McCain moves right, pushes the myth of a ‘secure border’

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

We learned last week from an interview with the editors of the Arizona Daily Star that Sen. John McCain says he will take his ball and go home rather than participate in drafting a comprehensive immigration reform bill. Challenged on his right by a shameless anti-immigrant basher J.D. Hayworth, McCain has moved to the right and abandoned any of his so-called principles of the past.

McCain threw his support behind the police state measure of Nativist Sen. Russell Pearce (R-Mesa) on Monday. Ariz. lawmakers pass toughest illegal immigration law in U.S.:

"I think the people of Arizona understandably are frustrated and angry," the Arizona Republican said. "It's also a commentary on the frustration that our state Legislature has that the federal government has not fulfilled its constitutional responsibilities to secure our borders."

Republican J.D. Hayworth, who is running for McCain's Senate seat, has been issuing news releases in support of the state legislation for several weeks.

That would be your failure to enact comprehensive immigration reform when you had the chance, Mr. "I know how to solve our immigration problem." Your buddies Sen. Jon Kyl and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) stabbed you in the back. It was wackadoodles in the Republican Party like Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) who blocked your comprehensive immigration reform bill, so don't go painting the whole Congress with a broad brush for your failure.

Also on Monday, McCain teamed up with his twin embarrassment, Senator Obstruction, Jon Kyl to propose another one of those meaningless "10 Point Plans" to secure the border. McCain, Kyl back bill, call for Guard on border:

Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl on Monday called for the immediate deployment of 3,000 National Guard troops to the Arizona-Mexico border.

The renewed call for Guard troops was part of a 10-point border-security plan unveiled by the two senators, who also voiced support for a bill approved by state lawmakers Monday that is considered the toughest effort in the nation to crack down on illegal immigrants.

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The two senators, flanked by Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu and Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever, announced their border plan partly in response to the murder of an Arizona rancher whose death police believe may be tied to violent drug cartels from Mexico.

The plan also calls for adding 3,000 more Border Patrol agents in Arizona by 2015, increasing funding for programs that help local law enforcement fight drug and immigrant smuggling, and ensuring that anyone caught crossing the border illegally more than once serves 15 to 60 days in jail.

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McCain, who is up for re-election, has been a major supporter of comprehensive immigration reform in the past, but he has adopted a tougher stance, which his GOP primary opponent has called election-year posturing.

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McCain, who has supported comprehensive reform in the past but has shied away from it this year, said Congress should not consider reform until the border is secure. "The lesson is clear: We have to secure the border," he said.

Former U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth, who is running against McCain, accused him of changing his position for political purposes. Hayworth has made border security and illegal-immigration enforcement the center of his opposition to McCain. "Arizonans have long desired, and long deserved, to have a secure southern border. McCain's effort today is born of political convenience – driven by his need for personal political gain," Hayworth said in a statement.

Chris Simcox, a founder of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, a civilian border-control group, and a paid adviser to Hayworth's campaign, also criticized the border-security plan.

"This is shameful, election-year politics," Simcox said. "For almost three decades, McCain had the office and the opportunity to help close the borders to illegal aliens, and he did nothing."

E.J Montini of The Arizona Republic sums it up nicely in this opinion McCain pushes myth of 'secure border':

We learned Monday that Sen. John McCain's idea of a "secure border" is a myth. It does not exist. It will not exist. It cannot exist.

I found that out when I asked McCain's office what the senator meant when he told a reporter, "The lesson is clear, first we have to secure the border. If you want to enact some other reforms, how can that be effective when you have a porous border? . . . So we have to secure the border first."

That sounds really good. But what does it mean? I asked the senator's people to quantify the phrase "secure the border."

What are the criteria? One bad guy getting through? A hundred? None?

And who gets to declare it secure?

The country is in the middle of an argument over border security and immigration, but we have no specifics. Just talk. Just politics.

I was told by a McCain press liaison to check out No. 1 in the "10-point comprehensive border security plan" announced by McCain and Sen. Jon Kyl, both Arizona Republicans, at a news conference Monday.

It reads:

"Immediately deploy 3,000 National Guard Troops along the Arizona/Mexico border, along with appropriate surveillance platforms, which shall remain in place until the Governor of Arizona certifies, after consulting with state, local and tribal law enforcement, that the Federal Government has achieved operational control of the border. Permanently add 3,000 Custom and Border Protection Agents to the Arizona/Mexico border by 2015."

See any numbers in there beyond the 3,000 Guard troops and 3,000 border agents?

Me neither.

What the McCain-Kyl plan says is that our border with Mexico is secure when the governor SAYS it is secure.

Of course, this will mean nothing to the local, state and federal politicians who will disagree with the governor's assessment.

After all, much of what McCain is doing now is a reaction to the death of Cochise County rancher Robert Krentz.

Does the death of one man prove the border is, in McCain's words, "porous"?

We know that some bad guys are going to get through. We know that some drugs and human smuggling will go on. But we need a number. Without specifics, those who don't want any kind of immigration reform always will be able to say that the border is not secure.

McCain's opponent in the primary election, former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, isn't buying McCain's election-year zeal for border security.

The Hayworth campaign hurriedly rushed out a news release condemning McCain's plan.

"I know Arizonans will see this latest plan for what it is – political gamesmanship," Hayworth said. "McCain keeps trying to invoke 'amnesty amnesia' in Arizona voters. But the sad reality is that McCain has failed Arizonans by waiting so long to work towards real measures to secure our border."

I'd expect Hayworth to ratchet up his estimate of the number of soldiers and agents that he'd send to the border. Which will cause McCain to ratchet up his demand, and so on, until we end up with the entire Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, National Guard, Border Patrol, Coast Guard, all DEA agents, FBI agents, military-academy students, park rangers, Boy Scouts, Girls Scouts, high-school band members and just about anyone else with a uniform standing shoulder to shoulder from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.

And then if one bad guy gets through, would the border be secure or not?

Depends on whom you ask.