Posted on 09/04/2008 10:58:17 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
ST. PAUL, MINN. - Republican John McCain's primary campaign almost collapsed last year under the weight of opponents' attacks that he backed "amnesty" for illegal immigrants.
As McCain prepares to accept his party's nomination for president tonight, past critics of the Arizona senator's position have rallied behind his candidacy.
McCain, meanwhile, has backed away from signature immigration legislation and signed off on a party platform that makes a fence along the Mexican border a priority.
The party's Twin Cities unity on immigration bridges, for now, an increasingly charged ideological rift for Republican candidates and campaigns.
"We don't go around talking about things we disagree with John on," said Jon Fleischman, a California delegate and the publisher of the Flash Report, a conservative Web site. "Even taking those into account, he's vastly better than Barack Obama."
Added Mike Madrid, a Latino political consultant: "The family feud is over now."
McCain inflamed immigration critics in 2005 when he and Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass, introduced sweeping legislation that would have provided a path to citizenship for an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants now in the U.S.
Many Republicans rejected the bill, describing it as amnesty for people who had broken the law.
Teresa Dix, a Republican delegate from Lake Elsinore, initially supported former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for the presidency and was wary of McCain's position on immigration.
On Wednesday, Dix said she was convinced that the Arizona senator was attuned to the financial toll of illegal immigration in Inland Southern California.
"I think he understands that we're very concerned about the effects on our economy," Dix said. "It's crippling."
Added Rep. David Dreier, R-San Dimas, "He fought like a tiger for his bill, and he failed. Now he's gotten the message."
Still a Priority
Campaign spokesman Rick Gorka said McCain would quickly move to enact the more widely accepted portions of his comprehensive immigration reform plan, if he is elected. Foremost among that, he said, is a strengthened border.
He rejected the notion that McCain has flip-flopped on the issue. McCain, he said, would still favor a path to citizenship, provided that undocumented immigrants pay taxes and learn to speak English.
The GOP platform has stronger language. Adopted Monday, it refers to "illegal aliens" and rails against so-called sanctuary cities, opposes giving driver's licenses or in-state tuition rates to undocumented immigrants, and condemns any form of amnesty.
"The rule of law suffers if government policies encourage or reward illegal activity," the platform reads. "The American people's rejection of en masse legalizations is especially appropriate given the federal government's past failures to enforce the law."
Appealing to Latinos
Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, said a hard party line on immigrants could make it harder for Republicans to attract Latino voters. In July, the nonpartisan Field Poll found that Latinos preferred Obama to McCain 64 percent to 21 percent.
"The party's platform is written by and supported by the Republican Party activists. It's not written by the general American public," Garcia said.
McCain, she said, has tried to address the issue fairly, he said.
"Whether you agree with him or disagree with him on immigration, he's working on the issue," she said.
That McCain has remained to the left of his party's conservative base on immigration shows the bipartisan appeal that Republicans hope will bring votes to the GOP ticket in November, said Bill McLaughlin, a delegate from Upland.
"We have to reach across the aisle," he said. "McCain has been very successful at finding ways to make things work."
Democrats' View
A June USA Today/Gallup survey found Obama essentially tied with McCain on handling illegal immigration.
The Democratic platform calls for more spending on border security. It also sets out a path to citizenship for people in the country illegally. The Democrats' platform does not mention "illegal aliens."
"Passions fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers," Sen. Obama, D-Ill., said in his acceptance speech last Thursday.
During the Republican convention's first three days, no high-profile speaker had mentioned the subject.
Immigration wasn't always such a volatile topic, said Stu Spencer, a former advisor to President Reagan, who signed landmark immigration legislation in 1986.
It increasingly became one. In 1994, California voters approved Prop. 187, which would have denied social services to people in the country illegally. Courts later prevented it from taking effect.
In recent years, business groups, backed by President Bush, have tried to get Congress to approve temporary worker programs. Immigration critics, including some in the mass media, have bitterly opposed those efforts.
The debate fueled the GOP primary fight for the 2008 nomination. Romney trashed McCain for supporting "amnesty." Romney has since endorsed McCain.
Some past rivals are still unhappy.
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., whose aborted presidential campaign centered on criticizing illegal immigration, recently told the National Journal that McCain was the "lesser of two evils" on the issue.
Great addition to the list-—thanks again.
I am feeling pretty good right now. I really hope McCain knows that there are two issues that will turn many of us against him for good.
Amnesty/Illegal-immigration
Man-made global warming
If he can remember that I will support him on the rest of his platform but make no mistakes Senator..... you will lose it all on those two issues.
You will tear down what you have helped to rebuild.
“The problem is, McCain will argue that amnesty is ‘widely accepted’....”
Of course he will....and if he wins, he will throw back in our faces that his win and our votes are evident of America’s support for his position (amnesty).
What really matters is what JUAN HERNANDEZ thinks.
If he is visibly pissed off, quivering, and looks like he is going to quit, then WE HAVE SOMETHING TO CELEBRATE ABOUT.
However, if he is quiet, self-assured, smiling like a Chesire Cat, you can assume--we are screwed.
Anyone seen him lately?
Remember to look into the eyes. The windows of the soul.
I’ll never forget Chertoff’s referring to them as “economic migrants.”
While the issue is critical. . .electing McCain is moreso and so immigration falls to a footnote, for the time being. And agree or not with McCain et al; Obama is still, NOT an option.
Good point, I don’t recall seeing Juan at the convention or the words comprehensive immigration reform mentioned once last night or at anytime.
Wherever pot is grown on plantation-like operations on public or federal forested areas or even state lands, illegals are tending the crops. Rhode Island is probably about the only one where it would be kind of hard to hide them.
The only thing I would like to see "vetted" when it comes to the FABULOUS Sarah Palin, is her clear cut position, one way or another, on the Kennedy-McCain Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill of 2007 and whether she would have supported or opposed it as the tie-breaking vote in the United States Senate as Vice President. Amidst the euphoria, can we put the kool-aid down, fellow Americans, just long enough to ask this important question?
And today, whether she supports the revised 2008 GOP Platform on Illegal Immigration to it's fullest, or whether she has flexibility on the issue of "Amnesty" and "Bridge to Citizenship"?
Obama needs no more vetting in my book. He is hopeless.
Seriously, folks, when can we hear specifically on this issue out of the Vice Presidential Candidate's campaign camp and policy advisors? It is not being addressed and it was the hottest issue, in fact still is (A MAJOR NATIONAL SECURITY, COUNTRY-FIRST ISSUE) in the beginning of the GOP primaries. For what reason is it now off the table?
This might cause people to return to a constantly questioning and verifying attitude on this key issue of Border Security and National Sovereignty.
I kinda like the idea of legal resident kids getting an education. They and their progeny will be here a long long time.
Now if you really meant illegal criminal invaders, they should be flung home.
Sniffle---golly, you are so tolerant AND compassionate (sob).
Providing free air travel home is just the compassionate & humane thing to do.
(Sigh) My hero-----so what are you doing next Sat night?
I'll be busy building a trebuchet.
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