< Back to Front Page Text size – +

McCain hits Obama over immigration ad

Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor September 18, 2008 12:51 PM


John McCain's campaign is going after Barack Obama for a Spanish-language TV ad that appears to misleadingly link McCain to comments made by conservative radio talk show icon Rush Limbaugh.

The spot highlights portions of two quotes from Limbaugh in which he says, "stupid and unskilled Mexicans," and "You shut your mouth or you get out!"

Independent fact-checks, however, say those quotations were taken out of context.

The announcer in the ad goes on to say, "John McCain and his Republican friends have two faces. One that says lies just to get our vote -- and another, even worse, that continues the policies of George Bush that put special interests ahead of working families. John McCain, more of the same old Republican tricks."

During the Republican primaries McCain did pull back from his support for comprehensive immigration reform, saying that voters wouldn't support it until the borders were secured. He championed the bill, along with Bush, that would have provided a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants, including many from Mexico. Limbaugh harshly criticized McCain for support the bill, which failed to get through Congress last year.

Today, the McCain camp issued a statement from US Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a Republican from Florida, a key battleground state where the Latino vote is crucial.

"It is offensive and dishonest for Barack Obama to lie about John McCain's record on immigration and years of support for the Hispanic community, when it was Barack Obama himself who voted for 'poison pill' amendments that killed the effort at immigration reform," Diaz-Balart said. "Instead of making false ads with baseless attacks, Barack Obama should be apologizing to the Latino community."

< Back to Front Page
3 comments so far...

  1. Are we really governed and reported to by idiots? They keep saying that the Obama plan will give tax cuts to the middle class, but they provide an investment penalty, and they penalize small business.
    What good is the tax cut if you have no income because there are no jobs? Obama keeps promoting Big Business and Big Government and we know scientifically that they are prone to cascade failures that can destruct the entire network on which they are based. We also know scientifically that networks such as living organism favor distributed adaptable networks because they are more robust and rarely suffer catastrophic failure.
    Why is no one shouting from the roof tops the emperor has no clothes?
    They are treating middle class Americans as if they are stupid, and are incapable of understanding the truth. What is more disturbing is that the media uses the authority principle to sell Obama and these authorities which have a stake in the status-quoi feed the same bull and sell Americans down the river.

    Media wake up and do the right things by the country. Networks have certain laws that govern them. Look up Lazlo Barabasi and ask him about the dangers of centralized systems!
    There is a scientific basis for why capitalism is superior to socialism, and why we need small distributed government versus big government. Centralized systems are useful only in generating standards.

    Obama don’t tell me you are for the middle class, when you are just selling them into indentured servitude to big corporations! Show me how you will bring wealth creation to the middle class.

    Posted by Kimberly Peacock September 18, 08 01:29 PM

  1. I'm a successful business owner and am glad to pay HIGHER taxes so the middle class can get relief. Businesses have a TON of ways to write off expenses and keep MORE in our pockets.

    Consumer spending from the majority (middle class) of Americans puts more money in the pockets of big businesses. So Obama is wise in his decision because most Americans with tax breaks and extra checks will go out spending...

    Any business that makes a profit of over $250,000 will NOT cut jobs because they have built in incentives... Have the Bush (McCain) tax cuts provided more jobs?
    Just look at the state of the economy...Big businesses ($250,000+) profit CAN handle the tax increases...it's GOOD for them and that's why I support the Obama tax plan as a successful business owner...

    Posted by WatchTheWatcher September 18, 08 03:09 PM

  1. Instead of saying that the ad "appears" to be "misleading", wouldn't it be easier and more accurate to say that it is lying?

    Because that's what it's doing, and to false depict McCain (or anyone) as a racist is deeply offensive. Anyone who does that is not fit to be president, senator, or dogcatcher. Obama must withdraw this ad and apologize at once.

    Posted by Ralph September 18, 08 06:12 PM
add your comment
Required
Required (will not be published)

This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.

About political intelligence Field reports from Boston Globe reporters and editors covering the 2008 presidential campaign and the national maneuvering of Bay State politicians.

Send your comments to masspolitics@globe.com

see all globe blogs
archives

browse this blog

by category