March 28, 2008

McCain campaign dodges Juan Hernandez question; denies Heath Shuler charge

Speaking on a conference call today, Steve Schmidt and Jill Hazelbaker of the John McCain campaign denied the recent claim (link) from Rep. Heath Shuler that McCain had strong-armed other Republicans from signing on to his SAVE Act.

Then, from our "at least it was asked" file comes the news that Ed Morrissey (link) and John Hawkins (link) inquired about McCain's Hispanic outreach director, Juan Hernandez - a former cabinet-level official with the Mexican government. From the Hawkins summary:

Q: Will McCain be getting rid of Juan Hernandez?

A: McCain says we should secure the border first and go after employers. Then, he wants to have a path to citizenship. Juan Hernandez will support McCain's positions.

Follow-up question: Isn't having Hernandez on staff the equivalent of having McPeak onboard with Obama? Doesn't it cast doubt on his commitment if he has him on staff?

A: John McCain is crystal clear on the issue and his position is his own, not Juan Hernandez's.

An apparent transcription of part of that is here:

"Any person who supports John McCain's campaigns is a subscriber to John McCain's views and even if those people have published things or said things in terms of policy that are contrary to John McCain’s policies that does not mean John McCain supports that person's view. That person is working in a campaign to help express John McCain’s view."

A better question might involve something like how they expect anyone to believe that someone who's no doubt pledged an oath to the Mexican government to be able to support McCain's position. Unless, there's little difference between McCain's position and that of the Mexican government.

Someone who wants to do a great service could go undercover to Hernandez' appearances and catch him saying something "interesting" as part of his outreach, and then use that to show what McCain really supports.

Posted to Immigration2008a at March 28, 2008 11:08 AM