McCain Revives Immigration Fight in Spanish
By Ed O'Keefe
Washington Post.com
Channel 08
October 2, 2008
The McCain campaign today announced another Spanish-language television commercial blaming Barack Obama for killing immigration reform. Called “Fradulent,” the spot will air, the campaign says, in Colorado and New Mexico.
The script: “So what's worse? That Barack Obama and his allies in Congress killed immigration reform? Or that their immigration attacks were called 'unfair,' 'absolutely and directly wrong' and even 'fraudulent' by the press. Or that Obama and his liberal allies think the U.S. has an immigration problem because Mexico is a quote, 'dysfunctional society'? They've said no to us long enough. This election, let's tell them no.”
A companion radio ad will convey a similar message.
The “immigration attacks” the ad references appear to be to an Obama ad that attempted to tie McCain to comments made by radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh regarding Mexican law. Several news organizations quickly discredited the McCain-Limbaugh associations.
That ad was in response to an earlier McCain TV spot that aired in Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico blaming Obama and Senate Democrats for last year's failure of comprehensive immigration reform legislation — even though most observers believe the legislation was killed by a rebellion within the ranks of the Republican Party.
Joe Biden called Mexico a “dysfunctional society” back in Dec. 2007 while speaking with Iowa voters. The vice presidential candidate — then running his own presidential campaign — said that solutions to the American immigration issue should start with changes to the Mexican economy.
“They're being irresponsible. This is the second-wealthiest nation in the hemisphere — we're not talking about Sierra Leone.”
“This is a dysfunctional society,” Biden added.
Obama campaign spokesman Federico De Jesus described McCain's latest ad as one of a “litany of dishonest immigration ads,” saying: “The same candidate who said he would vote against his own immigration bill, and who stood by while his party approved one of the most extreme anti immigrant platforms in years, has no standing to criticize Sen. Obama, who has consistently supported the type of comprehensive reform we need.”
