Tancredo Sends McCain Immigration Letter: “Don’t Pander To La Raza’s Amnesty Agenda”
Now don’t get me wrong, here. I’m voting for McCain. There is no other choice. Of course, he’s not conservative enough for me, and I disagree with him on some issues, but when that ballot faces me in November, I will put the mark beside his name because the alternative is far, far worse.
No, he wasn’t our first choice in the primaries, but he is our man now, and we must back him 100%. America’s future depends upon it.
Still doesn’t mean we won’t be holding his feet to the fire on issues like…Illegal Immigration…
ABC News’ Z. Byron Wolf Reports from Capitol Hill: Sen. John McCain took some grief from the Left for keeping a tight handle on who he invited to his secret meeting with Hispanics in Chicago last week. And he took some grief from the Right for apparently promising at that meeting to pursue a pathway to citizenship for some illegal immigrants.
The grief from the Right continued today. Anti-amnesty crusader Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., wrote McCain a letter calling him out on the meeting, questioning McCain’s commitment to pledges made earlier in the campaign, and snarkily invoking McCain’s “Straight Talk” mantra.
Tancredo asks if promises made by McCain earlier in the presidential campaign to hold off on giving longtime illegal immigrants a “pathway to citizenship” until after the borders were secured were any more than lip service, and wonders whether the presumptive Republican nominee’s candidacy is a Trojan horse for amnesty.
“Senator, given your past sponsorship of amnesty legislation, such statements raise troubling questions. Are you planning to break a promise you made in February to postpone all other immigration reform legislation until we have first secured our borders?” writes Tancredo, who goes on to ask McCain to use an upcoming speech to the pro-pathway to citizenship National Council of La Raza in San Diego to embrace a “security first” immigration approach.
“I challenge you to deliver a message to that assembly which does not pander to their amnesty agenda. You should speak to the La Raza convention and to all Hispanic audiences about America’s need for secure borders as a priority above all other immigration reforms,” Tancredo said.
McCain was a vocal proponent of the failed Senate attempt to pass comprehensive immigration reform when Republicans controlled the body in 2006. He was a less visible proponent in 2007, when Democrats were in charge, though he voted again for a bipartisan, comprehensive approach to immigration in both years.
The second attempt at immigration reform failed as his presidential campaign was ramping up. McCain explained to Republican voters in debates that he had gotten “the message” and would work to secure American borders before pursuing a pathway to citizenship.
“Giving Americans “Straight Talk” –- telling them what they need to hear instead of what they want to hear – demonstrates leadership, and as you have correctly pointed out many times in the past, that is what America needs now more than ever,” he said.
(ABC)
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I hope McCain does what he has to do to beat Obama.
June 24th, 2008 at 11:49 amHey Tom - McCain doesn’t care what you think.
June 24th, 2008 at 12:17 pmMAC had and still does said/say he’s a Teddy Roosevelt fan so when I emailed him last year and bitched about his immigration ‘position’ I included the following TR quote…..
“In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith, becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American… There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag… We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language… and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”—Theodore Roosevelt, 1907
June 24th, 2008 at 12:45 pmI love Tancredo.
June 24th, 2008 at 1:37 pmTancredo needs to shut up - we don’t need republican infighting right now to make us look weak.
June 24th, 2008 at 1:57 pmVerner,
you are wrong. that is exactly what we need. Not in-fighting but an awareness that who we are, is a base, that should not buckle under any superficial disagreement. Not that 13 million illegals is superficial. McCain needs to know that he is just as likely to be stood up by his own party as by the demmis. He needs to know that he is the choice, but not necessarily the answer and that he will be held accountable. He owes no one man, but owes us all his loyality to the base. If he is unaccountable to the RNC, then we might as well vote for a third party, for this party will be over if the base desserts.
June 24th, 2008 at 2:35 pm