Buried within this hissy-fit by John Hawkins over John McCain’s position on immigration is this gem:
Put very simply: John McCain is a liar. He’s a man without honor, without integrity, who could not have captured the Republican nomination had he run on making comprehensive immigration a top priority of his administration. Quite frankly, this is little different from George Bush, Sr. breaking his “Read my lips, no new taxes pledge,” except that Bush’s father was at least smart enough to wait until he got elected before letting all of his supporters know that he was lying to them.
What ahistorical nonsense. This is completely different from Bush 41, who did campaign after making an anti-tax pledge, but, as leaders often do, they sometimes have to put aside campaign promises and reverse course when reality on the ground dictates that they do.
Bush, faced with a recession, a rising deficit, and a hostile Congress, and confined by Graham-Rudman-Hollings, had two choices- he had to either make deep cuts that neither party favored (and probably would not pass Congress), or he had to cut a deal. And cut a deal he did. You might want to look into this time period- some really interesting names show up- Dick Darman, Dan Rostenkowski, John O’Neill, etc.
But back to the point- this is nothing like the Bush tax pledge- Bush wasn’t secretly excited about raising taxes, it was something he did out of necessity. To the contrary, it appears that McCain is quite clearly running on a platform of immigration reform. Were this to be “little different” from Bush, McCain would need to run on the anti-immigration rhetoric you all want to hear and then, in the middle of his administration shift course.
I really don’t know how people who claim to be Republican die-hards would not remember this pretty important piece of the GOP collective history, although I suspect it is part of the effort to maintain the Reagan legacy as someone who did nothing but slash taxes (also nonsense- the great gizgoogle can lead you to all sorts of interesting things, such as TEFRA, the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the Omnibus Reconciliation Acts from the time period-notably 85 and 87, and so on), and it was the elder Bush who came along and betrayed conservative principles and started raising taxes.
Back to the point. As James Joyner points out, this isn’t even a switch for McCain:
McCain is not feeling his way around on this one. He’s represented a border state in the Senate for 31 years and has been a passionate leader on this issue. Why would anyone think he’d turned 180 degrees in the middle of a presidential run? For that matter, why would they want to trust the leadership of their country to someone who had?
Instead, he took his beating on the issue like a man, announced that he’d learned that he’s not going to get his way without addressing the security issue first, but reiterated that he thinks we need a comprehensive, humanitarian approach to the problem.
No wonder all these folks can do when asked to recite history is break out their “USA #1” foam finger and scream “appeaser.” That being said, maybe it is a good thing they do not remember history, as it was widespread conservative disapproval with Bush that helped lead to his defeat. If conservative outrage over immigration is going to help lead to President Obama, I am more than ok with that.
Modern Conservatives and “history”
rawshark
Earlier I saw this post without a title or was I dreaming? I tried to make a comment about it at the time but WordPress wouldn’t let me.
I can’t even begin to tell you how cool it is that someone who in that past would have sung along with them is now calling them out on the bullshit. Damn I picked a good blog to hang out at 3 years ago. Thank you Atrios for pointing me here.
PeterJ
I think someone should reject and denounce the GOS. Maybe then he’ll stop linking here.
rob!
reading republican wingnuts declare their hatred for john mccain is like a cool drink on a hot day to this Obama supporter. more, please!
Grand Moff Texan
I’m no fan of Herbert Walker, but if you’re going to say that he planned to raise taxes all along, you’re going to need some evidence.
Bush I was no fan of “voodoo economics” (he coined the term!), but that doesn’t mean he raised taxes for fun.
Now, as for Reagan in 1984, I have to wonder. Remember Mondale saying “he won’t tell you and I just did”?
Heh.
.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
…
Speaking as a partisan Dem who still hasn’t forgotten or forgiven the Willie Horton ad, I have to say that GHB’s turnaround on tax policy earned a great deal of respect. He had a choice between doing the right thing for the country (which helped to set the table for the balanced budgets and economic prosperity of the Clinton administration), and doing what was likely to enhance his re-election prospects (by pleasing the conservative base).
He picked the former over the latter, and paid a price for it in the next election. I admire that. Too bad it apparently wasn’t a genetic trait.
The contrast between the administrations of Bush pere and Bush fils is almost too painful to contemplate.
Shinobi
I don’t think that video will ever get old.
Billy K
I don’t think it’s an accident any more. What did John ever do to –
Oh. Nevermind.
Laertes
Holy shit the comments at that site are funny. I love watching a wingnut circular firing squad.
crw
These Neo-Know Nothings are going to have a fit when they digest Obama’s speech on Latin American relations this morning. The best part is he’s bluntly calling their bluff that they aren’t against legal immigration, just illegal immigration.
croatoan
Why are the ignorant frat-boy closet cases always Republicans?
Libby Spencer
I wonder if you know that Sam Cooke made the title of this post famous with this song and it was later covered by Hermans Hermits in the 60s.
Funny, I almost used it myself recently.
dj spellchecka
mccain’s real proplem with his immigration rhetoric
is that he keeps changing it.
he said one thing to a business group on thursday and his advisors were walking it all back on friday.
steve benen gets to the heart of the problem: “Truth be told, in terms of my issue priorities, immigration reform is relatively low. But I know for Republicans, it’s among the most important issues, if not the most important domestic policy issue. And yet, here’s the Republican nominee, running on a platform of consistency, shifting with the wind and changing his position from day to day.
I get the sense the media establishment is prepared to give McCain a pass on this, but are Republican voters?”