DailyKos discovers McCain $50 lettuce canard, that "jobs Americans won't do" is false

Remember almost two and half years ago when John McCain said how Americans wouldn't pick lettuce even if they were paid $50 an hour? Since then it's become part of his lore, at least from those who oppose illegal immigration. And, remember how endless hacks trotted out the "jobs Americans won't do" lie, which many of those same opponents said was false?

Well, it took them a while, but the DailyKos kids have finally caught up to both. From a "diary" by "smintheus" called "McCain on working class wages" (dailykos.com/story/2008/8/21/162111/573/526/572063):

Since the nation is in the midst of John McCain's 'housing crisis', in which he tries to remember how many houses he owns, and we're all still trying to figure out why McCain thinks an income of $5,000,000/year is needed to be considered rich, it's worth revisiting McCain's opinion about the value of wages. In 2006 at an AFL-CIO convention, when asked about the effect of immigration in depressing wages, McCain declared that no Americans would be willing to do agricultural work for as little as $50/hour. At that rate, a worker would make as much in 6 months as the average annual household income in the US...

...I'd love for voters to ask McCain at townhalls this summer and fall whether he still thinks nobody's willing to work for as little as $50/hour...

I don't know if "smintheus" is playing a game or not, but the replies I scanned seemed to agree with him. Perhaps the DNC has taken Rahm Emanuel's advice rather that offered by Markos Moulitsas Zuniga (Subcommandante Kos) on this same topic.

UPDATE: To blow some Democratic minds, guess what show this is from:

Well, Project USA has made it possible for to you apply for one of those $50 an hour McCain and company lettuce picking jobs. In response to the question, "Are you qualified?" You can check, "Yes, I am an American," "Yes, I am an illegal alien," or, "Yes, I'm a qualified engineer interested in automating lettuce picking, and thanks to the H1-B cheap human import program you support, I'm unemployed, too."

You can also fill out your application online at projectusa.org. Project USA will deliver those personally to Senator McCain, I'm told.

Immigration2008a · Thu, 08/21/2008 - 17:26 · · Importance: 1