McCain lashes out over leading on immigration "reform" and not getting "Hispanic vote"; not a moment of clarity

All that pandering in vain takes a toll, and John McCain can't keep things bottled up for long. From this:

John McCain sounds angry and frustrated that, despite the risks he took in pushing immigration reform, Hispanic voters flocked to Democrat Barack Obama in last year's presidential contest. McCain's raw emotions burst forth recently as he heatedly told Hispanic business leaders that they should now look to Obama, not him, to take the lead on immigration.

What follows is he said, she said hearsay. Whatever he said and however he said it, don't worry: the GOP will be back to pandering in no time without realizing that no matter how much they pander, the Democrats can always undercut them simply by pandering more. The GOP leadership clearly doesn't have the brainpower to be able to figure that out.

UPDATE: Matt Corley of ThinkProgress offers "Report: ‘Angry’ McCain Referred To Hispanics As ‘You People’ During Outreach Meeting" (thinkprogress.org/2009/04/03/mccain-hispanics-you-people). He only concentrates on the low-hanging fruit: the contention that McCain was angry and his supposed use of "you people", which Corley implies is a racial insult despite that being beyond a stretch. That post also contains several racist comments, such as "Old White Man, it’s long past time to step aside, get on that golf cart with Pappa Bush and ride away... PEACE".

John Amato of Crooks and Liars concentrates on the same childish aspects and also makes this absurd claim: "[McCain] did push the Bush immigration deal, but you know it was just response to the anger many Latinos felt over Sensenbrenner's HOUSE bill." That refers to HR4473, and it's completely wrong: McCain is part true believer, part corrupt hack who does the bidding of corrupt businesses; what he supported wasn't a response to anything other than that.

Both posts are from lightweights in both knowledge of this issue and influence, but they do illustrate how the Dems will always be able to undercut Republicans on this issue, no matter how hard the GOP panders. The only way to beat the Dems at that game would be to be more Dem than the Dems, but someone wouldn't be a Republican if they went that far. The GOP needs to play a different game using a different set of rules, a set designed to undercut the Dems. Unfortunately, the GOP is too dumb and corrupt to do that.

UPDATE 2: Dianna Parker of Media Matters for America uses the article to continue their tradition of misleading about McCain's position on immigration, saying (mediamatters.org/items/200904060003):

Yet, despite repeatedly referring to how McCain "buck[ed] his party on immigration" prior to 2008, at no point did the article address McCain's flip-flop on immigration reform during the 2008 presidential campaign. As a candidate, McCain said he would vote against his own comprehensive immigration bill if it came to the Senate floor, arguing that border security must be addressed before any other reforms.

McCain's supposed flip-flop was just a sleazy tactic he was using to get "reform". The idea that he was turning his back on "reform" is absurd. Prior to the election, saying things like the above could have been a completely disingenuous tactic to get McCain to hurt himself with the GOP base even more by trying to force him to come out again and say that he did eventually want "reform". Now it's just completely disingenuous. And, like the rest, it shows that the GOP just can't win as Dem Lite on this issue.

Fri, 04/03/2009 - 09:51 · · Importance: 4