McCain lacks both
Posted on 03/11/2014 5:22:28 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
We’ve reached the point where I honestly can’t tell if he means this as a criticism or not.
However, he did get in some criticism of the speakers, who included Cruz, at the Conservative Political Action Conference last week.
“All of these people at the CPAC will claim that they are Reagan Republicans,” McCain said. “Did they forget that Ronald Reagan gave amnesty to three million Americans? Do they forget that he did raise taxes, that he made an agreement with Tip O’Neill on Social Security, that Ronald Reagan said [the] 11th commandment is you don’t speak ill of your fellow Republicans?”
In the theme of invoking these compromises, McCain also said raising taxes should be an on the table as part of entitlement reform.
“Look, you have to put everything on the table,” he said when asked if a package could include taxes. “If you don’t put everything on the table, then the opposite side says, ‘OK, but we’re not going to agree to, say, raising the retirement age.’ “
Rule one among amnesty fans like Maverick: “Amnesty” is bad. They oppose amnesty. To them, as long as there are some preconditions to securing legal status for illegals — learn English, pay your back taxes, blah blah blah — then the process isn’t “amnesty.” Why would McCain choose to use that word in describing Reagan’s immigration measure in 1986? You could, of course, argue that what Reagan did was even more lax than what McCain’s Gang of Eight proposed, i.e. that Reagan’s law was a true amnesty whereas McCain’s really isn’t, but why would Maverick want to draw that distinction when he’s ostensibly praising Reagan here? He seems to be saying that Reagan’s more moderate moments were a good thing — he compromised and he got stuff done, unlike that incorrigible wacko bird Cruz who’s always scheming for ways to shut down the government. Sounds like he’s sort of claiming Reagan for the center-right, including his record on tax hikes and, er, “amnesty.”
Right? He surely doesn’t mean this in a “Reagan had his flaws too” way. Here’s what he said to another reporter this afternoon when pressed on Paul and Cruz:
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., weighed in on the debate between Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, over Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy legacy.
“I knew Ronald Reagan,” McCain said to the Washington Examiner. “They’re no Ronald Reagan. OK? They’re not.”
Reagan, McCain said, actually reached across the aisle to work with Democrats on national security issues as well as domestic concerns.
“Ronald Reagan used to have drinks with Tip O’Neill,” he said. “Ronald Reagan made an agreement on Social Security that raised taxes.”
Maybe that’s the next rhetorical move on immigration reform from Republican supporters: Win one for the Gipper. (It’s all yours if you want it, Team Rubio.) In that case, is it fair to assume that McCain also agrees with Paul that Reagan was a more complex figure on foreign policy than he’s typically given credit for? I take it Maverick would resist, claiming that Reagan was a superhawk in the McCain mold instead, but there’s just no way that’s true. Show of hands: Who thinks President McCain would have withdrawn from Lebanon after the 1983 Marine barracks bombing? (He did vote against extending the Lebanon mission in the early 80s, but for complex reasons. And the older McCain seems considerably more hawkish than the younger version.) Who thinks President McCain would have withdrawn from anywhere once U.S. troops were in the field? In the McCain foreign-policy cosmology, withdrawal is always proof of a lack of resoluteness and therefore a gesture of provocative weakness. Pulling out under fire only emboldens the enemy. Which raises the question: Who among the three, McCain, Cruz, and Paul, is closest to the Reagan foreign-policy tradition? Or do we not know enough about the latter two to make any judgment yet?
Why didn’t the snipers get him in Ukraine?
“Did they forget that Ronald Reagan gave amnesty to three million Americans?”
Juan, do you mean the three million who have turned into nine million democrat voters?
I guess this means we should let 3 billion immigrants in.
So BFD, McLame. What a stupid line of reasoning.
He remembers that none of the promises made to Reagan for the amnesty ever came true. Reagan remembered, too.
John McCain, have you forgotten how to tie your shoes?
Reagan didn't have the historical perspective to look back on and see the rats promise tougher immigration enforcement in return for amnesty and then renege on their promise.
Reagan had the honesty to actually call it amnesty.
Really, Senator McCain, it's time for you to STFU and move on. It's obvious that you are no longer working for the benefit of America but for your personal interests, at the expense of America.
What an SOB John McCain is.
Reagan approved the bill based on two issues:
1. there would only be 1.5 million people estimated to receive amnesty. The true total was 3.5 million.
2. The border would be made secure. It never was.
His old pal Ted Kennedy lied through his teeth about the 1986 bill.
Including the part where Teddy said “WE WILL NEVER ASK THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AGAIN TO APPROVE AN AMNESTY BILL.”
28 years is not never.
I am so sick of hearing/seeing John McStain on the news every darn day. Shut up, ya old coot!
Mccloony has forgetten his meds
Gee John, HOW does somebody give amnesty to an "AMERICAN"?
How can a US Senator be this stupid?
If I sneak into Italy illegally, I'm NOT "Italian", no matter what anyone says.
R.R. gave amnesty to 3 million illegals, and now they vote for Democrats.
That was as stupid as McCain.
Learning from your mistakes shows mental growth and not repeating the mistakes shows common sense.
McCain lacks both
“A mistake as it turned out since no one enforced the border after.”
This was one of the few major errors made by Reagan. What happened was that he and Tip O’Neil supposedly had a deal, “one Old Irishman to another”. But Tip, as all Democrats do, lied to Reagan and never kept his part of the deal. Reagan should have followed his own “trust but verify” commandment. Or as Ann Coulter puts it, “never trust a Liberal over three years old”.
no, no one has forgotten
and no one has forgotten than Congress refused to carryout its oversight role to see to it that amnesty would not be needed again, and between an absent Congress and negligent presidents, the security demands approved with the amnesty were never enforced sufficient to do as promised - end illegal immigration
no McPain, we haven’t forgotten
that’s why we say never again
“Did they forget that Ronald Reagan gave amnesty to three million Americans?”
I hate (not really) to be a grammar and rhetoric crank, but if they were Americans, then why did Reagan need to give them amnesty?
That amnesty of 3 million illegals sorta opened up the flood gates, didn’t it?
President “Ike” took a different view after WW II and deported 5 million illegals in “Operation Wetback”. Yet, people continue to say there are too many to deport. ...So, it could be done with trains in the 1950s, but with our vastly improved transportation services of today it just can’t be done?
I’m tired of hearing the ‘amnesty dogs’ of both parties continuing to claim there are ‘11 million undocumented immigrants’. That’s the figure that was being used back in 2005-2007, when Bush 43 tried for amnesty and failed.
Since the Obama regime has refused to provide border security and deportation laws for illegal aliens, including those who crossed and those whose visas expired, the number of illegals in the US is now probably closer to 25-30 million.
As President he gave us the biggest tax increase in history, the 1986 Tax Simplification Act.
Has McCain forgotten that the Rats double-crossed Reagan on the deal. It was supposed to be amnesty for closing the border. He agreed to amnesty if the Rats agreed to fix the illegal immigration problem. Guess what? Democrats did what Democrats ALWAYS do . . . they lied and deceived.
McCain disgusts me. . . .
Damn Juan McLame needs to STFU about anything. The only good thing he can say is “I’m retiring”.
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