John McCain Faces the Consequences of His Party’s Fear-Mongering at Town Halls

Last updated on February 22nd, 2013 at 06:48 pm

To See President Biden's 5 Best Jokes At The White House Correspondents Dinner visit The Daily.

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) faced the results of his party’s targeting of undocumented immigrants in Arizona as he held a town hall to discuss immigration reform yesterday.

In what was described as a “heated” gathering in Sun Lakes (a suburb of Phoenix), an “angry crowd” reacted badly when McCain told them he was against mass deportation. McCain tried to explain the need for immigration reform, “There are 11 million people living here illegally. We are not going to get enough buses to deport them.”

Watch here via Crooks and Liars:

Yahoo reported:

Some audience members shouted out their disapproval.

One man yelled that only guns would discourage illegal immigration. Another man complained that illegal immigrants should never be able to become citizens or vote. A third man said illegal immigrants were illiterate invaders who wanted free government benefits.

And then this quote, in which we can see the old John McCain bewilderingly facing the new John McCain. “McCain urged compassion. ‘We are a Judeo-Christian nation.'”

Someone should introduce McCain to his 2008 running mate. Remember when Sarah Palin’s prayer “warriors” prayed for Obama’s death? Right-leaning Christian compassion is so passé.

Tweets from local reporters via TPM:

At his next town hall at the Green Valley Community Performance & Art Center, the Senator joked, “It’s hard trying to do the Lord’s work in the city of Satan, and so it’s wonderful to be back here.”

Then, this, “”We need some more Border Patrol agents and we need more fencing. But we also need to use and implement the technology that we developed in Afghanistan and Iraq. The use of drones, the use of sensors.”

Who is going to tell McCain that the technology developed in Afghanistan and Iraq was specifically designed for use in war, and that we are not engaged in a war on our own soil against undocumented immigrants or those who we suspect of being undocumented immigrants (see where this goes? Papers Please gone wild).

Lastly, perhaps with so much time wasted chasing the imaginary ghosts of Behngazi conspiracies, McCain hasn’t had time to acquaint himself with the realities of this nation, and so he suggested that we throw those 11 million undocumented immigrants into jail. As if we had the jail room and endless taxpayer money, McCain said, “There’s nothing like a little time in the slammer to say ‘maybe I don’t want to try and cross the border again.'”

Maybe McCain doesn’t realize exactly why some people risk their lives to come here illegally. Here’s a hint: Jail may not be a deterrent, even if we could afford it. But the last I heard from a Republican, we were too broke to feed the elderly meals-on-wheels anymore and Medicare and Social Security have to go. I’m not sure where we’re going to get the money to lock up millions of people in the “slammer”.

It’s not so fun to face the consequences of your party’s fear-mongering and boogeyman scapegoating when you’re tasked with getting those same frightened people on board your immigration reform policy or else your party loses the next national election.

John McCain has been one of the saner voices on immigration reform from his party, but he’s now stuck dealing with the monster he helped create when he hail maryed via tea party darling Sarah Palin. Orwellian, you say, Senator? Do tell.

Sarah Jones

Listen to Sarah on the PoliticusUSA Pod on The Daily newsletter podcast here.

Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.

Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Connect with Sarah on Post,  Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.