[Lobowolf]

immigration?! Anyone caught the Obama Spanish-language ads trying to make McCain sound overly harsh on (illegal) immigration?! He must be trying to rally conservatives to support McCain, but I can't imagine they'll be fooled...

[Lobowolf]

btw which is not substantively different in principle from the McCain ads on Obamba's immigration record. It's a little amusing that either of them attempts to get traction here; as one attorney cited in an NPR article said, their positions are "as distinct as Tweedledum's from Tweedledee's."

[PassedOut]

Yes, both candidates are lying in their immigration ads.

[hrothgar]

Daily Kos had a good posting on this topic 20 minutes back that explains precisely why Obama is drawing attention to immigration right now: It forces McCain to chose between a couple very distasteful options. (For the record, Lobo... the issue isn't trying to rally Conservatives to McCain. It's forcing a broader wedge between McCain and Obama

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/19/04...6137/672/603420

Kos definitely has a dog in this fight; so this blog post should be taken with a grain of salt. Even so, I think that this provides some good perspective.

Thanks for the "concern troll"...

[Lobowolf]

For the record (since irony is often lost in the internet), I thought "the issue" was pretty clear. I just thought it was very amusing that McCain could actually conceivably be portrayed in an anti-(illegal) immigration light.

[jdonn]

Lobowolf, on Sep 19 2008, 11:37 AM, said:

btw which is not substantively different in principle from the McCain ads on Obamba's immigration record.

I notice one difference. When a democrat says it you react like this?! When a republican says it you react like this.

I'll completely agree they are both misleading in their ads. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't McCain's come first? It seems like Obama is having his hand forced, so to speak.

[awm]

It does seem that the spanish language ads are often way off the deep end, much more likely to be complete falsifications than the english language ads (although certainly there are quite a few dubious english language attack ads too).

But I think on this, and many issues, McCain is trying to have it both ways. He is trying to benefit from his history of being friendly to latino immigrants and sponsoring a bill with a path to citizenship, while saying that he now "wouldn't vote for his own bill."

This is much like how he polishes his "maverick" image, gained in part by being among the few republicans who opposed the Bush tax cuts as "fiscally irresponsible" even though he now wants to extend those same tax cuts indefinitely.

He wants to take credit for his many years on the Commerce Committee in charge of federal regulation of the US economy, claim the title of "a deregulator," and yet take no blame for the current state of the economy (with many of the problems caused by mortgage deregulation).

He wants to "reform Washington" and stop the "good old boys network" when in fact he has been part of Washington for more than two decades and is close friends with a lot of those "good old boys" (and quite reasonably could be considered one of them himself).

Recall the election four years ago when John Kerry was assailed with charges of being a "flip flopper" for changing his opinion on issues. Yet McCain has done much more of this than Kerry ever did. He even flipped his opinion on federal bailouts from one day to the next! Isn't it only fair that Obama call him on it?

[Lobowolf]

jdonn, on Sep 19 2008, 01:02 PM, said:

Lobowolf, on Sep 19 2008, 11:37 AM, said:

btw which is not substantively different in principle from the McCain ads on Obamba's immigration record.

I notice one difference. When a democrat says it you react like this?! When a republican says it you react like this.

The Italics were actually intended to emphasize not who said it, but whose position it was. The original post wasn't really intended to be much of a "slam," but rather an expression of bona fide amusement/incredulity. To the extent that it was intended to be a slam (in bridge terms, call it a "small slam"), it was a slam on McCain, not Obama, for being so illegal-immigration-friendly that it's striking that he could be portrayed as some anti-illegal-immigration guy.

I did realize that it might come off as an Obama slam, which is why I hastened to add the second post.