What McCane wishes he could say...

There is a Republican debate tonight and, over lunch, NPR was talking with a GOP strategist who said that if Romney doesn’t act swiftly, soon McCane will have overwhelming momentum. One thing the strategist expected Romney would do tonight is to hit McCane on the question of Immigration. He expected to hear Romney say “amnesty” a lot. The host commented that even if Romney did not say it, Rush Limbaugh probably would.

It occurred to me that there is a response that McCane could make, but won’t because it’s so un-politic that it would cost him votes, or at least he would be afraid it would. (Have you ever noticed that although the voters tell you they want honesty and forthrightness from their politicians, they tend to reward it by voting for the other guy? There’s what monkey says and what monkey does. One gets you elected. Which do you think politicians pay attention to?) So, I’m going to reply to the question on Senator. McCane’s behalf and say what I think he wishes he could say. Mind you he has not been consulted in this nor has he endorsed this answer.

Q: Do you think we should give illegal immigrants amnesty at some point?

A: Before I respond to that on a policy level, I want to respond to that on a strategic level. No matter what we do, amnesty or not, some of those immigrants will eventually become legal immigrants or have families who are legal immigrants, and some of them will become citizens. At some point, most of us, had an ancestor who was not born in this county but came here from abroad, so you all know how that works. Now, you all know that citizens vote. If we deport their Maria or expel their Johann, they will remember it when they vote. If we become the anti-immigrant party, then all the newly minted citizens will vote for the other team because they will believe that those people are their friends. All those new voters, all voting Democrat, not because they agree with the Democrats on policy issues, but because they think we are their enemy. That is how you go the way of the Whigs and the Tories. We cannot afford to have the legal immigrants see us as the anti-immigration party. Whatever policy we state on immigration, including this issue of amnesty, must be sellable to new citizens who have family still living abroad. So before you decide how you feel about the rest of my answer, you need to realize I’m a damn sight better for you, long term, than taking a position that puts a Democrat in the White House.

With that said, I can answer your specific policy question….