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Immigration See other Immigration Articles Title: McCain Double-Talk on Immigration? Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., met Wednesday evening with Hispanic Republicans in Chicago. In an Associated Press story about the meeting, one quote jumped out at me: "He's one John McCain in front of white Republicans. And he's a different John McCain in front of Hispanics," Rosanna Pulido, a Latina who heads the Illinois Minuteman Project, told the AP. "He's having his private meetings to rally Hispanics and to tell them what they want to hear," she said. "I'm outraged that he would reach out to me as a Hispanic but not as a conservative." Pulido seemed to be in a rather interesting position to talk about McCain and immigration, so I gave her a call. An advocate and escort for seniors professionally, Pulido told me that she's one of the original Minutemen who stood on the border between Arizona and Mexico in 2005 and she's also Illinois spokesperson for "You Don't Speak For Me, American Hispanics Speaking Out On Illegal Immigration." Her parents were from Mexico, but she was born in the U.S. (She spent a year in Mexico in the 1980s as a Christian missionary.) Pulido says her activism against illegal immigration stems from her Christian belief system and sense of right and wrong, as well as the unmet needs she sees in the senior population through her work. "What they're doing is stealing from the American people," she says of illegal immigrants. Pulido found out about the McCain meeting from a local newspaper, the Beacon News. She called the McCain campaign contact and let them know where she stood on the issue of illegal immigration, but said as a conservative and a Hispanic, she wanted to attend the meeting. She was curious as to what McCain was going to say. "I have friends in Washington, DC, on this issue," she says. "We've had conversations on this issue." After comprehensive immigration reform was killed in the Senate and McCain changed his rhetoric on the subject on the campaign trail, Pulido says, "we were hopeful after John McCain started saying, 'I understand where the American people are coming from, there's gotta be enforcement first,' we thought great, he's had a change of heart." So she went to the meeting, a room full of 150-200 people. "Sure enough," Pulido says, "his mantra at the meeting was comprehensive immigration reform.' And there were cheers and applause whenever he mentioned comprehensive immigration reform." "Then he said, 'I bet some of you don't know this -- did you know Spanish was spoken in Arizona before English?' And the crowd roared. I was appalled," Pulido said. "He was pandering to these people -- that's what they wanted to hear." The meeting was jammed up because McCain had attended the Tim Russert funeral that day, and had a fundraiser to attend. He was about 45 minutes late, and only spoke for approximately 15 minutes, she recalls. Originally the plan was for him to take questions, but there didn't appear to be time, she said. Which is just as well, as far as she was concerned. "The truth of the matter is, I was in the room with 150-to-200 people, and if I'd spoken out I would have been disruptive, which was not what I wanted to do." "He was telling one group of people one thing and the Hispanics another," says Pulido. "I'm a conservative and I think he's throwing conservatives under the bus." Pulido doesn't know who she will vote for and says she may not know until election day. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, is not an option. "I'd never ever vote for Barack Obama," she says. "He was an Illinois state senator and unlike the rest of the nation, I know who Barack Obama is, he's too liberal for me." What she saw of John McCain Wednesday night, however, makes her inclined right now to support Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: X-15 (#0)
(Edited)
That's our Crazy Johnny...
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