Posted on 09/21/2008 6:48:43 PM PDT by Tennessee Nana
WASHINGTON — Immigration has emerged as an issue in the presidential election — but only in Spanish.
In dueling ads airing in Florida and other swing states with large number of Latino voters, the campaigns of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and GOP rival John McCain are casting each other in an anti-immigrant light.
Meanwhile, spokespersons for both candidates on Wednesday denounced their opponent's ads as false, misleading and "desperate."
McCain's ad, the first to appear, accused Obama of trying to block a major bill supported by the Arizona senator last year that would have given illegal immigrants a path to citizenship.
It says Obama supported "poison pill" amendments "that made immigration reform fail" and that the Illinois senator is "ready to block immigration reform."
The ad refers to amendments to the bill which some considered "poison pills" while others said were intended to improve the fragile compromise measure.
One of the amendments, pushed by labor unions, would have sunset a proposed guest worker program at five years.
In any case, the overall immigration bill was largely derailed by a lack of Republican support after a conservative rebellion, including thousands of phone calls that overwhelmed the congressional phone system, causing it to malfunction. In the final vote that ultimately killed the bill, only 12 Republicans voted to move it forward.
Hessy Fernandez, McCain's spokesperson for Hispanic media, said that Obama "voted for those poison pills because he wanted to please the unions. Barack Obama says one thing and does another."
Obama's campaign called McCain's ad "untruthful," and former Transportation Secretary Federico Pena, a campaign co-chair, said, "It is very unfortunate to see Senator McCain engage in desperate and misleading ads."
Obama on Wednesday released his own Spanish-language radio and TV spots that tie McCain to talk show host Rush Limbaugh and immigration hard-liners in his party.
It says that McCain and "his Republican friends" have "two faces" when it comes to Latinos. The ad shows a picture of Limbaugh above the words, "Mexicans — stupid and unqualified." A narrator says that McCain wants Latinos to forget "the insults" and "the intolerance" from Republicans.
Fernandez said the ad was "hypocritical and desperate" and that McCain never used that kind of rhetoric himself.
"Senator McCain took a lot of heat, at great political risk, for this issue" of immigration reform, she added.
The Obama ads will air in Florida, Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico, four swing states where the candidates are fighting hard for Latino votes.
Nationwide, Obama is leading McCain handily with Hispanic voters, according to various polls. A Gallup Poll conducted the first week of September showed that 60 percent of registered Hispanic voters preferred Obama, while 31 percent preferred McCain.
McCain's immigration measure was seen by many as a courageous stance against the right wing of the Republican Party, which viewed the measure as an amnesty for lawbreakers.
McCain has also separated himself from hard-liners on the issue, saying repeatedly that illegal immigrants are "God's children" and should be treated with compassion. A video released by the campaign this month features McCain saying that "all immigrants are symbols of hope" and that as president, immigration reform will be a priority.
However, McCain has also backed away from his immigration bill during the campaign, saying that the border must be secure before any legalization efforts move forward.
Obama has said repeatedly he supports giving illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
A race to the bottom. Obama wins this one, I’m afraid. They know he wants the illegal votes.
PINGO
I despise the idea of foreign language political ads.
The nuanced language of American politics is expressed in English. In a foreign language, listeners are likely to come away with misconceptions and be misled by even a faithful translation.
Terry Anderson at 9-10 PM PST, 10-11 PM MST, 11-12 PM CST, 12-1 AM EST...
http://www.republicbroadcasting.org/index.php?cmd=listenlive
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2087329/posts?page=1
btt
If Maverick John really thought that he could buy the Hispanic vote by pandering to illegals he must have been huffing the hydraulic fluid of his old A-4 Skyhawk.
At the end of the day a Republican is still treated as a Republican.
Obama on Wednesday released his own Spanish-language radio and TV spots that tie McCain to talk show host Rush Limbaugh and immigration hard-liners in his party.
Eunice, you ignorant, misguided....Obama hack. I've posted a link to a YouTube video where you can see for yourself what Rush Limbaugh said about illegal immigration.
It'll only take one minute of your valuable time, but it'll save you a lifetime of being embarrassingly wrong.
No need to thank me.
I don't know why links don't work when you add HTML.
How anyone can vote for either one of these illegal alien amnesty lovers defies logic knowing it is destroying the country.
This issue has beebn buried by the MSM to help the Dem’s.
As everyone cheers and says, "We're winning"...
Embarrassing, that we have two mainstream candidates bellyaching over who will “help illegals more”
And McCain selling out the American vote to get a whopping 30% of the Hispanic vote. Stupidity
“McCain’s immigration measure was seen by many as a courageous stance against the right wing of the Republican Party, which viewed the measure as an amnesty for lawbreakers.”
Sad but true.
“The hospitals are really suffering. We (California) closed eight last year”
“Our immigration laws are not broken. They have never been broken. They just aren’t enforced”
McC's Hispanic Outreah man, Juan Hernandez----is a dual US/Mexico citizen--who headed the Mexican government's "Ministry of Mexicans Living in the US."
Hernandez told Cong Tancredo that "The Ministry" exists to increase the flow of Mexicans to the US TO SERVE Mexico’s needs including: $50 billion annual remittances to Mexico (30% of Mexico's GDP); employment for Mexico's exploding population, to alleviate Mexican social instability, and to provide job training for Mexicans THAT THEY WILL BRING BACK TO MEXICO.
Hernandez told Cong Tancredo: ‘’By Mexico populating the US with millions of Hispanics tied economically, politically and linguistically to Mexico, our government is able to exert enormous influence and pressure on US policy and its dealings with Mexico.’’
Get ready for a massive transfer of US wealth to greedy federales in the Mexican hellhole. Third World federales are salivating at the thought.
The sap-happy whining about "hopeless people" looking for a "better life" here is nonsense. Hernandez and other Third World gov't agents have infiltrated the US political system for ONE REASON: to effect a massive transfer of US wealth.
=========================================
History shows the Huns, the Vandals, and the Barbarians used force to takeover a country to loot its wealth. Third World parasites like Hernandez use the US political system to divide and conqueur. They seek to conquer without firing a shot.
We can look forward to lettuce pickers stripping down to camouflage and shoulder holsters, roaming our streets, shooting to kill anyone who dares to speakout.
The invaders violated our borders for a "better life" (sarc) and while flipping hamburgers, they cleaned out the US Treasury, looted SS, UI, Disability, EITC, Workmen's Comp, welfare; they shut down numerous hospitals, sued everything in sight, and made big bucks selling drugs to American youth.
Now they'll retire in luxury at beachfront condos with multiple US govt checks rolling in.
More reasons to declare these agents of corrupt Third World governments invading our country "enemies of state."
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