Sen. Sandoval Gives McCain Undue Credit On Immigration Reform

Josh Kalven — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:44:53 -0700

In his Southtown Star column today, Rich Miller wrote that State Sen. Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago) walked away from a private meeting with John McCain last Wednesday "open to the possibility" of endorsing the Arizona Republican for president. Miller reports that during their meeting, McCain made his pitch for why the GOP is stronger on the issue of immigration reform:

McCain reminded Sandoval that the last president to do anything major about immigration reform was a Republican, Ronald Reagan. Sandoval claimed McCain told him that the immigration issue would be "one of the hallmarks of my presidency." Reagan's immigration policy included an amnesty program for those here illegally, but McCain never uttered the "A" word.

Appearing on Fox Chicago Sunday yesterday, Sandoval repeated McCain's history lesson, adding that McCain was the last member of Congress "to propose immigration reform":

Of course, there's a big problem with Sandoval giving McCain credit for proposing immigration reform -- namely, that McCain has since said he would vote against the bill in question.

Indeed, during the January 30 Republican debate, Los Angeles Times reporter Janet Hook asked McCain about the comprehensive immigration reform measure -- S. 1348 -- that he worked on and initially supported: "At this point, if your original proposal came to a vote on the Senate floor, would you vote for it?" McCain responded: "No, I would not, because we know what the situation is today. The people want the borders secured first." Watch it:

Miller reports in his column that after their conversation last Wednesday, McCain requested "that they continue to meet, which Sandoval agreed to do." Maybe the next time they sit down, Sandoval can ask McCain about his constant changing of position on this issue.

In the meantime, it'd be nice if he didn't repeat GOP talking points on the local airwaves.