LatinaLista — In an exchange with a Tampa Bay reporter today over immigration, glimpses of the old John McCain peeked through the campaign veneer that has been his mask since winning his party’s nomination. For a few seconds, McCain shows he understands the immigration issue much more than his party. By the same token, he should have understood the line of questioning too given his party’s part in the current treatment of undocumented immigrants.
Answering questions about Gov. Palin’s wardrobe costs at a Florida rally, McCain had a testy exchange with a local reporter.
(Source: AP)
At one point in the interview, McCain grew frustrated with a Tampa television reporter during her questions on immigration issues. McCain twice said illegal immigrants who have committed crimes would be rounded up. Katie Coronado of WFLA-TV asked if that meant using raids to round up immigrants.
“What did I just say that had any connotation of raids?” McCain said, raising his voice with impatience. “Let me try one more time.”
He again explained the idea of forcing illegal immigrants out of the country by issuing ID cards and fining employers who hire illegals. He then softened his tone.
“I apologize,” he said to Coronado. “I understand how important an issue it is. I didn’t mean to be flip.”
On a day, that reports are filtering in from the San Francisco area that 17 homes have been raided today by ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, it’s encouraging to hear someone in a position of leadership in the Republican Party advocate for more humane measures in dealing with a people who may not have the proper paperwork but only want to work.
It’s obvious that McCain’s hardest campaign is not for the Oval Office but in trying to make his party colleagues see the inhumanity of rounding people up like animals without regard to their families.
No human being should want that inflicted on another.
