Ignoring McCain's immigration flip-flop, Fox's Carlson doubts "straight-talk guy" would "change his opinion"
During the February 8 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, Geraldo Rivera, host of Fox News' Geraldo at Large, asserted that Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (AZ) discussed illegal immigration at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) "because ... this is a real man" who "faces these issues foursquare." Fox & Friends co-host Gretchen Carlson went on to say, "It's a tough call for him, 'cause he's a straight-talk guy. I don't think he'll change his opinion." In fact, McCain's current support for securing the border first represents a reversal of his prior position that border security "must be accompanied by immigration reforms" such as a temporary worker program.
From the February 8 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:
BRIAN KILMEADE (co-host): I want you to hear John McCain refer to immigration yesterday at CPAC. Let's listen.
[begin video clip]
McCAIN: Surely I have held other positions that have not met with widespread agreement from conservatives. I won't pretend otherwise, nor would you permit me to forget it. On the issue of illegal immigration, a position which --
[booing from the audience]
[end video clip]
DOOCY: OK. And he's the guy now.
RIVERA: But let me give him and -- you know how I feel about John McCain.
DOOCY: He brought it up.
RIVERA: You know how I feel about John McCain, and he brought it up because he's -- this is a real man. I mean, he's got guts, and he faces these issues foursquare, but if that party, as led by him, if he tilts to the right on the issue, and he becomes a Tom Tancredo, Duncan Hunter, Mitt Romney, they're going to lose, because --
CARLSON: I don't think about --
RIVERA: It's 10 percent of the electorate come November -- Latinos, bigger than ever.
CARLSON: It's a tough call for him, 'cause he's a straight-talk guy.
DOOCY: Right.
CARLSON: I don't think he'll change his opinion.
Nerzog, remember this is FOX. Of course they are gonna back McCain.
Seriously though don't get too worried. The Dems are gonna win in November.
I held my nose & voted for Bush [only to regret it]..I won't be holding my nose & voting for McCain. I have a feeling a lot of other Conservatives will feel the same way.
Jeter, not if they think he's a Democrat.
This is not the first time they did this either. Remember Mark Foley? According to Fox, he was a Democrat too.
dbeden,
I gotta believe that was deliberate. McCain is not most Conservative Republicans favorite as we all know...Well, FOX may not be happy about McCain as the GOP nominee, but they'll back him anyway. Except for maybe Sean Hannity, though it wouldn't shock me if he got on board somewhere down the line too.
Seemingly small (but important) point to make:
Now that it appears that Mr. McCain will be the Republican's nominee to run for the Office ("presumptive nominee" they like to say), it seems best to take the man and his National Policy opinions and positions, to take him as he states those things now today, as a candidate for President of the United States, and not to sift obsessively through every thing Sen. McCain (R-AZ) ever said or stood for, when his constituency was no more than the good folks of the State of Arizona.
And this is not so much the allowance of a candidate for the Presidency to shift or alter his National Policy opinions, now that the electorate to which he petitions, is a truly national one (versus his former constituency being exclusively Arizonian)...
Although that alone is reason enough to stop this "flip-flop" stupidity
...but because the Democratic nominee might themselves be subject to this "flip-flop" madness, on an even more important National Policy matter than immigration...
And in a matter in which Sen. McCain has not wavered or "flip-flopped" in the least degree.
Let's just allow the candidates for the Presidency to tell us their opinions and positions on Nationasl Policy, now that they stand seriously for the Office of President of the United States, for the first time in the political lives...
...without continuously throwing in their faces, the opinions they may have previously expressed, when their constituency was much smaller than that of the entire Nation, and the times were perhaps much different.
This "flip-flop" crap is really nothing constructive in Political Discourse, and we could do much better without it.
I sure do agree with you friend. I'd point out what's a little different in the present circumstances though...
In the rather wide spectrum of political campaigning in America, and the tactics used and the type of "fighting" (even "fighting dirty") used in those American political campaigns...
Senator John McCain is to one side of that spectrum, way over to one side, and I think you'd agree with me right away on that, without my articulating further...
But I will anyway.
Senator John McCain is as Honest and Sincere and Truthful a man as has ever served in the United States Senate.
True.
I have watched him fight tirelessy and overtime for Campaign Election Reform, and Congressional Ethics, on the Senate Floor, long after the bulk of the Senate has jetted off to who knows where in anticipation of Recess...
Mr. McCain, and Mr. Feingold too, as the only U.S. Senators I know of presently serving, who have the integrity to stand for Campaign Election Reform in the U.S. Senate...
And they usually stand alone, just the two of them on the Senate Floor, that's how rare is integrity in the U.S Senate, and John McCain has Integrity.
"Fighting dirty" and smearing and spreading lies in a political campaign in America?
Senator McCain is a rare example of someone who seems averse to that obnoxious crap.
Anyway, he's a different guy than say George W. Bush or Dick Cheney is... we should not expect a political campaign from Sen. McCain, at all like the campaigns we expect and have experienced from the likes of Bush and Cheney.
I'd rather wipe the windows clean of what presently dirties them, so that I can see Mr. McCain in this matter, clear and unbiased...
...than color him prejudicially, with the all too familiar stains and dirt of the likes of Bush and Cheney.
"Senator, I've seen Bush and Cheney now for years, and seen how they work...
...Senator McCain, you're no Bush or Cheney!"
That's true.
As I've said before, I was considering voting for McCain last time he ran... then he got the Karl Rove treatment in South Carolina. After that, I still admired him until he walked up and hugged George Bush like nothing had ever happened.
SAVE DEMOCRACY, VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT!!
When we take the Congress, and the Senate with a filibuster proof majority and they are sending legislation to the Democratic President, I want a LAW that makes manditory prison time for any Republican that uses a cliche to discribe the veracity of their own B.S., and a life sentence if it rhymes.
10 years for the dingbat blonde that thinks "the straight talk guy" gives her the appearance of intelligence.
Happy Thoughts
Dan Grady