"This ‘n’ That, Tit for Tat"

July 17, 2008

Exclusive: Election 2008 – This ‘n’ That, Tit for Tat

Walter Anderson

A week ago, Barack Obama and John McCain spoke to the influential Hispanic group, the National Council of La Raza (NCLR). They did not speak together (maybe that was a good thing) but their appearances were a few hours apart. Their quest? To court the Latin American vote.

Obama made many passionate statements about his support for immigration reform during his talk to NCLR, but his comments clash with claims by Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) who says that Obama was "absolutely AWOL on the issue of immigration." Diaz-Balart also claims that "Sen. Obama joined up with one of the most anti-immigrant senators, Sen. [Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.)], to try to kill the second leg of that stool, the temporary-worker program, [which] was an absolutely indispensable ingredient, and will be in the future, to immigration reform."

Naturally, Obama also took an obligatory jab at McCain:

"I know Senator McCain used to buck his party on immigration in fighting for comprehensive reform, and I admired him for it and joined him in it. But when he was running for his party's nomination, he abandoned that courageous stand and said that he wouldn't even support his own legislation if it came up for a vote.

"I think it's time for a president who won't walk away from something as important as comprehensive reform just because it becomes politically unpopular. I will make it a top priority in my first year as the president of the United States of America."...

Read the rest here.