Immigration - Hispanic Vote - John McCain Pulls Rare Triple Flip

[Median Democrat]

John McCain was pro-Bush immigration reform in 2007, pro-enforcement against illegal immigration during the primaries, and now he is courting the Hispanic vote emphasizing his pro-immigration stands. So, while the media and many DUers are focusing on Obama's alleged negatives, John McCain again gets a free pass.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200802140015

Wash. Post, WSJ call McCain's reversal on immigration a "shift[]" in "emphasis"
Summary: A Wall Street Journal article asserted that "hile Sen. McCain has shifted his emphasis, talking more now about 'securing the border first,' he remains committed to the broad strokes of his original approach ." And the Washington Post editorial board wrote that McCain has made "what amounts to only a mild shift in emphasis in his longstanding position." However, McCain's current position -- that the borders must be secured before other reforms can be addressed -- is a reversal of his prior position; McCain previously argued that border security could not be disaggregated from other aspects of comprehensive immigration reform without being rendered ineffective. Moreover, he now says that he would not support his own legislation if it came up for a vote in the Senate.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2008/07/mccain-shifts-h.html

John McCain shifts his message toward Latino immigrants
John McCain, angling to win a bigger share of the fast-growing Latino vote, is taking the risky step of placing an immigration overhaul at the center of his appeal, write the Times' Peter Wallsten and Maeve Reston from Washington.

The presumed Republican presidential nominee, who trails Barack Obama among Latinos and was recently in Mexico City and Colombia, had been focused on assuring conservatives that securing the U.S. border with Mexico would be his top immigration priority.

But McCain has adopted a message that gives equal weight to helping employers and immigrant workers and their families. That suggests that as president he would back the kind of legislation that has roiled many in his party -- most notably, a legalization plan for undocumented workers

[applegrove]

1. That's not a flip flopper. That's a fish on a dock flip flopping away to save

his life....hoping that he'll flip flop back into the safe waters again.

[Median Democrat]

2. I Thought The GI Bill Flip Flop Was Bad, But Immigration?

He took three different positions within about six months. Of course, perhaps we are breaking some sort of taboo by talking about John McCain's flip flops.