McCain casts doubt on immigration as issue (says Santorum lost due to tough stance on illegals)

Every time something happens with the Dims and I decide that I may have to suck it up and very, very, very, very reluctantly pull the lever for McCain in November, he says or does something that makes me pull back and say “never mind. I’ll vote Constitution Party or write in like I orginally planned to do.”

AMERICAN VOTERS DID not TURN AGAINST TOUGHER ENFORCEMENT OR LOWER IMMIGRATION.

The Great Illegal Immigration Myth of '06

Still waiting for someone who won on running against illegal immigration. No answer yet.

As I posted very early in the thread, my congressman beat pro amnesty RINO Joe Shwarz here in Michigan and Walberg won with the backing of the Minutman PAC.

Here are the people you described as winners by virtue of anti-immigration stance. I note that all are Representatives and all but a few are in safe Republican districts. I do note Bilbray there; he surely has voiced views similar to yours. But note he received substantial funds and support from Senator McCain.

I note that Barletta lost his race when he focused on illegal immigration. He is due to try again. I hope he wins, but suspect he has to run on something closer to his constituents than that.

The one Democrat seems to use anti-illegal immigration language to bolster his opinion as a “conservative.” He actually, votes Democrat on most issues so the voters have been sold a bill of goods.

Rohrbacher is a leader in your movement; however, note he has been in Congress for about 20 years.

All of the below are from Wikipedia only:

Carter retired from the bench in 2001 in order to run for Congress in the newly created 31st District. After finishing second in the primary, he defeated Peter Wareing in the runoff — which was tantamount to election in this heavily Republican district. He has been reelected twice without facing serious opposition.

In November 2004, Poe ran for the U.S. House against Democrat Nick Lampson in the 2nd District, which had been numbered as the 9th District prior to a controversial mid-decade redistricting. The new 2nd was considerably more Republican than the old 9th, in part due to the loss of Galveston and the area around the Johnson Space Center. They were replaced with several heavily Republican areas around Houston. Poe won 55% of the vote to Lampson's 43%. While Lampson trounced Poe in Beaumont and Port Arthur, Poe swamped Lampson in the Harris County portion of the district.

Culberson won the Republican nomination for the 7th District in 2000 after 15-term incumbent Bill Archer announced his retirement. He finished first in the Republican primary — previously the real contest in this Republican district — and defeated Peter Wareing in the runoff. He won easily in November, taking about 75% of the vote. He has since been reelected three times, the last against his 2006 opponent Jim Henley, a middle school debate teache

Bilbray ran in the 2006 special election to fill the vacancy in California's 50th congressional district caused by the resignation in December 2005 of Duke Cunningham, who pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and tax evasion. In March of 2005, Bilbray moved from to Carlsbad, California, to take care of his mother, who owns a home there.[5].

The race to assume Cunningham's seat was highly contested, especially on the Republican side, with 14 Republicans (compared with only 2 Democrats) officially running for the position. Leading up to the initial all-candidate election that would determine the parties' candidates in a runoff election, Bilbray was in a virtual tie with

Republican businessman Eric Roach [1], slightly ahead of former State Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian. Four days prior to the election, businessman Alan Uke, one of the major Republican candidates, ran an attack ad accusing Roach of outsourcing thousands of jobs at the expense of American workers. [2] In the initial all-party special election on April 11, 2006, Bilbray was the Republican candidate with the most votes, receiving 15.26% of the total vote to Roach's 14.50%. He then faced the top votegetters of all the other parties in a runoff election on June 6, 2006: Democrat Francine Busby, Libertarian Paul King, and William Griffith, an independent.

During the campaign, Arizona Senator John McCain cancelled a planned fundraiser for Bilbray at the last minute, after Bilbray called McCain's immigration bill "amnesty" for illegal immigrants.[6] McCain later contributed money to Bilbray's campaign and voiced a radio commercial for the National Republican Congressional Committee in support of Bilbray's race against Busby[7].

Bilbray won the runoff with 49% of the vote, and was sworn in on June 13, 2006 as a member of the Congress. The Democratic National Committee's Voting Rights Institute raised several concerns about the fairness and accuracy of the vote count.[8] An election contest lawsuit sought a hand recount.[9] The court dismisse

Prior to his election to Congress in 1988, Rohrabacher served as Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan. For seven years he was one of the President's senior speechwriters. During his tenure at the White House, Rohrabacher played a leading role in the formulation of the Reagan Doctrine. He also helped formulate President Reagan's Economic Bill of Rights, which were a series of policy proposals President Reagan introduced in a speech at the Jefferson Memorial.

Rohrabacher is a staunch opponent of illegal immigration. He was an advocate for California's Proposition 187, which sought to deny immigrants without proper documentation any government services, including education for their children. In 2004 he proposed a bill to withhold reimbursement of emergency room services to people who cannot prove their immigration status. If one is illegal, reimbursement occurs only if the person is deported. The proposed bill was overwhelmingly defeated [1].

On March 30, 2006, Rohrabacher decried a guest worker proposal as "the foul odor that's coming out of the United States Senate." He said that if illegal immigrants who do many farm jobs were deported, "the millions of young men who are prisoners around our country can pick the fruits and vegetables. I say, let the prisoners pick the fruits." [2][3]

Shuler is fairly conservative and has voted with Republicans on key issues. In 2008 he was instrumental in passing the FISA bill granting telecommunications companies immunity from prosecution for their involvement in warrantless wiretapping of American citizens, including his sending a letter to Speaker Pelosi encouraging her not to fight the bill. He opposes abortion rights and gun control, and has vowed to fight for balanced budgets as part of the "Blue Dog Coalition," a group of moderate and conservative Democrats. He also takes a hard line on illegal immigration. However, on economic and environmental matters, Shuler tends to vote more with his party.[2] During the campaign, Shuler bought advertising time on several Christian radio stations, which is unusual for Democratic candidates.

In 2007, Shuler introduced proposed legislation co-sponsored with Congressman Walter Jones of North Carolina to require airlines to have sections of the aircraft where large movie screens would not be visible. This was to avoid the situation where children could watch films potentially objectionable by their parents.[3] No mention was made regarding airlines who use a safety video for In-flight safety demonstration.

Reportedly owing to his success in real estate, Shuler was named chairman of the House Small Business Subcommittee on Rural and Urban Entrepreneurship.[4] He is also a deputy majority whip.

Barletta ran for the United States House of Representatives in 2002 for Pennsylvania's 11th congressional district which includes Hazelton. He received the Republican nomination and faced incumbent Democrat Paul Kanjorski. Kanjorski was under FBI investigation for improperly using his influence to funnel millions of dollars in federal funds to companies owned by his family. Despite this, Kanjorski won. Since then, Barletta has made a reputation for himself for his outspoked views against illegal immigration. As mayor, Barletta and the city council passed the Illegal Immigration Relief Act, an ordinance that instituted to discourage hiring or renting to illegal immigrants. Another act passed concurrently made English the official language of Hazleton. Barletta will be facing Kanjorski for a second congressional race in 2008 and has an even better chance at picking up the seat with his popularity nationwide.

I've long accused McCain of being senile, but now have very good evidence that he indeed is. Among the most glaring hallmarks of senile dementia is an ability to remember events from long ago with striking clarity, but an inability to recall recent ones.

While he can always recall Smoot-Hawley, passed in 1931, and the harm it caused the nation; in advocating for an amnesty for illegal aliens, he never can remember Simpson-Mazzolli, passed in 1986, and the harm it did and is still doing to the country. It's an obvious case of senility if there ever was one. {/sarcasm}

>>Here are the people you described as winners by virtue of anti-immigration stance.<<

No I didn’t. I claim that immigration helps them. I posted a reply to your challenge:

>>Still waiting for someone who won on running against illegal immigration. No answer yet.<<

Now you seem to want me to find people who are not conservative, but who won only because of immigration. A strange kind of animal. There are almost always multiple issues in any campaign.

It occurs to me, that since Lt. Col. Wm Russell, who was trying to run as an R against Jack Murthat in PA, was double crossed by two out of office R politicians in PA, was stabed in the back by his own party because of his stance against illegal immigration.

McCains remarks just prove to me how rigged elections are in favor of elite. Santorum stands up for the people on this, he’s out, others as well. Considering approx 80 percent of the population wants secure borders, this doesn’t wash.

Tancredo, Hunter, Thompson all secure border advocates, screwed.

Anyone see a pattern?

Perhaps the contraversy contributed to Santorum losing his seat. So, it follows, that McCain contributed to his defeat for Santorum defended our borders and sovereighty against the very legislation McCain started.

McCain is so loyal, loyal to the Arizona builders associations and their contributions to his camapign (egads, a special interest group!), plus the pro-open borders liberals that keep getting him reelected.