Sen. McCain Lurches To The Right On Immigration

Locked in a heated primary battle with former congressman and right-wing radio host J.D. Hayworth, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is once again revising his stance on immigration.  Hayworth's upstart candidacy has been bolstered by support from anti-immigrant groups. 

Today, in an interview with KQTH Radio, McCain continued pandering to the far-right crowd.  After repeatedly stating that the U.S. should put troops on the Mexican border, McCain tried to absolve himself of his past support for immigration reform. "I never supported amnesty," said McCain. "Never."

MCCAIN: And by the way, I never supported amnesty.  Never.  What the proposal was at that time was people who, if they want to go back to the country they came from, apply and stand in line behind everybody else, pay fines, etc., then we would have some eligibility for citizenship.  We can't even do that now until we get the border secure.  But it was never amnesty.  Ronald Reagan gave amnesty back in the 1980's to 2 million people.  It didn't work.

Listen:

While McCain can argue over semantics, he cannot erase his record -- nor should he want to.  As the Wonk Room recently noted, "McCain has been a conservative voice of reason in the immigration debate" for years. 

Additionally, it's worth pointing out that McCain specifically used the word "amnesty" to describe his platform in the past. 

"Amnesty has to be an important part because there are people who have lived in this country for 20, 30, or 40 years, who have raised children here and pay taxes here and are not citizens.  That has to be a component of it," McCain reportedly said in 2003.  "I think we can set up a program where amnesty is extended to a certain number of people who are eligible and at the same time make sure that we have some control over people who come in and out of this country."