Reasons not to vote for John McCain

In both Livonia, Michigan (where he was booed) and in the New Hampshire debate (where he was grossly discourteous to Romney) McCain said he would not “…deport the illegal alien mother or grandmother of a soldier serving in Iraq”. McCain was being completely disingenuous with his glib answers on an important issue. He knows perfectly well that no one has suggested deporting the illegal alien parents of men and women who are serving in our armed forces. He simply used his glib answers to dodge the question of what he would do about all of the other illegal aliens. That’s what the voters really want to know. As Romney put it, “What will you do Senator? Will you send them back?”

On another occasion, the artful dodger, McCain, said the first thing we have to do is deport the two million criminals hiding among the illegal aliens. Sorting them out is a daunting task and McCain has no idea about how to do this. Perhaps he hopes that we can get all the criminals to sew a scarlet letter C on their clothing so we can easily identify and deport them. He should know that these miscreants will be back across the border within 24 hours after they have been deported. Therefore, they must be photographed, fingerprinted, DNAed, and do hard time before they are deported and if they return, they must be treated as habitual criminals.

McCain also seems to be hung up on semantic arguments about what is and what is not “amnesty”. His opponents have conceded that, according to the legal definition, if any sort of penalty is imposed, even if it is only a slap on the wrist, it is not amnesty. In spite of the legal definition, the common understanding of the term amnesty is any policy that permits illegal aliens to remain and work in this country without returning to compliance with the immigration laws as they existed at the time they violated our borders. It doesn’t really make any difference whether they are required to pay back taxes, pay a fine and/or learn English, they are still being given the object of their illegality -- the opportunity to stay and work in America.

McCain needs to acknowledge the common understanding of the term “amnesty” and get on with a discussion of the issues involved and the merits of a mass amnesty for the 12 million illegal aliens versus the merits of mass deportation. So far McCain has been equivocating on this issue. (At the same time he accuses Romney of equivocating on the issue of a definite date for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq.)

McCain is a legitimate American hero so why has he chosen to betray those who believe in secure borders and the rule of law, the very foundation of civilized societies? He doesn’t understand that there’s more to secure borders than improvements in physical and electronic barriers, and more border patrol agents, and more broken promises of government. He doesn’t understand that, regardless of improvements at the border, any amnesty for illegal aliens, however you define it, will constitute an open invitation for more border violations.