John McCain, fencing off America. Would Ronald Reagan have approved?
In today's Wall Street Journal, Peter Robinson explains how Reagan would have approached our immigration dilemma:
Ronald Reagan was no kind of nativist...Describing America as "a shining city" in his 1989 farewell address, for example, he said, "[a]nd if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here."
Now compare Reagan's approach to a recent television advertisement for John McCain's reelection campaign:
And what would The Gipper have thought of Senator McCain's advertisement? Peter:
Reagan would have kept [Sheriff Paul Babeu] off camera. "Senator," the sheriff says to Sen. McCain at the end of his advertisement, "you're one of us." One white man to another white man—speaking the very words most likely to alienate every Hispanic voter who hears them? Not in any advertisement in which Reagan would have appeared. He might have acquiesced, grudgingly, in completing the danged fence. But Ronald Reagan was no danged fool.
- Comment (26)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (2)
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
Comments:
May '10
Re: John McCain, fencing off America. Would Ronald Reagan have approved?
Wasn't immigration one of Reagan's biggest mistakes? I'm curious to know whether he ever looked back on the (86?) amnesty and regretted it, if anyone has a quote from his memoirs or whatever. "Amnesty" in itself is not a dirty word to me. We scoffed at our own laws and laid out the welcome mat, so what else were they supposed to do? Shouldn't punish them for following our none-too-subtle signal (come on in, the water's fine!). But amnesty without first enforcing the borders is a horrible mistake. Even Dame Peggy Noonan gets that.
May '10
Re: John McCain, fencing off America. Would Ronald Reagan have approved?
"'Senator,' the sheriff says to Sen. McCain at the end of his advertisement, 'you're one of us.' One white man to another white man—speaking the very words most likely to alienate every Hispanic voter who hears them?"
I cringed at this line the first time I watched it. If anything, the ad shows how desperate McCain is. Forget his former aspirations for president; McCain simply wants to be reelected to Congress, and he is so frantic to join the cause and identify with the indignant citizenry in Arizona that I almost feel embarrassed for him. I think he knows he could never reach a higher office after a divisive and antagonistic commercial like that.
May '10
Re: John McCain, fencing off America. Would Ronald Reagan have approved?
John McCain's loyalty is to the residents of Arizona and then to the Republican Party. Hopefully, the two are mutually compatible. In the case of illegal immigration, Arizona has a larger scaled, and far more dangerous, reality than was the case during Reagan’s era. I know the topic is What would Reagan do today?, but in fairness to John McCain, he has an epic crisis on his hands that should not be Arizona’s problem to bear…and, certainly, not in isolation. The once harmless illegal immigrant looking for a better quality of life is now mixed in with violent and ruthless drug runners who are armed and terrorizing Arizonans. It makes sense to me that the face of the authority that is heroically trying to protect the American citizens of Arizona, as well as, protecting our national security would be the one to stand with John McCain, prominently and proudly. I do understand the PR piece to not alienating (pissing off) the legal (and future legal) Hispanic citizens, but this commercial was about no-more-fun-and-games, get-a-glimpse-of-our-nightmare…we’re-saving-Arizona…and this is the guy bearing the brunt of it. Sheriff Paul Babeu, a Major in the Army National Guard,...
May '10
Re: John McCain, fencing off America. Would Ronald Reagan have approved?
served a tour in Iraq, spent 16 months deployed to the border, has impressive achievements and numerous awards and medals, two of which for saving lives. He’s the one on the frontlines doing the dirty job no one else wants. Please tell me why we would hide him. Because he’s a white guy? I don’t see a problem with a politician taking a stand against Islamic terrorism without a Muslim standing next to him. And, now that I think of it, I don’t remember seeing anyone with a Middle-East heritage ever representing CENTCOM. I didn’t cringe when I saw the commercial. I saw McCain speaking out with courage and conviction in support of his governor and the 71% of Arizona residents screaming out for help. Secure the borders first…PR campaign second.
May '10
Re: John McCain, fencing off America. Would Ronald Reagan have approved?
Andrea,
I think Peter argued in his piece that finishing the fence was a good idea -- or was an idea that Reagan would most likely have supported. I agree that we should secure the borders first and work on PR second, which is why I found the ad excessive and a little over the top. Let us remember the purpose of the commercial. Was it meant to convince an already decided populace that stricter border patrol is important? Or was it meant to facilitate McCain’s reelection? I would suggest the latter.
May '10
Re: John McCain, fencing off America. Would Ronald Reagan have approved?
I am something of a dissenter from the Base on this issue. I am sorry that Sen. McCain feels that he has to go to those lengths to defend himself. It is probably sad that he can’t retire gracefully at his age. If he had a solid primary opponent, instead of Lou Dobbs with darker hair, I would encourage him to stroll gracefully into the sunset.
My office is cleaned every night by nice, hard-working Mexican immigrants, many of whom speak so little English I struggle to discern the message. But they work hard, reliably, and cheerfully. Why would one want to stop such people from coming to the US, even if the Left’s motives in opening the spigot are to sign up new dependents, counted on to Vote Correctly.
If I were a young, bright, Latino like Marco Rubio, I’d be tempted to go another way just to avoid some of the company I’d be expected to keep. I literally stopped reading The Corner because I couldn’t take any more of Mark Krikorian, especially after his dustups with Linda Chavez; her expose of the FAIR background ought to give pause to anyone who purports to be conservative.
May '10
Re: John McCain, fencing off America. Would Ronald Reagan have approved?
I embrace what Peter says in the WSJ. I maintain that the GOP has a problem these days both with some of the positions taken by its most vociferous immigration opponents, and, separately, with the tone of the opposition. You can disagree with anchor babies, chain immigration, or unimpeded illegal entry without trumpeting a xenophobic-sounding message, which is what is transmitted every time you hear “AMNESTY” shouted out by some radio caller (it is always spoken in capital letters) and the left then doesn’t even need to recruit. They just point to some of our spokespeople and the vote sale is made.
Conservative foot soldiers need to read Michael Barone’s The New Americans and then The Education of H*y*m*a*n K*a*p*l*a*n. This issue is not new. Yes, immigrants often tend to gravitate toward the Left. Yes, they are targets for the worst sorts of multi-culti rent-seeking. Using that as justification for nativist policies is as short-sighted as rounding up and shooting all of the 20 year old college students who don’t pay taxes and therefore voted for Obama. They won’t remain that mindless forever.
May '10
Re: John McCain, fencing off America. Would Ronald Reagan have approved?
In the 2007 immigration reform debate, W proposed guest workers and a path to citizenship. He later embraced the physical fence, clearly a security necessity (I think that Reagan would agree with that today), and Chertoff worked hard to put it in place.
But Bush recognized that we have to win on culture: teach English, teach America, offer opportunity. If we don’t do that, we are burned bread slices even if we hermetically seal every possible entry point. You have to have balance- build a fence as a speed bump, and add other entry speed bumps. But soften the blows, don’t double down. For every restriction, include a sweetener. Expand the quotas, get rid of the anchor birth/chain.
Most important, you are not going to expel 10 million people, so stop the hollering and start to remake them instead. We have no choice, and, besides, it is the right thing to do.
May '10
Re: John McCain, fencing off America. Would Ronald Reagan have approved?
Brandon Zaffini: I think Peter argued in his piece that.. Let us remember the purpose of the commercial... Was it meant to facilitate McCain’s reelection? · Jun 15 at 12:23pm
I understand completely what Peter said and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. My puppy's name is Reagan and I sometimes call him Gipper...there's a reason he was named that. So, I fully appreciated the lesson in PR strategy and a few years ago would have left it at that. But, something wasn't sitting right with the critique against McCain and the more I thought about it it kept circling back to the violence pouring unchecked across the border. It's unprecedented and is destroying Arizona. There's no doubt McCain ran that ad to get reelected. But, I think he also used it as an opportunity to shame the Obama Administration and light a big fire. McCain doesn't like Obama and certainly doesn't respect him. He's been publicly and inappropriately dressed down by the same arrogant buffoon that's been ignoring this crisis in Arizona. I don't think McCain was desperate. He was mad. And it was the Naval officer, fighter pilot, war hero that's still in him...letting Obama have it.
May '10
Re: John McCain, fencing off America. Would Ronald Reagan have approved?
Duane, I think the same thing of the Mexican immigrants I interact with. And, I think the same thing of the Bosnian, Russian, Ukrainian and Vietnamese immigrants, too. The other day I asked the young man at the checkout counter where he was from and we ended up talking for a little while about having to leave his family back in Iran. He was very nice, too, and appeared to be a hard worker. When I worked with refugees I constantly gave away anything I owned. I have a huge capacity to care deeply for people, especially those who struggle. So, you can have a heart, not be a racist xenophobe, and still believe in strong immigration laws and enforcing them. It’s not up to the Mexicans to decide who gets to be citizens in America. There is an international border dividing us and it needs to be secure. I don’t care how nice someone is, if they illegally come into our country they’re a felon and I am staunchly against rewarding illegal behavior. You never reward crime or you are guaranteed to get more of it…in spades.
May '10
Re: John McCain, fencing off America. Would Ronald Reagan have approved?
We have 25 years of evidence that Amnesty didn’t work. So, we need to catch and punish the ones crossing the border and let the ones currently living here work and pay taxes, but they will never be a citizen and will never receive government benefits. Make it hard for them to stay and if they don’t like it they can leave and come back through the front door like everyone else who had to fill out the paperwork and get in line. American citizenship is a precious commodity. People don’t get to steal it and trample on the sovereignty of our country.
May '10
Re: John McCain, fencing off America. Would Ronald Reagan have approved?
No argument, Andrea- my problem is with the horrible way that we present that message. I am descendant of immigrants, stolid Scandanavian farmers who came 100 years ago.
Build the fence- absolutely. I think we should enforce every law- and there is nothing wrong with the Arizona law. Add more requirements- increase the legal quotas significantly as long as every entrant is in English class from day one and passes a language test after 2 years, require national (including military) service, etc. If you are convicted of a felony, out you go. It is all fair game.
But (you don't do this, Andrea, I am speaking generally) stay away from the LI-MM kinds of shrill pontificating, don't bray about "AMNESTY" every third word at the tops of our lungs on certain radio talk shows and then complain that Latinos won't vote for us. Lay off the "Minutemen"-Gilchrist stuff.
Focus on ways to turn people into proud Americans.
May '10
Re: John McCain, fencing off America. Would Ronald Reagan have approved?
This video demonstrates pretty clearly why building a wall is a weak measure. A wall is only useful if it's guarded by soldiers or police. Our border is far, far too big to devote that sort of manpower to it. An alternative is to electrify the whole thing, but that's a ton of money and there are ways to bypass any technology.
It makes more sense to crack down on employers who hire illegals and focus our police on areas where Americans are in imminent danger of the cartels' paramilitary operations and rampant crime. We should focus on (1) making it more difficult to live here illegaly and (2) simplifying legal immigration for Mexicans who pass security checks.
We would obviously be better off if Mexico was stronger economically and more free politically, but that doesn't require any extraordinary action... just normal economic relations.
It also helps that in Texas citzens have the right to shoot someone on their property if they feel threatened. Ultimately, much of border protection will have to fall on the shoulders of average citzens, not just state and federal officials.
Re: John McCain, fencing off America. Would Ronald Reagan have approved?
Andrea, if you flip over to my replies to Bill McGurn's post earlier today, you'll see me explain myself more fully. But in substance, I believe, the Gipper would have come down just about where John McCain has come down: fix the borders first. And Reagan would have proven just acutely sensitive to the problems illegal immigration creates for good citizens in Arizona--and, of course, in his own state of California. But--and this strikes me as terribly important--Reagan would have insisted on making the case in a way that made sense to Hispanics. And that's what's so wrong with McCain's TV ad: it can't help but offend many of the roughly one-third of legal citizens of Arizona who are of Hispanic extraction.
John McCain is a hero. I'd be willing to shine his shoes. But that ad? Ronald Reagan would have shaken his head in dismay.
May '10
Re: John McCain, fencing off America. Would Ronald Reagan have approved?
And then you have the People's Republic of California generously handing out any and all tax payer benefits possible. While we were fostering our second son, I'd go to the local WIC office to get baby formula. Most of the clients there were folks with brown skin and didn't speak much English. Once or twice, I stepped in to help with interpreting.
Californians tried to close off the government subsidy spigot with Prop 187, but then Gov. Davis was elected, and the law fell off the rails.
May '10
Re: John McCain, fencing off America. Would Ronald Reagan have approved?
It says a lot about you that you can get me to keep rethinking my position, Peter. I love, love, love the insight into Ronald Reagan and I believe you in what you’re saying. But, where I keep veering off is this: Let me ridiculously compare the situation in Arizona to telling my kids more than once to get in the car. And they keep wandering off. We’re now late. I’m going to go from reasonable mom with a request to berserk authority that will scream them into the car. I would be 100% with you on the way you describe how McCain’s commercial should have gone if Arizona were at the early or middle stages of my analogy. But, they’re at the screaming stage and their tolerance for their elected representatives not completely representing them is zero. I think the calculus is completely different for a senator, who is charged with representing the views and values of the people to the federal government than it is with a governor or, especially, a president, who is charged with representing everyone’s view in America. The vast majority of the residents of
May '10
Re: John McCain, fencing off America. Would Ronald Reagan have approved?
Arizona are all about border enforcement and protecting their state and they’re out of patience with anything other than *get it done*. In this case, I think McCain was not about sophisticated media messages. He was doing what he thought was right…responding to the demand of 71% of Arizonans for their senator to act. They want a strong authority cracking down on illegal border crossing and they want it now. Sheriff Babeu is a big part of that strong authority. I also think McCain knew the commercial would get shown and talked about on the national networks and it was his way of telling the rest of the country what a war zone his state had become and, at the same time, point blame and shame on Obama. I’m not disagreeing with your position on what Reagan would do today. I just kind of liked McCain’s commercial. I wonder what Margaret Thatcher would say. :-)
May '10
Re: John McCain, fencing off America. Would Ronald Reagan have approved?
Andrea,
Although I have differed from you on this issue from the outset, your last two posts helped me better understand where you are coming from. I especially appreciated the distinction you made between the fitting response of a state senator vs. the proper reaction of a president. I also liked your “getting the kids into the car” example (if I may call it that), but your analogy provokes a question: What makes you think Arizona's immigration issue has been a hotbed issue for McCain all along? The history of his remarks on the subject point in an entirely different direction, I believe. In other words, is he screaming because his kids have not been listening? Or is he screaming because he knows his spouse is angry at his inaction, which makes him overcompensate in an irresponsible way? As imprudent as McCain's ad was, it may have been easier to swallow if he had shown greater concern in the past.
May '10
Re: John McCain, fencing off America. Would Ronald Reagan have approved?
Brandon has a point- the question is one of McCain turning on a dime regarding immigration when faced with an anti-immigrant challenger, and showing such a tin ear on the process. Unbecoming, you might say.
BTW, regarding "never be a citizen and will never receive government benefits", not quite true- since Plyler v, Doe, such issues are subject to "intermediate scrutiny", not the "rational basis test"- similar to sex discrimination cases. Thanks to Justice Brennan, the Supreme Court has found some benefits rights for illegal immigrant children:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plyler_v._Doe
May '10
Re: John McCain, fencing off America. Would Ronald Reagan have approved?
Perhaps negative publicity can be better than no publicity at times. Advertisers sometimes intentionally annoy consumers because an irritant can be difficult to forget. I wonder if McCain's ad would have reached as many voters and remained in focus if it didn't generate controversy in this way.