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An Unfair Attack on McCain on Immigration Reform
September 16, 2008 12:03 PM
The Democratic National Committee, seizing on some of the more questionable attacks coming from Sen. John McCain's campaign (two of which we have detailed HERE and HERE) has created a "count the lies" website, hoping to completely dismantle the McCain brand that has been damaged up this election cycle.
This morning the DNC cited a blog entry from the liberal editorial board of the New York Times asserting that McCain's new Spanish-language ad on immigration reform is "fraudulent."
In the ad, an announcer says in Spanish, "Obama and his Congressional allies say they are on the side of immigrants. But are they? The press reports that their efforts were' 'poison pills' that made immigration reform fail. The result: No guest worker program. No path to citizenship. No secure borders. No reform. Is that being on our side? Obama and his Congressional allies ready to block immigration reform, but not ready to lead."
The Times editorial writers -- who are paid to be advocates, after all, and their pro-Obama anti-McCain views have been strongly articulated -- then writes that the 2007 immigration reform compromise was written under the circumstances where "Mr. McCain was eager to win over the right-wing base of his party, which has never trusted him on immigration (or a number of other issues).
"Rather than continue to play the maverick," the Times continues, "Mr. McCain largely absented himself from negotiations — and slipped meekly back into the herd. The bill that emerged from that process was a mess. ...Hundreds of amendments were proposed to kill it or improve it, depending on your point of view, and some were called 'poison pills' by the 'grand bargainers' who had assembled the unwieldy compromise."
The Times writes that "Obama supported an amendment from Senator Byron Dorgan, backed by unions that would have phased out a guest-worker program after five years. The amendment passed, 49 to 48, but it was no poison pill. 'Not one member of Congress stood up and said, "I’m voting against the bill because of that Dorgan amendment,"' said Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, an organization supporting comprehensive immigration reform. 'It’s preposterous. Not even close.' In the end, it wasn’t that amendment or any others supported by Mr. Obama that caused the fragile coalition to fall apart. The bill was killed by Mr. McCain’s party. Its supporters were hoping to attract 25 to 30 Republican votes, but they could only round up 12, in the wake of all of those right-wing attacks."
The whole story: McCain was largely absent from the negotiations, yes, because he was campaigning for president. But he stood by the bill, advocated for it strongly along with its chief Democratic sponsor, Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.
And in standing by that bill, McCain saw his presidential campaign almost die.
We explored this issue a bit more back in July. There was a cohesive bipartisan group led by Sens. McCain and Kennedy that worked to defeat amendments that would hurt the overall bill's chance of final passage -- amendments that were too liberal for the Republicans and too conservative for the Democrats.
And on at least five occasions, Obama voted for amendments against the wishes of the bipartisan group, including Kennedy.
These included an amendment Obama offered that would have sunsetted the merit-based evaluation system for immigrants after five years; two amendments from Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-ND, to sunset both the temporary guest worker visa program and the Y-1 non-immigrant temporary worker visa program after five years; and two amendments from Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-NM, that would have removed the requirement that 'Y' non-immigrant visa holders leave the United States before they are able to renew their visas, and would have lowered the annual visa quota for guest workers from 400,000 to 200,000 per year.
Obama voted for all five; Kennedy voted against all five.
The Associated Press's Charles Babington wrote at the time of a Republican amendment and two of the Democratic amendments -- including the one offered by Obama -- "All three amendments were seen as potentially fatal blows to the fragile coalition backing the bill, which remains under attack from the right and left.”
Months after the bill died, in the throes of the Republican primaries, McCain distanced himself from this immigration reform bill he himself helped author, perhaps not his finest moment, saying he would vote against his own bill.
So, is it accurate for McCain's TV ad to claim those "poison pills made immigration reform fail"?
It's a stretch -- a partial truth. Those amendments didn't help.
Certainly the opponents of immigration reform on the right had much more to do with the bill dying than did Sen. Obama. The Times' account of the final nail in the coffin of the bill is correct -- there weren't enough Republicans willing to come on board. But certainly those Democratic poison pills contributed to why they didn't support it. They weren't THE reason, and their sponsors didn't "block" immigration reform. But certainly those trying to get the bill passed had reason to question whether Obama was on their side in trying to get the bill that Kennedy was supporting passed into law.
All in all, McCain worked much harder, risked much more, and stuck with the coalition more often than did Obama. Period.
-- jpt
September 16, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (62)
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I commend you for the balanced reporting on this issue, but there are two very important points missing from your reconstruction of what actually happened: (1) Senator McCain doomed the fate of this bill when he backed away in March 2007 and refused to introduce the bill that he had been drafting with Senator Kennedy. The problem was not that he was absent from negotiations because he was campaigning; the problem was that he refused to introduce the bill with Senator Kennedy because his campaign was in free fall. His withdrawal left Kennedy without a Republican co-sponsor to help stabilize the bipartisan middle. The White House and Senator Kyl filled the breach left by Senator McCain's absence and launched the bill on a trajectory never directed towards enactment. Senator Kennedy and others hoped that they could force it back on course with the assistance of the House, but it never got that far. (2) McCain was absent for 44% of the votes related to this bill. Obama missed 17%. It is more than a stretch to say that McCain led the cohesive bipartisan group that fought to keep the fragile coalition intact.
Posted by: Keepinitreal | Sep 23, 2008 10:32:09 AM
More Latin Americans are supporting Obama over McCain this year. The Republicans have been bashing the Latin community so long now through Rush and his neo conservative friends they are not trusted by the community. Also the latin community respects its artists. On places where you can post videos they are flying the latin singers and bands supporting Obama.
Posted by: Judson | Sep 18, 2008 2:35:38 PM
The New York Times, to cite one such entity, has totally discarded any notion of being objective about this race. On Sunday, the Times ran a story about Mrs. Palin's tenure as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, headlined, "Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes." Stop the presses. Certainly no other politician has done any such thing.
Baltimore Sun
Posted by: janephil | Sep 17, 2008 6:12:37 AM
America must not let this golden opportunity of change slip away
MaCain has been a hero and a staunched American. I like him I would want to see him honored like every other war veteran. Being a war veteran those not guarantee being a good president. And I know, Americans will not be voting personalities nor party, they should be voting policies. Obama has the 21st century policy that will drive America economy and the World Economy.
Obama and Biden will bring back America rare shadow of political and economic dependency by most Nations in the World which is fast diminishing; they will make America safer than.
I don’t support Obama on some of his policies like Abortion etc. but his sincerity about everything puts him ahead of MaCain who gives different answers to different people and lies about almost everything. He has adopted Obama “change” slogan, he has adopted Palin rhetoric what else are Americans looking for? If colors is the basic of this election, MaCain is the right man, but if democracy and polices are the objectives of this election Obama is the right man
Less we forget. We need ask MaCain if Palin will run the white house. Because, it’s glaring he has lost confidence in his ability to get things done and even move people.
Posted by: Emmanuel C. Mbigbo | Sep 17, 2008 4:23:18 AM
let me see if i got this straight...
i have a job . i make money that gets taxed . the government gets the taxes.
i buy insurance as an "out of pocket " personal expense but my (and everyone elses )taxes are paying for that very insurance company to be able to continue operating day to day . what is wrong with that scenario?
too sad to be funny , it really is a shame indeed what this country has become ,basically an unregulated wild west of a capitalistic haven for corporate greed and corruption ...
Its sad, but it almost sounds like 'born alive', all over again.But with whole families.
Posted by: historyforgotten | Sep 17, 2008 3:06:27 AM
Obama gave a speech here in Las Vegas at an "immigration" rally.
The position he stated is "We should not have raids that separates mothers and fathers from their children. We need to remember a statue in NY harbor: Give us your tired, your poor..."
The impression that he left with many of us in attendance was, if you got across and are here, you should not be sent back.
Posted by: Dave in lv | Sep 17, 2008 2:29:13 AM
let me see if i got this straight...
i have a job . i make money that gets taxed . the government gets the taxes.
i buy insurance as an "out of pocket " personal expense but my (and everyone elses )taxes are paying for that very insurance company to be able to continue operating day to day . what is wrong with that scenario?
too sad to be funny , it really is a shame indeed what this country has become ,basically an unregulated wild west of a capitalistic haven for corporate greed and corruption ...
Posted by: bah | Sep 16, 2008 11:55:27 PM
yes!! now with the 85 bil bailout of american insurance in a roundabout way the republicans have made the government into a health provider of sorts... now the government is in the INSURANCE business!!!
oh nellie what a mess we are in...its time for real action here.
now what i really want to know is; where do I go when I need a multi billion $$ bailout??
Posted by: bah | Sep 16, 2008 11:46:17 PM
counting in the s&l fiasco ,the war in iraq , the enormous loss of american prestige world wide over the last 8 years, the corporate bailout /reverse socialism fat cat free ride @ taxpayer expense happening daily (that was precipitated by the republican enacted deregulation of the banking industry ) , i dont see how anyone with 1 single working brain cell could not be anything but FURIOUS with such an incompetent , bungling , high handed , lying etc etc administration as this one.
that guy whoever said said "you can fool some of the people some of the time ,but not all of the people all of the time" was really really wrong.
american voters get fooled ALL the time...
WAKE UP !!!SMELL THE COFFEE!! YOU VE BEEN TAKEN FOR A BIG RIDE AND YOU ARE STILL GETTING TAKEN... READ THE PAPERS ,ITS HAPPENING AS WE SPEAK!!! 85 BILLION TO BAIL OUT WHAT??
Posted by: bah | Sep 16, 2008 11:30:37 PM
Obama is desperate. Too bad his lack of honor, morals or a conscience is showing.
Posted by: Traci | Sep 16, 2008 10:13:28 PM
mccain, bush and the republicans will LIE LIE LIE AND ALSO CHEAT CHEAT CHEAT AND STEAL STEAL STEAL , not only trying to win but also AFTER they win.
SHAME ON THE REPUBLICANS THAT HAVE RUINED THIS COUNTRY AND WONT TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR IT, FROM REAGAN WHO OVERSAW THE DEREGULATION OF THE BANKING INDUSTRY THAT IS COMING HOME TO ROOST DAILY TO BUSH SR, WHO OVERSAW THE SAVINGS AND LOAN FIASCO TO BUSH JR WHO ENGINEERED THE MOST DOLLAR WASTING CRONYISM FILLED CABINET AND AGENDA IN THE HISTORY OF THIS ONCE GREATEST COUNTRY ON EARTH...SHAME INDEED!!!!
Posted by: bah | Sep 16, 2008 9:40:53 PM
Obama and his DNC buddys will LIE LIE LIE in trying to win. Shame on you Obama and the DNC.
Posted by: Duane Z | Sep 16, 2008 9:09:21 PM
illegal ...repeat ILLEGAL ALIENS are the issue here.
this is a country of LAWS ...and not like russia or china or iraq...we in the usa live by laws that are supposed to be enforced fairly for all ,that is without opinion or deference to anything other than the empirical facts. thats why the figurine of Justice is wearing a blindfold. she cant see who you are , what sex you are what race you are ,etc ,she is only concerned with whether you are or arent breaking laws.
legal american citzens of any race do not need to worry about immigration. only ILLEGAL aliens (and their illegal relatives) should be worried about real meaningful immigration reform.
i hope that makes you feel better bea, you sure sounded worried...
Posted by: bah | Sep 16, 2008 8:45:51 PM
I am glad that Obama is against immigration illegal and otherwise. The hispanics are taking jobs from the blacks and you better believe Obama will stand up for us. He is a politician and has to say what he does but in the end he will favor us over them for jobs. Immagrants in this country illegally will be sent home. He will also change the laws bout being born here to immigrant parents or marrying a citizen to try to get citenship.
Posted by: Jamesferrel | Sep 16, 2008 8:38:33 PM
If McCain have it his way there would be no foreigners in America. Oh wait I forgot everybody with the exception of the NATIVE AMERICANS are foreigners here in America.
Posted by: bea | Sep 16, 2008 8:33:33 PM
the republicans would say "oh its too hard to round up all the illegal immigrants " or " it will cost too much money and police time" ...all while the generally ineffectual police are busting kids for skateboarding in the park or smoking a joint ,while the police get paid way too much (in general)and do way too little ,ie; mostly driving around burning taxpayer gas and giving out multitudinous traffic tickets to raise local revenue.
yes ,your taxpayer dollars hard at work to enforce what laws? you should most definitely ask yourselves that question when you vote.
we need to get PRIORITIES straight here.
kids smoking pot and things like that need to get put on the back burner until we get the IMPORTANT URGENT things taken care of like ummm , national security ,the economy ,immigration education. infrastructure.
this country needs less local/rural cops (most get paid way too much and do hardly anything) ,a lot more big city cops and much more federal law enforcement ,and we need law enforcement that actually will enforce the MOST IMPORTANT COGENT LAWS FIRST whether those laws are hard to enforce or not, instead of focusing on the laws that are easy to enforce, like giving out parking tickets and things like that...
Posted by: bah | Sep 16, 2008 8:01:46 PM
As a latin american, I can tell you that republicans are lying about this issue of inmigration.
Republicans are not being honest and the writer of this post either has an agenda or he is not well informed about it.
Democrats are true pro-immigration here.
Posted by: Andy | Sep 16, 2008 6:30:34 PM
Supply and demand, eliminate the demand, and the supply will dry up... or go home
Posted by: Independent realist | Sep 16, 2008 6:25:37 PM
If you want to stop illegal immigration, then just throw in jail everyone who hires them. How simple is that? Throw rich guys who circumvent the system by hiring people who will work for little or no pay, and won't complain because they fear being turned in by their boss.
Posted by: Independent realist | Sep 16, 2008 6:23:52 PM
Do ´real American´exist? it makes me laugh. this country is made up of immigrant´s descendants. Investigate your roots and you´ll realize we all come from english, scottish, irish, canadian, french, german, italian, dutch, polish, swedish, russian, mexican, etc.
Don´t believe you´re ´pure´ american whose ancestors just came with the Mayflower. It sounds ridiculous!
Posted by: Stephen from Indiana | Sep 16, 2008 5:33:14 PM
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