During the Republican debate, why didn't McCain hammer Romney and Huckabee on immigration?

[Drunken Irishman]

I actually thought Giuliani sounded pretty reasonable on this issue, but Romney and Huckabee are up in the sky. It was brought up that Romney does not support providing ANY possible path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, while Huckabee too stated that we should ask illegals to leave for they can go to the back of the line and wait their turn to enter the country.

In my mind, this was a perfect chance for McCain to get in a good jab and actually show how one-dimensional the conservatives are on the issue of immigration. I mean, even Romney admitted you can't deport 14 million illegal immigrants. It's not reasonable. Yet he still didn't back down from it. And Huckabee essentially said he would ask illegals to leave America on their own terms and return when they attain citizenship. Yes, Huck, telling the illegals to leave nicely will work. How about going into our inner cities and telling the gangs to pretty please stop the violence. I bet that'll work, too.

The point McCain should have pounded home was the fact Romney's and Huckabee's plans were actually counterproductive to their ultimate goal. Since they both admit it isn't likely to deport those 14 million illegals, what exactly do they expect to do with them? You can't have police officers going door to door asking to see everyone's proof of citizenship. Even more, you can't ask police officers to racially profile. So your only hope is that the illegal commits a crime and the officers are in position to call federal agencies and get him/her deported. What kind of fucking immigration policy is that?

The big issue with illegal immigrants seems to be the fact they're getting a free pass on paying taxes, while undermining real workers. Except what McCain and Kennedy have proposed is a possibility to legalize, at least partly, many of these 14 million illegals. That not only forces them to pay taxes (and in some cases, back taxes) it gives them the chance to get a legitimate job where they aren't paid under the table. Thus, the original problem that many of these candidates use as evidence of cracking down on illegals becomes moot. But under Romney and Huckabee, they'll enforce the law, but still do not offer any credible information on how they'll find and deport those 14 million illegals. So instead of actually taking many of those illegals and offering them the possibility of not circumventing the system, we're stuck, under their leadership, with them still on the streets illegally.

McCain could've scored big with that point, but he ignored the opening. Maybe he fell asleep.

[provis99]

1. McCain was having a napping contest with Hollywood Fred Thompson

Really, I think he napped between questions, and just got woken up when an aide poked him with a stick when his turn to answer questions came.

[Chomskyite]

2. McCain never wants to hear that word in a debate

He knows his policy is a loser with the mouth-breathers who vote South Carolina and other primaries in more conservative states than New Hampshire.

[Drunken Irishman]

3. It's only a loser because people don't bring up the problem with the GOP's position.

Maybe if more people knew what I just typed, they wouldn't be so opposed to what Kennedy and McCain proposed.

Wait, these a Republicans. Never mind.

[existentialist]

4. except that

winning the Republican nomination is going to require the support of one dimensional conservatives.


McCain may have had a great chance to make a solid logical point, but the Republican base would not have been amused.

This issue almost put McCain out of the race once before. It may be the one issue where McCain has made some sense, but that bit of sense has already cost him dearly among Republicans.