McCain ad: “God’s Children”

Hot Air ^ | July 11, 2008 | Ed Morrissey

[GOPGuide]

Team McCain has its latest ad out today, taken from a New Hampshire debate in June 2007, when John McCain soliloquized on the contributions of Hispanic citizens and residents to our efforts in Vietnam and Iraq. Titled “God’s Children”, the ad matches imagery to McCain’s impromptu salute:

"My friends, I want you the next time you’re down in Washington, D.C., to go to the Vietnam War Memorial and look at the names engraved in black granite. You’ll find a whole lot of Hispanic names.

When you go to Iraq or Afghanistan today, you’re going to see a whole lot of people who are of Hispanic background. You’re even going to meet some of the few thousand that are still green card holders who are not even citizens of this country, who love this country so much that they’re willing to risk their lives in its service in order to accelerate their path to citizenship and enjoy the bountiful, blessed nation.

So let’s from time to time remember that these are God’s children. They must come into country legally, but they have enriched our culture and our nation as every generation of immigrants before them.

Thank you."

About the best that can be said for this clip is that it was much more effective in context than it is here. During the debate, the other candidates had described illegal immigrants as not much more than a plague upon the land. This response came spontaneously from McCain, defending the contributions of Hispanics in the US as a reminder to Republicans to keep the rhetoric from getting overheated.

Now, though, this ad sounds like a non-sequitur. He and Barack Obama are close in policy on immigration, to the point where conservatives have resigned themselves not to bring it up if McCain won’t. Unfortunately, this sounds now like a deliberate provocation to the Right, who in fairness have never — never — discounted the contributions of Hispanic citizens and legal residents, especially not their long history of service to this nation. The issue is illegal immigration and border security, not whether we know that Americans of Hispanic descent have risked and given their lives for us.

This is a monumentally stupid ad. It spends a full minute saying nothing about the issue it supposedly addresses, and it insults the intelligence of the people whom McCain is trying to woo. And I’m someone who has a little more sympathy for McCain’s efforts on immigration than most on the Right. Take two big steps backward, Senator McCain.

[normy]

It’s a good ad and it rings true.

[indcons]

You’ll find a whole lot of Hispanic names of illegals in prison records, welfare rolls, and gang rosters. What’s McCain’s point?

[hiredhand]

[truthkeeper]

This elevates pandering to new heights. Ugh.

[Right Cal Gal]

Precisely. It’s time to climb off that “racist, xenophobe” high horse these people are on. Maybe they’d like to deal with the average citizen’s consequences of illegals — gang members, unlicensed, uninsured drivers and shut down emergency rooms — before they chastise us for our frustrations with their failure to do anything.

[BGHater]

We are so screwed. We are stuck between Obama and electing another do nothing Border state guy. Amnesty is coming either from Obama or McCain.

[Sybeck1]

Why are “God’s Children” from this hemisphere given preferential treatment? I mean the low wage lobby could get a better rate on “God Children” from Southeast Asia or Sub-Saharan Africa....

[SoConPubbie]

Someone should remind McCain that even the Murderers on Death Row are God’s Children.

What is this idiot’s point?

[horse_doc]

Oh, barf.

Of all the things that I dislike about McCain, this phrase is the worst.

It means that anyone who disagrees with him on immigration, believes that Hispanics are NOT God's children, and do not have souls.

Just like anyone who disagrees with him on immigration, is a racist and a nativist.

I was going to drink a pint of bourbon, then stagger down to my polling place to vote against Obama. Now, it's up to a fifth. If he's not careful, McCain runs the risk of making me drink so much, that I'll pass out before I make it to the polls.

[Sybeck1]

Face it. Fred Barnes’ grass must be cut and his children must be cared for. You simply can not count on the elites to do those simple things for themselves. All the while teachers, like my wife sit through parent-teacher conferences wondering what the hell is being said about them as the parents rip into Spanish as we promote kids that can't read a single word of English...

[A_perfect_lady]

Why don’t we just agree that Mexico is God’s country, too, and we just want God’s children to live in God’s country unless they are in OUR country legally!

[ExGeeEye]

Did all of you miss phrase

They must come into country legally

?

I don't know about y'all, but that's all I've ever asked....

...and I'm so wild-eyed crazy "secure the border" I wouldn't mind automatic radar-guided machine guns doing the "wet" work.

[DancesWithBolsheviks]

This is either a blatant attempt to falsely smear those favoring rule of law as xenophobes, or he really is that out of touch with the base. Either way, he is looking as unelectable as the other candidate.

There are alot of illegals from the lands of my ancestry in Europe and I don’t want amnesty for them either.

I don’t remember Bill Clinton being this hostile to the right.

[ilgipper]

Amnesty is coming either from Obama or McCainBush campaigned on it too. It still has to get through the House/Senate, and it has been defeated once. At least with McCain, he will need some GOP support and will be more likely to back the GOP base on building the wall, and enforcement as PART of the solution. With all Dem control, God only knows what will happen to that bill.

[CowboyJay]

My friends

Anytime McCain begins a statement with these words, you may paraphrase what follows as 'BOHICA'. Another attempt to conflate 'Hispanics' who are good citizens and in this country legally with the criminals who come here to sneak-thieve what is not theirs to claim either by birth or by merit.

[MrB]

I don’t believe any of us missed the phrase “they must come into the country legally”,

but I believe 99% of us don’t believe that Juan has any intention of making sure this is enforced.

It’s all we all have ever asked. Seal up the border, know exactly who’s crossing, and make sure they come in legally in a controlled manner.

[ncalburt]

Wrong and so is hot air. According to Rush and Medved ,McCain gave a tough non pandering speech to some latin group vs Obama who promised them the world and then he went onto to snidely insult all of us for not being bilingual. This election will come down to the latin vote.
The latin population is the swing vote this year. Bush did the same thing courting the Latin vote . The conservative media just looked the other way in 2000 and 2004.

[BGHater]

You can't press the restart button(Amnesty) without first having a complete wall and fixing the backlog in legal immigration.

Besides, the GOP would rally against Obama more than they will ever rally to support McCain.

[rabscuttle385]

McCain Hispanderin' alert.

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