Monday, May 21, 2007

JOHN MCCAIN

McCain: "As for Romney, Maybe I Should Wait a Few Weeks and See If [His Position] Changes. Maybe His Solution Will Be to Get His 'Small Varmint Gun' and Drive Those Guatamalans Off his Lawn."

John McCain was kind enough to have another blogger conference call this afternoon, obstensably about the senator’s government reform proposals.

 

Unsurprisingly, many bloggers wanted to talk about the immigration reform proposal.

 

McCain’s speech, set before the Oklahoma state legislature, sounds like a good one with awful timing – he mentioned his wish to reform defense acquisition procession, “restore confidence on part of fellow citizens that we are careful stewards of tax dollars”…

 

McCain suggested that his fight/argument/interaction with Cornyn was "a bit exaggerated... every day, behind closed doors, hard words are exchanged from time to time... I'm sorry Youtube wasn’t there to give you full and complete pictures. Sometimes we're very frank with each other."

 

On immigration, he said, "the system is broken, huge national security risk… Not enough votes in Congress to deal with this in small bites. Either we do nothing or we address all three elements. As for whether it's amnesty, I don’t know how you can call $5k fine and wait of at least eight years as fitting the dictionary definition…"

 

"If this isn’t acceptable, the severe critics owe us their solution that would get through senate and signature of president…"

 

Ann Althouse asked about the exchange with Sen. Cornyn,  asking about competitors who are not trying to be constructive senators… Any truth to accusation of parachuting in?

 

McCain: I’ve been on daily contact with negotiators, conference calls, meetings with Republicans and Democrats, involved with this issue for many years… account of dispute is “totally exaggerated”… It’s over with, we’ve moved on…

 

Jen Rubin: Would you support hearings to let people know what's in the bill? And follow up: Were you surprised by reaction?

 

McCain: I was hoping they would evaluate it rather than listen to others' interpretation of it. Fairly easy to comprehend it. We should vote for cloture and then relevant amendments. Five days of intense debates and amendments... I understand how emotional this bill is with our base, and I understand how upset they are. I would hope we can get more agreement, finally has to go to House of Representatives and will take times.

 

Mike Goldfarb of the Weekly Standard asks about the MRAP (sp?) program? McCain says it can save American lives, ought to pump as much money as possible into it. This is kind of a reversal from usual DoD procedure, where it takes an inordinate amount of time to make it operational.

 

(I am told that this was likely a reference to the MRAP (Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected)
vehicles.)

 

Pat (missed last name) asks about Ron Paul, and 9/11 conspiracy theories, and how damaging they are to U.S. prestige, and "truther virus"? McCain says it's a sign of a healthy America that these theories get visibility, at the same time it does hurt us in this war and public opinion, not doing as well as we should be, to have credible people, members of Congress questioning our response and entire priority. That number of Democrats is disturbing but I think it has more to do with personal dislike of President Bush. At the end of the day I put my faith in the good sense of the American people.

 

Soren Dayton asked about Iraq; McCain said the legislature should get busy. "We still haven't gotten the fifth brigade over there, I try to counsel patience. These suicide bombings have little military effect but tremendous PR effect. I keep repeating, it's going to be long and hard and tough.Time is not on our side, but I still believe this is best strategy and that the consequences of failure are tremendous."

 

John Hinderacker asks McCain to explain illegal getting a card that enables him to stay for $1,000, and that, in effect, "legalizes" him.

 

McCain says it's a "probationary status." Going to have to go through background checks, pay fine, return to home country before can get in line behind eveyrone else to get truly legal status. Purpose is to identify them to figure out who the heck they are. I don't see that as amnesty... if not going through that process (for citizenship), has to apply for a temporary worker visa. Couldn't be eligible for that unless they identify an American citizen won't do. Period of 18 months for DHS to certify security of our borders.

 

Ryan Sager of the New York Sun:  Romney and Thompson trying to use immigration against you.

 

McCain:  A little disappointed in Fred, he had a different position not long ago, but he's not an official candidate. As for Romney, maybe I should wait a few weeks and see if it changes. Maybe his solution will be to get his "small varmant gun" and drive those Guatamalans off his lawn.

 

Jim's reaction: Holy crap, that was a slam.

 

James Joyner: How do you win over immigration bill skeptics if you get nomination?

 

McCain: In town hall meetings, I'm greeted with stone faces and by the end they're nodding. The opposition only needs a 10-15-30 second soundbite. Am I surprised the reaction is as ferocious as it is? A little. I thought the Republican base would give the President a chance to make the case. There is no more purely emotional issue among our base. Maybe abortion.

 

Ed Morrissey: Asks about removal of back taxes? McCain says he had not heard that proposal and says he would resist that. They should pay back taxes. A little more fuel on the fire. If they're going to be law-abiding citizens, and that

 

David Brody of CBN: Where will resistence be? Where more pressure, left or right?

 

McCain: Interesting, because there's increasing pressure from both sides. Doing away with nuclear family is anaethma to them. Dorgan wants to do away with temporary worker program completely. Hispanic organizations want a quick path to citizenship and that's it... obviously that's not . $5,000 fine is a lot of money for someone making about $15,000 a year. As Republicans, we have to be aware and need to be humane on this issue. Hispanic vote is turning against us. Need to get this issue resolved.

 

Really hope the opponents of this proposal would feel obligation to offer proposal that would have enough votes for passage in this Congress and would have support of our president. Status quo is unacceptable.

At the next closed-door meeting, I'll try to get YouTube in there to get an accurate depiction. You might find it entertaining and enlightening.

05/21 12:33 PMShare