Hill article failed to note that McCain “buckle[d] under pressure to abandon” his position on immigration

Written by Tom Allison

Published

The Hill asserted that Sen. John McCain “did not buckle under pressure to abandon” his prior position on comprehensive immigration reform during the Republican presidential primary. But as The Hill itself previously reported, McCain “adopted a harder stance on the campaign trail as his primary opponents painted him as soft on” immigration. Indeed, McCain now says he no longer supports the immigration bill he co-sponsored.

In a June 12 article in The Hill, reporter Jared Allen asserted that Sen. John McCain “co-sponsored with Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) the immigration bill that the CHC [Congressional Hispanic Caucus] is demanding, which would put the country's 12 million illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship. And he did not buckle under pressure to abandon that position during the GOP primary.” But as The Hill itself previously reported, after McCain's support for the bill he co-sponsored with Kennedy “damaged his credibility with conservatives,” McCain “adopted a harder stance on the campaign trail as his primary opponents painted him as soft on” immigration. Indeed, McCain did “abandon” his support for the immigration bill he co-sponsored with Kennedy, saying that he would no longer vote for it if it came up in the Senate and reversing his position on a key aspect of immigration reform, more closely conforming to the views of the GOP base. McCain now says that “we've got to secure the borders first” -- a position at odds with his prior assertion that border security could not be disaggregated from other aspects of comprehensive immigration reform without being rendered ineffective.

A November 4, 2007, Associated Press article about McCain's change in position noted that his prior support for comprehensive immigration reform “hurt him politically,” and quoted McCain stating: “I understand why you would call it a, quote, shift. ... I say it is a lesson learned about what the American people's priorities are. And their priority is to secure the borders.”

Moreover, while Allen's article -- headlined “Hispanic Dems warn Obama he risks losing Latino voters” -- purported to describe McCain's and Sen. Barack Obama's appeal to Hispanic voters, Allen did not report that an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll conducted June 6-9 and released June 11 showed Obama leading McCain 62 percent to 28 percent among Hispanic voters.

From the June 12 Hill article:

[Sen. Barack] Obama's National Latino Vote Director, Cuauhtemoc “Temo” Figueroa, will have his first meeting in Washington Thursday with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC).

They carefully avoided calling explicitly for [Sen. Hillary] Clinton's selection as the party's vice presidential nominee, but some indicated that her bond with Latino voters will get them to the polls in November, just as it drew them into the primaries.

“Hillary holds the entire Latino community in the palm of her hand,” said. Rep. José Serrano (D-N.Y.), whose district went heavily for Clinton.

But Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), Obama's Republican opponent, is also liked by Latinos. He co-sponsored with Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) the immigration bill that the CHC is demanding, which would put the country's 12 million illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship. And he did not buckle under pressure to abandon that position during the GOP primary.