 8:40 PM
Spirit of 1776 on June 28, 2008 at 8:37 PM
To which I would also add, I’ve read that 80% of Americans believe in the division of power among the legislative and executive branch. Meaning it seems unlikely to me that an Obama presidency would see 8 years of unfettered democratic agenda. A counter-push among Congressional seats doesn’t see unlikely. Whereas a increase among Democrat majority in Congress doesn’t seem unlikely in a McCain administration either.
Spirit of 1776 on June 28, 2008 at 8:40 PM
WOW! thanks for that ‘comprehensive’ list! I knew some of it, but not all. Thank you very much.
LegendHasIt on June 28, 2008 at 8:42 PM
Go ahead RINO’s elect the traitorous McCain. Drive a stake through the heart of what was once the conservatives party. He’ll have to be elected without my vote and hopefully the vote of every true conservative and patriot.
That’s right, I said patriot because helping to elect anyone who disrespects our country’s sovereignty and it’s most basic principle, the rule of law, is complicit in the treason.
I’ve heard and read the attempts at justifying a vote for McCain. They ring hollow. It’s foolish to preoccupy yourselves with the war and Supreme Court justices if the integrity of the country is violated from within, facilitated by McCain’s treasonous initiatives.
We will be a country without borders. We will no longer be country subscribing to one set of laws for everyone with no one above the law. The very basis of any country and our country will no longer be.
We will solidify ourselves as country run by corporations and special interest lobbies with no regard for even the most basic principles that made this once great country great.
The lesser of two evils. What a sad joke.
It is what it is.
voiceofreason on June 28, 2008 at 8:43 PM
Correct, if McCain loses, its his fault, not ours, he needs to convince us he is worthy of our support. But no, he seems to think pushing Amnesty and pissing on conservatives at every opportunity is more important than winning the election and winning in Iraq and Afghanistan, wars which he swears he wants to win.
doubleplusundead on June 28, 2008 at 8:43 PM
Either Obama or McCain will have a big dim majority, which is what they both want.
MB4 on June 28, 2008 at 8:44 PM
MB4, your math is wanting today. Have you had those microbrews you’re famous here for early? 2 to 1?
Heh, but who wants to be ignorant and happy all the time? This is one of my all time favorite discussion topics.
Entelechy on June 28, 2008 at 8:44 PM
You know what?
It sure is going to be interesting to see where McCain gets the votes to win in November as he continues to tell the GOP base to f**k off in favor of pandering to Democrats and the hate-filled RINOS who think that social conservatives and evangelicals are a bigger threat to America than Obama.
Allah, you and all you McCain supporters are going to have an uphill battle now that you’ve settled on ditching the GOP base in favor of people like you. For myself, I can’t see voting for McCain when he is more inclined to reach across the aisle and support Teddy Kennedy’s amnesty scheme than showing the least amount of respect to people who believe in God and traditional values. Lotsa luck with your “f**k off Republicans” strategy. It’s going to come back and bite you in the rear end.
highhopes on June 28, 2008 at 8:45 PM
You see and you observe.
Holmes on June 28, 2008 at 8:46 PM
Ugh, that’s too true. A liberal congress with a veto-proof majority is a liberal congress that’ll do whatever it wants regardless of who’s prez.
innominatus on June 28, 2008 at 8:48 PM
Some have never had a rope around their neck. Well, I’m going to tell them something. When that rope starts to pull tight, you can feel the Devil bite your ass.
Tuco on June 28, 2008 at 8:49 PM
JetBoy on June 28, 2008 at 8:05 PM
I’m with you more or less on the WoT.
Economy: McCain would wreck it with Cap&Trade and global warming regulation. Sorry, he would.
We’re gonna have to agree to disagree on Immigration.
Drilling? McCain has tacked a bit to the right with OCS. But ANWR is his achilles heel. An over-reliance on “new technologies” (at least to the tune McCain is talking about) would be a waste of money/resources. His position on energy is a bit more “mavericky” than it really should be.
The only other issue which has even jogged me towards McCain a little is the SCOTUS stuff of the last few weeks.
catmman on June 28, 2008 at 8:50 PM
Let me see: four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is? Oh dear! We shall never get to twenty at that rate!
Sigy on June 28, 2008 at 8:53 PM
where were you last november?? we shut down capitol hill w/ call, faxes and emails to all the senators and representatives to end comprehensive. mccain was htere and he knows it happened. yet he still ignores it and pushes this legislation. after he is president he will no more listen than he claims to have last year.
chasdal on June 28, 2008 at 8:54 PM
Who voted McCain as the nominee?
How many ‘true conservatives’ are actually out there to win Any election?
bridgetown on June 28, 2008 at 8:54 PM
Oh crap. Now you done gone and done it. INCOMING!
Apples and oranges. Reagan gave amnesty to 3-4 million in return for enforcement. And he wasn’t a squish on other, costly, boondoggles, like global warming. Don’t get me started on McCain vs. Reagan. (Compare Reagan’s whole-hearted endorsement of American exceptionalism with McCain’s “tough to be proud of America” crap. ARGH!)
And, now we know that amnesty and then enforcement is a failure. And it wouldn’t be President McCain’s only failure.
It seems to me that most people don’t realize just how costly it’s going to be to fight the myth that is global warmism. And there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between McCain and Bambi on it. My impression is that the money we throw down the global warming rathole and the money we will spend on tens of millions of poor welfare state recipients (in addition to the beginning of the Boomer Retirement) will dwarf any other tax increases Bambi might want in addition. And I’d love for somebody to convince me that I’m wrong.
Just because we don’t recognize a Reagan now doesn’t mean there won’t be one. And as for Rome, I’m thinking (hoping!) that a descent into the Obama socialist madness will knock some sense into our collective heads.
I’m not unsympathetic to your position, Ent. It’s valid. We are still dealing with the immense damage that FDR did domestically, and Carter did overseas (HT: LegendHasIt). And there is no guarantee that we’ll be able to overcome that damage. I think the self-interest of the Dems and Bambi will prevent them from doing anything catastrophic. Bambi has already started coming back to the center - see, e.g., FISA. He either understands, or his puppetmaster has told him, that as President, he wants as much leeway as possible to protect America.
And another thing. The Republicans have been sliding for many years now; there is no alternative to the reality that they need a kick in the ass. (That’s one more inherent disability that small-government conservatives and Republicans face that Democrats and liberals don’t face: the corrupting influence of DC. Just one more consequence of the fact that we ignore the brilliance of the Founders and writers of the Constitution.) Politicians are simple creatures, if you reward what they’re doing, they’ll keep doing it. I don’t want the Republicans, or John McCain, to keep doing what they’re doing. Hell, John McCain got his butt handed to him over amnesty, and he didn’t learn a thing.
To be continued…
misterpeasea on June 28, 2008 at 8:54 PM
thats an iffy proposition. a roberts/alito type would most likely vote against mccain-feingold type and i have trouble believing mccain would risk that.
john mccain, the nytimes endorsed republican candidate
chasdal on June 28, 2008 at 8:58 PM
Got an opening in your professional schedule? I could use some couch time.
Given the chance to unlearn everything I have learned, un-experience everything I have experienced, I wonder if I would take it.
I miss being merely happy. True joy, even momentarily, is such a stranger I wouldn’t recognize it if it stomped on my toes while wearing a name tag.
Is there a pill that can take out all the depressing knowledge but leave the technical knowledge and the skills of dealing with mundane things?
In the world that we are about to enter, will any of that be useful anyway? I’m no Hank Rearden with an entry into Galt’s Gulch . I’m stuck here, like Eddie Willers. With the soul of Ragnar Danneskjöld but as ineffectual as Cherryl Brooks.
LegendHasIt on June 28, 2008 at 9:05 PM
Oh my. Are you really sure that exposing people to this many Truths all at once is the best course of action?
What he
said. Bambi will be peurile putty in the paws of Pelosi (is a San Francisco Democrat better than a Chicago radical?) and Reid (in my opinion, a hack with no strong ideology). And, what would be more effective? An enthusiastic Republican minority united in opposing Bambi, and pressuring the conservative Democrats, or a meekly obliging Republican minority backing McCain and giving cover to the conservative Dems?
misterpeasea on June 28, 2008 at 9:09 PM
Wow. This says it all.
I almost want to engrave this and hang it on my wall.
It has everything in *in best Homer Simpson voice* all wrapped up in a neat little packaaage.
We have RINO’s.
We have “traitorous McCain”
We have “go ahead” and vote for him!
Obama…McCain….yeah, the choice is clear.
Newsflash….the primaries are over!
JetBoy on June 28, 2008 at 9:10 PM
misterpeasea, have it your way. I’ve died already. The thought of it killed me.
LegendHasIt on June 28, 2008 at 9:05 PM
I’ll comment to this later. Have to cook dinner now, walk the dogs and iron. The intellectual endeavours don’t eliminate the mundane ones. But I’ll be back later, for sure.
Entelechy on June 28, 2008 at 9:14 PM
And not just this post. We disagree on McCain. No surprise. Just wanted to say I do value yours, and others, opinions. I wouldn’t be here if I did not. It’s very strange…arguing with my fellow Republicans. My fellow conservatives. It’s not fun.
More fun to argue with the leftie libs.
Please…we have, for better or worse, our nominee. The Dems do too. Again, one of these two men will be our next president for at least the next 4 years.
Now…who will it be?
JetBoy on June 28, 2008 at 9:15 PM
Intrade has Obama 65.1, McCain 30.8, so my mistake, just over 2.1 to 1.
MB4 on June 28, 2008 at 9:15 PM
Yeah, and I never had my say, the primary was effectively over before my state got to have a say. Our primary system is bullsh*t. The other states choose our candidates, maybe we wouldn’t have a RINO that I can’t bring myself to support if we had an actual legitimate primary system.
doubleplusundead on June 28, 2008 at 9:16 PM
You forgot JUAN “Z-VISA” MCCAIN…
DfDeportation on June 28, 2008 at 9:16 PM
chasdal on June 28, 2008 at 8:54 PM
I was there. I was calling and writing and doing my part.
And I’m willing to do it all over again.
What I’m not up for is President Obama.
bridgetown on June 28, 2008 at 9:16 PM
When does McVain start campaigning????
mimi1220 on June 28, 2008 at 9:21 PM
Going to sneak out for the weekly high point of my life now too. The cupboard is bare, time to go grocery shopping.
Those questions were really meant to be purely rhetorical;
but it will be interesting to get your take on them, nonetheless.
LegendHasIt on June 28, 2008 at 9:23 PM
Well, if you want a firm date, I’d say that it has to be:
JULY 12
LegendHasIt on June 28, 2008 at 9:26 PM
OK…I agree the primary system could use an overhaul. I voted on Superduper Tuesday. But again, I was a Fred head before there were Fred heads. Fred was my first choice. After Fred, I immediately went McCain.
I’m all for looking into a national primary. There’s pros and cons on the issue, but lets at least look at it.
Granted, this election cycle saw the Dem’s utilize all states until the end.
But some will say you don’t HAVE to live in a state with a late primary, feel free to move if it’s that important.
JetBoy on June 28, 2008 at 9:30 PM
You know, I don’t really think it would take that much to ensure McCain doesn’t win this November.
Horatius on June 28, 2008 at 9:33 PM
We’re all “Mavericks Against McCain” now!
Right_of_Attila on June 28, 2008 at 9:34 PM
Those people would be wrong of course:) because it contradicts the spirit of the electoral process as it was established by the founders. The national level is a compilation of states and state representatives. To abandon one for the other is not congruent.
Spirit of 1776 on June 28, 2008 at 9:35 PM
There is no certainty about McCain and Conservatives have not been active enough in moving the masses. Therefore Conservatives have no one but themselves to blame IF BHO is elected or McCain wins and continues to move the Republican party to the left.
My point is Conservative neeeeeed to be more active. We need more Activist Conservatives. Yes that is an oxymoron but still. Until we raise the volume our argument to a level that wakes up a true leader for us, from among the people, the values of freedom, and liberty that we believe in will suffer,
elraphbo on June 28, 2008 at 9:40 PM
Those people would be idiots.
doubleplusundead on June 28, 2008 at 9:41 PM
As much as this continues to piss me off, we can’t afford to throw out the baby with the bathwater on this one.
I’ve gone back and forth since McCain became the nominee, but an Obama presidency with a Democrat majority would be an absolute disaster for this country, one that will potentially wreak havoc for generations with Supreme Court nominations.
I agree that we need to press McCain, and make him work to earn the conservative vote, as best we can. And we need to fight him on another shamnesty.
But where he will at least pay lip service to border enforcement, Obama won’t even do that. Let’s not fool ourselves. He’s Carter 2.0, and there’s simply no telling what kind of damage his presidency will bring. From income redistribution, to further massive expansion of government, to more and more entitlements, to an even worse amnesty for illegals, to gas prices, to nothing being done on energy, to pulling out of Iraq, to handing Al Queda and the jihadists a massive victory and increase in confidence that the West’s days are numbered, to the destruction of actual rights in the Constitution such as the First and Second Amendment….C’mon folks, we know the score here.
We can fix conservatism in the Republican party without sitting out this election because we have issues, legitimate as they are, with our nominee.
I share the disdain with McCain on this, but we simply cannot afford Obama.
Hawkins1701 on June 28, 2008 at 9:48 PM
Then I assume you gentlemen would also agree that those who say Washington, DC residents should move if they want a true voice in Congress are also “idiots”?
Just asking…as I do agree with you both. Having gone to college in the DC area, this really is a sticking point. I know I’m OT, but…
JetBoy on June 28, 2008 at 9:50 PM
Dm you McCain! How dare you, HOW DARE YOU suggest I, and the american populace, are to stupid to hear and understand what you just said.
allrsn on June 28, 2008 at 9:52 PM
I know what is stopping me, but what is stopping you from being that leader, elraphbo? Or his lieutenant? Or his footsoldier? Or the keeper of the bridge until he shows up?
Further, the American system of federalist governance cannot work if we wait for a leader to save us. We must all be involved in our communities at the local and state levels, just to make the idea of a self-governing populace a reality. And also, so that even if we aren’t good enough for the larger national stage, we know who is. And yes, I am as guilty in my passivity as anyone else. Thank God the common people of the Founding Generation (and the generations up to 1865) weren’t.
As TR said, we must do what we can, where we are, with what we have. Then perhaps Providence will dispose for us…
Horatius on June 28, 2008 at 9:52 PM
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