Update: McCain: Illegal immigrants are “intentionally causing accidents on the freeway”

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

After taking some time to research a plausible explanation for his comment that had people scratching their heads and muttering “what the hell is he talking about?,” the McCain campaign contacted the Huffington Post with the following clarification. John McCain’s Campaign Clears Up Controversial Illegal Immigrant Quote:

In an email to the Huffington Post, Brooke Buchanan, a spokesperson for the Senator relayed that McCain “was referring to a story Pinal County Sheriff Babeu told” at a press conference on Monday.

In that story, Babeu said that there had been “numerous officers that have been killed by illegal immigrants in Arizona” and that “in just one patrol area, we’ve had 64 pursuits — failure to yield for an officer — in one month.”

The line didn’t fully mesh with McCain’s inference that illegal aliens were causing disasters on the roads “intentionally.” But Buchanan pointed out that in a subsequent interview on MSNBC (this Wednesday), Babeu did, in fact, make that point.

“[J]ust last month alone we have had 64 pursuits. That’s where these illegals are failing to yield to lights and sirens, as every good citizen would pull to the side of the road, they are intentionally causing serious traffic hazards. They have caused wrecks, running red lights. It puts our deputies and officers in harm’s way. One thing new in their tactics, nearly every one of them is armed. So this created, even with one of our deputies crashing into an actual ditch and into water, he was face down unconscious. And a Casa Grande officer literally saved his life.”

Certainly, it appears that McCain was influenced during his interview on Fox by information from law enforcement sources on the ground (though his delivery remains a bit in-artful).

So McCain’s comment on Monday is explained by a subsequent comment by Pinal County Sheriff Babeu on Wednesday. O-Kay.