Response to rancher's death sparks McCain, Hayworth brawl

U.S. Sen. John McCain is blasting his challenger J.D. Hayworth, saying he’s mischaracterized his record to score political points in the wake of the murder of a Douglas rancher over the weekend.

Former Congressman Hayworth is blasting back, meanwhile, saying McCain’s record on immigration is out of step with what Arizona wants.

Speaking on a Phoenix broadcast station about the case of Robert Krentz, who was believed to have been shot and killed by an illegal immigrant, Hayworth said he has long advocated for a military presence on the border while McCain worked on an “amnesty bill” with former U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy.

“I’m heartened to hear that as of yesterday, Senator McCain has decided that gee, there could be a military presence on the border. The tragedy is, it’s too late for the Krentz family and the problems continue unabated,” Hayworth said in the interview.

“The fact is we need a clear, consistent conservative in the U.S. Senate who is not a johnny-come-lately to border security, but who has advocated for it and will get the job done. It is time to end this madness.”

McCain’s campaign spokesman Brian Rogers sent out a release calling Hayworth’s comments “despicable and offensive.”

Aside from the fact Hayworth has the facts wrong since McCain has sought troops on the border for more than a year, Rogers said, “More troubling is that he’s trying to lay the blame for this murder on Sen. McCain. It’s beyond the pale.”

Press releases from last March quote McCain saying he supports sending National Guard troops.

Also, in opening comments at a field hearing in Phoenix last April to focus attention on border crime, McCain reiterated the call for the Guard to go to the border to counteract violence associated with illegal drug traffic.

Rogers noted that Hayworth knew better, given that Hayworth’s own talk radio show played footage of McCain telling news outlets in Phoenix that more resources were needed to secure the border.

Rogers said the comments “demonstrate a candidate so consumed by political ambition that he'll say anything to anyone — no matter how shameful or inaccurate.”

Asked to respond to Rogers’ characterization, Hayworth, who was en route to a town hall in Douglas in the wake of the murder, stood by his comments, saying McCain didn’t highlight the need for a military presence “with any action” or “prominence” until Krentz’ death.

He said the McCain campaign can quibble with the dates, “but there is one fact that is beyond debate, and that is that Sen. McCain heretofore has been an unabashed advocate for amnesty. He may want to call it comprehensive immigration reform, but Arizonans aren’t fooled.”

“I hate to read about a genuine hero acting so smucky.”

This will likely annoy you and some others. McCain is NO hero. He’s ridden that old horse to death. He got shot down and put in a cell. It was sad, but just what were his ‘heroic’ actions??? He had one choice, live or die. He survived.

But he sure doesn’t mind throwing a real hero under the bus when it suits him.

He actually said this just a few days ago:

“President Reagan granted amnesty to two million people and that was wrong,” McCain said.

http://www.dcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=79030

How does ANYONE support this man?

McQueeg is open for attack on the amnesty issue and JD is going to take it to him. McQueeg is squealing already.

Good. He should be in jail. And here's why...

“Has anyone ever noticed Mr. McNasty has never been responsible or to be blamed for anything; what a McShame.”

Yes, and I was wondering if anyone has noticed that in all of McCain’s legislative moves in the senate....

McCain/Fiengold - BAD finance reform

McCain/Kennedy - BAD immigration policy

McCain/Durbin - taking vitamins/supplements from the public

The gang of 14...

Climate Change...

Of all of McCain’s bills that he produced or co sponsored, can ANYONE name just one that wasn’t in concert with a liberal democrat???

Some more news by way of NAFBPO today.

Smugglers’ barbed wire traps target agents

Drug smugglers have apparently set “booby traps” for U.S. Border Patrol agents on roads along the border near Deming, agency officials said Monday.

The devices consist of barbed wire stretched like clotheslines across trails used by agents on all-terrain vehicles. The lines, which are difficult to spot, are about four feet off the ground and appear to be intended to knock a rider off the ATV.

There have been no known injuries.

It isn’t the first time such a tactic has been used by smugglers in the desolate desert south of Deming and west of El Paso.

Two years ago, a rancher informed the Border Patrol of two wires found stretched along a dirt road in a similar fashion. At that time, officials said it appeared the lines were targeting agents who frequently patrolled on ATVs

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6936476.html
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NM governor orders National Guard to border

Associated Press - March 31, 2010 4:44 PM ET

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - The New Mexico National Guard is planning how to put more troops along the state’s border with Mexico to beef up surveillance after Gov. Bill Richardson on Wednesday ordered guardsmen to patrol the border.

The order came days after an Arizona rancher was shot to death. Authorities believe he was killed by an illegal immigrant who fled to Mexico.

Details are still being worked out for how many troops will be sent to the border and where they will be based.

A spokesman for the Guard, Lt. Col. Jamison Herrera, says the timeframe and scope of the work will determine how many soldiers will be activated.

Herrera says the Guard’s focus will be observation posts and using infrared tools that can detect body heat and movement during nighttime hours

http://www.kswt.com/Global/story.asp?S=12236336

There are jobs that American workers simply won’t do,’ McCain said. ‘As long as there’s a demand for workers, workers are going to come across.’ An amnesty program is vital to any immigration legislation that includes a guest-worker program, he said. ‘Amnesty has to be an important part because there are people who have lived in this country for 20, 30 or 40 years, who have raised children here and pay taxes here and are not citizens. That has to be a component of it,’ he said. ‘How can we have a temporary worker program if we’re not allowing people who have been here for 30 years to hold jobs here?’” (C. T. Revere, “McCain Pushes Amnesty, Guest-Worker Program,” Tucson Citizen, 5/29/03)

‘Amnesty John’ McCain

Particular union vitriol is reserved for the man they call “Amnesty John,” who voted for the Senate bill. “Amnesty John” is the union’s handle for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

“Senator McCain has never been a friend to rank-and-file Border Patrol agents,” says the union. “He routinely ignores correspondence from Border Patrol agents and often gives the impression that he is just too big and too important to deal with us. He attempts to undermine our mission at every turn and actively supports the criminals who violate our laws. He always tries to downplay the fact that illegal aliens knowingly and willingly violate our laws.”

According to Albon, the root of the rank-and-file frustration is that McCain and others who want a road to citizenship for some of those already unlawfully in the country are at best unrealistic when it comes to the paperwork burden of proving who was where and when: “Your government is nowhere near being capable of handling all those claims.

“They will buckle at the slightest hint of pressure from any activist/social services group. They will issue waivers like candy to any illegal alien who says he or she can’t afford the ‘fines’ levied by the government. They will accept one fraudulent document after another. The entire thing will be mass chaos.”

The union fears a reprise of what they say occurred under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of Nov. 6, 1986. Under that act, say union officials, many who had just entered the United States falsely claimed they had entered years before so they could qualify for amnesty.

Case-in-point: a large group was tracked down and apprehended on the Tohono O’Odham Indian reservation about 10 miles from the border. Two of them had freshly minted “amnesty” cards. The cardholders claimed they had entered years before and were just visiting the rest of the group:

“We were told that if we wanted to prove their claims false we would have to ‘back track’ them all the way to the south side of the border to prove they were in Mexico. It was logistically impossible to do this under the circumstances.”

As to the argument of Sen. McCain to simply say to those “undocumented workers, who are working the jobs that the rest of us refuse, come out from the shadows,” the union is adamant:

“Senator, they put themselves in those ‘shadows’ by breaking our laws and they need to go home. They weren’t forcibly placed in the ‘shadows’ by some murdering tyrant from the Middle East. They freely chose to break our laws, steal our jobs, and take advantage of our wobbly-kneed politicians who let them do it. Instead of using all that energy to fix their own corrupt country, they sneak into ours and then demand that we change our system to fit their crimes. It’s pretty simple stuff . . .” 2006

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