Who are we gonna serve, Juan? The "common good"?
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Who are we gonna serve, Juan? The "common good"?
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For all the complaining (justified, I agree) about Obama’s trip to Europe, everyone seems to forget McCain doing the same thing in MEXICO over a month ago. No, he didn’t slam the USA, but he said all the USA has accomplished is because of Mexican Americans/hispanics and pandered as much as possible, telling them how BAD we’ve been to them, that we share a ‘common destiny’ even throwing in a bunch of socialist bail outs for them, including housing.
“As we work with our hemispheric partners, we must be clear about the kind of leadership America seeks to provide. For decades, in Republican and Democratic administrations alike, the United States has treated Latin America as a junior partner rather than as a neighbor, like a little brother rather than as an equal. As a resident of a state that borders Mexico, I am acutely aware of the extraordinary contributions that our neighbors make to the United States – from trade to culture to a commitment to democracy and human rights. Latin America today is increasingly vital to the fortunes of the United States, and Americans north and south share a common geography and a common destiny. It is time to embrace this destiny for the benefit of all our peoples.
http://www.johnmccain.com/informing/news/Speeches/c6208dbe-e868-4917-b4e6-f56c363d20c7.htm
La Raza runs one of the largest housing counseling programs in the country that has helped tens of thousands of Latinos become homeowners with secure mortgages. But millions of Americans have been hurt by the mortgage crisis and falling home values, and many in the Hispanic community have been especially hard hit. I want to help people who genuinely need assistance in these tough times, not speculators and lenders who contributed to this mess and didn’t follow the basics of good business practice. I am committed to making sure families who want to hold onto their home have a chance to do so. My HOME plan allows families who need help to apply — either at their local Post Office or online — for a new, guaranteed, fixed-rate, 30-year mortgage that will allow them to remain in their home, and raise their family with dignity.
I know that not all Americans have prospered in the global economy. And for those who, through no fault of their own, have lost their job to foreign competition, I have proposed a comprehensive reform of our unemployment insurance and worker retraining programs. We will use our community colleges to help train workers for specific opportunities in their communities. And for workers of a certain age who have lost a job that won’t come back, if they move rapidly to a new job we’ll help make up the difference in wages between their old job and the new one.
Let me close by expressing my respect and gratitude for the contributions of Hispanic-Americans to the culture, economy and security of the country I have served all my adult life. I represent Arizona where Spanish was spoken before English was, and where the character and prosperity of our state owes a great deal to the many Arizonans of Hispanic descent who live there. And I know this country, which I love more than almost anything, would be the poorer were we deprived of the patriotism, industry and decency of those millions of Americans whose families came here from other countries in our hemisphere. Latinos are among the hardest working most productive people in our country. The strength of your religious faith and the strength and closeness of your families are a great force for social stability and individual happiness. In my recent visit to Mexico, I visited the Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and was greatly mov ed by the experience, and came to appreciate all the more your deep devotion to the God who created us and loves us all equally. I will honor your contributions to America for as long as I live. We would not be the special country we are without you.
I know many of you were disappointed and hurt by those who used the debate on immigration last year, not to respectfully debate the issue, as most did, but to denigrate the contributions of Hispanics to our great country. I denounced those insults then, and I denounce them today. My friends, you know me. One of my proudest achievements as a politician is to have won 75 percent of the Hispanic vote in Arizona in my last re-election. I believe I’m the only member of the Senate to have twice won your Congressional Leadership Award, a distinction I am also very proud of.....As a private citizen or as your President, I will never, never do anything to dishonor our obligations to them and their families or to forget what they and their ancestors have done to make this country the beautiful, bountiful, blessed place we love.
From the white roses he laid before a likeness of Mexico’s blessed saint, the Virgin of Guadalupe, to the endorsement he gave for an overhaul of American immigration laws, Senator John McCain used a visit to Mexico on Thursday to appeal to residents of both sides of the border: Mexicans and, more urgently, their voting relatives and other Latinos in the United States.
McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, has faced criticism from some of his fellow Republicans for spending time in Colombia and Mexico just as the general election battle heats up, but his campaign officials feel that the trip could resonate among voters back home by promoting his support of free trade, while highlighting his immigration views during his time in Mexico.
In a sign of the tight security in the high-crime Ixtapalapa neighborhood, which McCain visited, police officers working the perimeters were not told whom they were protecting.
Mexicans have become inured to reports of daily drug violence, but the day Senator McCain arrived, Wednesday, was particularly gruesome: Four decapitated bodies were found near a threatening message against one of Mexico’s top drug lords in the northern city of Culiacán, where the battle over drugs has centered. The police later killed four gunmen in a shootout in Culiacán and recovered an arsenal of weapons in a safe house.
McCain, who flew to Phoenix on Thursday afternoon, was in Mexico on the third and final day of a Latin American tour intended to promote himself as a seasoned foreign policy hand compared with Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee.
The trip also showed McCain in touch with Latinos and Catholics, two key voting blocs in the fall election.
During the tour of the Basilica of Guadalupe, McCain was blessed by Msgr. Diego Monroy, the rector. For several minutes, the monsignor had one hand on McCain’s forehead and another on his shoulder as he offered the blessing.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/04/america/04mccain.php
