It's not even summer yet and already, if this report is to be believed, GOP Presidential nominee Sen. John S. McPain (Maverick-AZ) is off the freaking reservation on the subject of immigration reform.
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (CNN) — John McCain the presidential candidate suddenly sounded like the John McCain of 2005 on Monday, touting two pet issues that have generated considerable heartache among grassroots conservatives: the “Gang of 14” compromise and comprehensive immigration reform. ...The Arizona senator also seemed to move past his usual “secure the borders first” mantra in favor of calling for, as he put it, “comprehensive immigration reform."
So, who had (appropriately enough) Cinco de Mayo in the "When will Johnny Mac begin tossing us nativists under the bus" pool?
“Unless we enact comprehensive immigration reform I don’t think you can take it piecemeal,” he explained Monday, answering a question about providing visas for skilled workers.“In other words,” he said, “because as soon you and I start to talk about the highly skilled workers, our agricultural interest people are going to say, ‘Look we need ag workers, too.’ And then somebody’s going say, 'We need the DREAM Act,' and then somebody’s going to say, 'We’ve got to enforce our border.'”
In other words, Mr. Straight TalkTM was lying his freaking tail off when he told us the message he heard loud and clear was "Secure the borders first"...
... and GOP primary voters across the nation believed him.
Fools.
Since clinching the nomination, McCain has largely avoided speaking about wide-ranging immigration reform, arguing primarily that the government needs to focus on securing the border with Mexico before taking on other measures.On Monday, he lobbied for a broader approach that includes a temporary guest worker program and tamper-proof ID cards.
“We get in this kind of a circular firing squad on immigration reform in the Congress of the United States," McCain said, "and the lesson I learned from it is we’ve got to have comprehensive immigration reform.”
The lesson I've learned is that John McCain can't be trusted - but I already knew that.
Just wait until he's President Maverick, folks. We're going to be longing for the Halcyon days of George W Bush and his 28% approval ratings within a year.
Oh, and how long before you think we'll start seeing discussion of this at places like RS? I'll put the over/under at just south of never.
UPDATE: DrewM @ AoSHQ has more commentary - and takes it a couple steps further...
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