Posted on 03/20/2008 2:31:58 PM PDT by radar101
Arizona Sen. John McCain, who blamed illegal immigration Monday for Republican losses in major congressional races, has rejected Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta’s invitation to discuss the issue.
“Sen. McCain truly appreciates your invitation and the valuable opportunity it represents,” Jo Black, a scheduling official in the presumptive Republican nominee’s presidential campaign, wrote in a letter to Barletta’s congressional campaign Wednesday.
The letter cited “tremendous demands” on McCain’s time and a “large volume of similar requests.”
Efforts to reach McCain’s campaign were unsuccessful.
Last week, Barletta invited McCain and the Democratic presidential candidates, Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, to come and discuss his signature issue.
Representatives for the Democrats didn’t jump at the chance Wednesday to hook up their candidates with Barletta either.
“We only set our schedule a few days in advance, but we will keep you updated about upcoming stops,” was all Sean Smith, Obama’s Pennsylvania spokesman, would say.
“We want to have Sen. Clinton go to every part of the state and meet with and talk to voters about her agenda for Pennsylvania,” said Mark Nevins, Clinton’s chief spokesman in Pennsylvania.
He had not seen the invitation, he said, and could not comment further.
“I think the candidates are purposely avoiding Hazleton,” Barletta said. “How could they possibly be in the Commonwealth for six weeks and not come to Hazleton when Hazleton has been at the forefront of this national problem?”
Barletta has received nationwide attention for trying to regulate employment and renting to illegal immigrants. U.S. District Judge James Munley struck down the city’s legislation last year as unconstitutional, but the matter is under appeal.
The mayor denied the invitations were a publicity stunt for his congressional campaign. Barletta is the unopposed Republican candidate in the April 22 primary election for the seat held by Democratic Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski of Nanticoke.
“The campaign is on the back burner to what the issue is,” said Barletta, who announced the invitations and McCain’s rejection on campaign stationery.
Ed Mitchell, the spokesman for Kanjorski’s campaign, called the invites “a very useful public relations ploy.”
In a National Public Radio interview Monday, McCain said the issue cost Republicans in two recent, high-profile Republican congressional losses — Sen. Rick Santorum’s last year and Jim Oberweis’ bid for former House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s seat earlier this month in suburban Chicago.
Last July, Obama praised Munley’s ruling as “a victory for all Americans” and called Hazleton’s laws “anti-immigrant,” “unconstitutional and unworkable.”
bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com
Immigration would be a winning issue for the Republicans if they would exploit it. But when the legislation legalizing millions of invaders bears the name of a prominent Republican senator, and the Republican President is visibly salivating on TV at the prospect of signing it, the Republicans, to those who don’t pay a lot of attention, begin to look like the party of amnesty.
That’s why there were democrats in ‘06 who ran to right of incumbent Republicans on the immigration issue, and won.
The RINOs, in their infinite stupidity, punted a winning issue to the democrats, all because they were more interested in being politically correct than in doing the right thing for American security and sovereignty.
“The RINOs, in their infinite stupidity”, sums them all up for me. I live in Kalifornia, the land of Austrian socialist, Schwarzenegger.
Okay, McCainiacs, tell the rest of us (really slowly this time) why we need to vote for the Senator next November.
>>I live in Kalifornia, the land of Austrian socialist, Schwarzenegger.<<
Scwartzenegger has a plan to take money away from schools, etc. He will be blamed for the problem, and will probably raise taxes, but what about the huge drain on the budget from illegals? About 3 years ago he started to get tough on illegals, but took a lot of heat for it and backed off. The point is that real conservatives don’t have the power to stop the fiscal disaster.
Is Cal. hopeless now? Will other states follow?
McCain is the beneficiary of multiple “Perfect Storms”.
Through dumb, blind luck he will be the republican nominee facing a democrat even less acceptable than he.
He is a weak republican candidate, absolutely detested by one third of his own party; a RINO, who will face one of the two most unqualified, undesirable candidates to ever run for the democrat nomination, and that is saying a heck of a lot considering past democrat candidates.
If there had been another one or two viable liberal RINO candidates to split the left leaning republican vote McCain would never have won sufficient delegates to win the nomination.
If there had not been so many conservative candidates gutting each other and splitting the centrist/Conservative republican vote McCain would never have won sufficient delegates to win the nomination.
If this wasn't the year that liberals were in mindless swoons over an unqualified woman and even more unqualified negro running for the democratic nomination, a more qualified, stronger candidate would be the ultimate democrat nominee.
Consequently, as bad as RINO McCain is, he stands a chance of winning the presidency because both of his two possible opponents are so very much worse than he.
Its like a race to the bottom and the democrat will get there sligtly before McCain.
If this wasn’t the year that liberals were in mindless swoons over an unqualified woman and even more unqualified negro running for the democratic nomination, a more qualified, stronger candidate would be the ultimate democrat nominee.
Well put, but I must inform you that they hate being referred to as “negro” unless you suffer from white liberal guilt and are giving them college money.
Ultimately, media bias combined with the loathing that many traditional GOP voters feel for McCain will put the Democrat in the office. GOP voters have been demoralized since 2005; the 2006 election results made it plain for all to see, and nothing substantial has changed between then and now.
Lou Barletta is one of the people I’m considering as a write-in for the President slot in November. If I lived in Hazleton, I would vote for Barletta in a minute. Barletta gets it big time.
McCain is doing well now, only because the MSM are concentrating on Hillary and Obama savaging each other. But, they'll make whichever wins the nomination look like Jesus Christ himself afterward. IOW, they'll do such a hatchet job on Mac, he'll be looking back on his time at the Hotel Hilton with warm and fond memories.
When the real campaign begins, I don't think Mac has a snowball's chance in hell.
"What a terrible thing to have lost one's mind. Or not to have a mind at all. How true that is."
-- J. Danforth ("Dan") Quayle (speaking to the United Negro College Fund, 5/9/89)
.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.