Barack "World" Obama (who started it) and John McCain have dueling Spanish language ads out Obama's is absurd--trying to associate the immigration policy of Rush Limbaugh with that of John McCain.
It would be more just, although not much more, to associate Obama in an ad with the outrageous, hate speech assertions of Keith Olbermann on MSNBC, or other leftist kooks out there. Don't get me wrong. Rush Limbuagh is not a kook, but leftists think he is an easy target. That was the leftist "defense" I saw of the ad: an ATTACK on Limbuagh.
That was the entire purpose of the ad: to LIE about John McCain having the same immigration position as Rush Limbaugh because Obama thinks Limbaugh is an easy target. So much for fighting an election on the "issues". Obama is a ruthless, ambitious old style politician with new packaging. He reads noble sentiments on a teleprompter well. He does not live them (which is why he flipped on accepting public campaign financing). I digress (sort of).
The point is that Limbaugh and I think the SAME way on McCain. Both of us have TRASHED McCain's "open borders" policy on immigration. Contrary to rumor, McCain has NOT changed that approach. He has reaffirmed his support of McCain-Kennedy, which Limbaugh and I oppose. All McCain has said is that the defeat, after he LED the effort to get the "bipartisan" bill passed (while Obama was a "no show" on "bipartisan" efforts), has convinced McCain that Americans want the border secure FIRST, before going with the McCain-Kennedy bill that McCain still wants. I wish it were not so, because this is politically BAD for McCain. He cannot really make opposition to illegal immigration an ISSUE, because he has not been for enforcement of our immigration laws. At the same time, he is unlikely to have LEFTIST Hispanic organizations for him, and so McCain is vulnerable to lying, smear ads like Obama's.
But what about McCain's ad? O'Reilly (being a pinhead again) said that McCain's response ad lies just as much as Obama's when it says that Obama "blocked" immigration reform in the Senate. O'Reilly said that McCain's ad lies because Obama voted for the bill twice. Wrong. This is where O'Reilly became again a pinhead.
McCain's ad effectively lied, but not in the way O'Reilly asserted. The (on balance) lie was that Obama was responsible for "blocking" the bill, although I am not sure whether the ad says "help" block or gives Obama sole credit.
As I said above, McCain LED the "bipartisan" effort to actually PASS an immigration reform bill Obama did not "lead" anything. He just tired to keep a low profile, while criticizing the bill for not being LIBERAL enough in its approach to illegal immigrants.
It is worse than that, and I am sure this is what McCain means by his ad. This is where O'Reilly is a pinhead. The VOTE on the FINAL BILL is not the important vote. By then, the bill was doomed. This is similar to that idiot comment I got on McCain's bill to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2005. The person commenting said that Obama never had a chance to vote of the bill, because it never came to a vote. But the key items in a Senate fight on a bill are usually NOT the final votes. The first tactic is to deny a vote at all. The second tactic is to vote FOR amendments that will KILL the bill, because they will cause people who otherwise support the bill (or who will reluctantly support it) to vote against. That is what Obama arguably did. He supported LEFTIST amendments which made passage of the bill more difficult. He refused to lend his support to bipartisan efforts to find language that would get the bill pased--especially before opposition mobilized. Did Obama really "block" the bill? Probably not. Did Obama provide any LEADERSHIP, or bipartisan "reaching across the aisle", with regard to the immigration bill? Definitely not (thank God).
To me, McCain's ad is inexplicable. WHY could he not say that he LED the effort to find a bipartisan compromise, while Obama preferred to play politics and even vote for extreme provisions that could only help KILL the bill? Is that too complex for an ad? Surely, the leadership part is not. Why not say that when LEADERSHIP was needed, McCain was there, but Obama was MISSING in action--unwilling to publicly LEAD as he tried to hide and duck as much as possible. I just can't believe you could not do that kind of ad.
That said, what does this show (aside from the fact that O'Reilly is exposed as not understanding what really happened on the McCain-Kennedy bill, or how the Senate works in general). Well, to me is again confirms that McCain has not changed at all on immigration. He still wants the same things. I never thought he had changed, but I always hope. This is one (of several) reasons I would not support John McCain without Sarah Palin (pretty much the same as Rush Limbaugh, although Rush may have held his nose and supported McCain). No, I don't know where Palin stands on immigration. But I LIKE her in so many ways that I could forgive her fudging on the issue (as she is bound to do as McCain's running mate).
I don't forgive McCain his transgressions against conservatives (including insults of Rush). I am sure Limbaugh does not forgive them either. Now McCain does not know I exist. But he HATES Limbaugh (I am morally certain). That is why the Obama ad is much MORE an outright lie than McCain's, even though I heard a Democrat try to argue the opposite (a position the Obama media is sure to pick up on).
I wish McCain were better on immigration I think it would have helped him win this election. But I do sympathize with him when he resents Obama LYIJNG about him, when it was MCCCAIN on point fighting for the immigration bill while Obama ran and hid as best he could. I KNOW. The McCain-Kennedy bill interested me greatly (in opposition to it), and I followed the debate closely.
It must be difficult for McCain to fight most of his own party, including Limbaugh and me, FOR illegal immigranats and a "comprehensive" bill, and then see Obama try to instigate ethnic HATE against McCain based on despicable, false allegations. It would be better if McCain were actually right on the issue, but Obama is clearly wrong all of teh way around.
P.S. You might remember that McCain supposedly had LOST the nomination over immigration, and his support for the McCain-Kennedy bill. If you review this blog, I pronounced him as a dead candidate walking (sort of like Harry Reid declearing the War in Iraq LOST)--mainly on teh immigration issue. Obama has shown no such "bipartisan" COURAGE at any time. I recognize political courage when I see it, even if I disagree with the cause. Obama has NEVER shown similar political courage.
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