McCain Tells La Raza to Trust him on Immigration
BECK: You know, coming back to work on Mondays is always interesting to me, because I reflect on all of the conversations that I had with my friends, you know, in front of a barbecue or whatever. And they never reflect what the media is saying. None of my friends -- I don`t know about you -- are asking if gas prices are going to continue to go up. The question is, how much are they going to go up? And the bigger mystery, at least with my friends is why? Why is no one doing anything? Well, tonight, we may have some answers. Former president of Shell Oil in tonight`s "Real Story." Key word, former, president of Shell. But first, during the early days of the primaries, it was John McCain`s amnesty-riddled immigration policy that hurt him with the Reagan Republicans and old-guard conservatives. Well, now that he`s the GOP presumptive nominee, McCain is hoping his views on immigration don`t get lost in translation. So today, with the goal of bolstering support, McCain addressed the National Council of La Raza. La Raza, otherwise known as "The Race." What did McCain say to these people? Basically, he said, "Trust me." He feels he`s earned some street cred. Well, since he almost committed political suicide by co-authoring insane immigration bill with Senator Ted Kennedy, McCain said that the key Hispanic voting bloc has the best shot with him. La Raza may be buying what McCain is selling, but if they do, should we? Jim Geraghty writes the Campaign Sport blog for "National Review" online. Jim, tell me about La Raza. A group called "The Race."</s>JIM GERAGHTY, "NATIONAL REVIEW" ONLINE: Glenn, I`m at the point where I think now we have to take our small victories where we can. And for me, it was a small victory that McCain gave the speech in English today. Well, this -- you know, it`s one of those things where immigration had turned into that awkward issue that you don`t talk about at the family dinner table.</s>BECK: yes.</s>GERAGHTY: When it came to the Republican base and to John McCain. But as he got into the general election, he had a choice when it came to invitations to groups like this and LULAC and a couple of other -- groups with similar views on the issues of illegal immigration. He can either turn them down and then get pilloried for it and you know, his already low support numbers amongst Hispanic voters can go even lower. Or he can go before them and try to make the case for himself. And that`s basically what he did today and I think we`ll see more of. He already has an ad up on the air in three states with high Hispanic populations, all kind of touting his response to a comment earlier in the GOP primary, where he kind of gave a bit of a verbal smack-down to Tom Tancredo, emphasizing the contribution of Hispanic-Americans have made and how they served their country for...</s>BECK: Has anybody questioned -- I have never, ever once questioned the Hispanic-American and what they have brought to this country. I`ve never, ever once questioned any immigrant that comes in the front door. In fact, I encourage them to come in the front door to remind us lazy Americans what we`ve got here. What does this mean with John McCain`s ad?</s>GERAGHTY: Well, Glenn, with answers like this, he`s running well ahead of the straw man involved in recent polls.</s>BECK: And you say nobody`s making this argument.</s>GERAGHTY: Absolutely. But it`s one of those things. Look, here`s the thing. The Republican brand is very badly damaged amongst all kinds of voters, amongst the Hispanic community in particular. So what he`s got to do is kind of reestablish his bone fides. He`s got to get them listening again. And so by showcasing this moment in which he kind of stood up to Tom Tancredo and said, "Hey, let`s not paint with too broad a brush. Or let`s not get into anti-Latino sentiment," you know, this kind of establishes his street cred. Or at least that`s the thinking behind this ad. But I also know that, to a certain extent, even if, even amongst other groups who may not agree with the National Council of La Raza or other organizations, they don`t necessarily want to be seen as supporting a racist or xenophobic or nativist candidate. So to a certain extent, this is also...</s>BECK: Wait a minute. Wait. Let me just get this straight. So, John McCain knows that people don`t want to support a racist, right? Which I agree with. I don`t want to vote for a racist either. So, by proving that he`s not a racist, he goes to speak to an organization called "The Race"?</s>GERAGHTY: Indeed. You know -- you know, there are times where I do keep looking around for Rod Serling, to see if we are actually living in the twilight zone.</s>BECK: Man. We are.</s>GERAGHTY: This is one of those things where he has to, you know, reassure the soccer mom vote, and say, look, I would never associate with these types. I would never associate with, you know, all of the hatred of other people, all the other things that make small town Pennsylvanians so bitter, Senator Obama.</s>BECK: I`m going to have to tell you, I`m so sick of this argument. I am so sick of the people on the other side trying to paint people who would like to end modern-day slavery by forcing people to live in the shadows at the -- at the wealth expansion of these global corporations. I`m tired of being painted as a racist on that. Jim, thanks a lot.</s>BECK: Coming up, we`re going to talk about Iran. You know, if they`re good at one thing, they`re good at freaking the rest of the world out. I`m going to talk to one best-selling author who says we should be, and he didn`t really want to come to this conclusion. Then, you know, the border problem is getting worse when El Paso hospital starts using the same security scale as the homeland -- Department of Homeland Security. Mexican gunshot victims are sending the immigration issue to code red. Oh, racists look out. That`s coming up.