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October 30, 2008

McCain can’t catch a break

Posted: 04:10 PM ET

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Ruben Navarrette says John McCain has been a positive force on the immigration issue.

Ruben Navarrette
Nationally syndicated columnist

Thanks to the immigration issue, many Latinos think of Democrats as the good guys and Republicans as the bad guys. It’s an attitude that spells trouble for John McCain.

But it isn’t that simple, and this election proves it. McCain — a Republican — risked his political career to pursue comprehensive immigration reform, while Barack Obama — a Democrat — was late to the issue and made some bad choices once he stepped into the debate.

I understand the larger argument. As I have written on many occasions, when Republicans ran Congress, they bungled immigration reform by clinging to an enforcement-only strategy, declaring English the national language, and ignoring anti-Latino racism.

Then, after claiming they were only against “illegal” immigration, Republicans tried to limit the number of Latino immigrants who come legally by abandoning family reunification as a principle of U.S. immigration policy.

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