April 19, 2006
W JR.:
McCain defends immigration stance, No Child Left Behind (Eugene Scott, Apr. 19, 2006, The Arizona Republic)
Education, immigration and the war on terror were hot-button topics Wednesday as Arizona Senator and possible presidential hopeful John McCain visited Tempe for a town hall-style event. [...]McCain supports a guest-worker program allowing immigrants to enter the country if they remain employed, he said, and is against giving undocumented residents already living in the U.S. amnesty.
"They broke the law," he said. "I'm not ready to forgive someone who broke our laws."
McCain said deporting all of those already here isn't feasible, so laws need to be passed that will help them gain citizenship.
McCain also addressed the War on Terror, saying that America's specific enemies are "radical Islamic extremists" and Osama bin Laden.
"(Bin Laden's) on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border, an area that has never been controlled in history," he said. "I'm not excusing us for not getting Osama, but I think we underestimate how difficult it is."
But McCain did commend President Bush and his administration for preventing another terrorist attack, something that many experts said would occur shortly after 9/11.
"The fact that we've gone this long without one means we've done something right," he said. "I do think we're making progress. Slowly, but steadily."
McCain also addressed education, saying that holding teachers accountable for educating students improves schools, but No Child Left Behind needs to be reviewed to measure its full efficacy.
"It is the first attempt to place some standards on teachers," he said. "Is it an end-all? No. But it's a great start."
McCain said he supports incentives for students interested in fields integral to the country's future - engineering, the sciences and computer science.
The U.S. needs to entertain other energy sources, given rising oil prices, he said, citing Brazil's use of ethanol and France's use of nuclear power as examples. Providing incentives to foreign energy companies might help keep gas prices down, he said.
There's not even wiggle room between him and the President. Posted by Orrin Judd at April 19, 2006 8:23 PM
And Imus still loves him, too. How about a McCain/Lieberman "national unity" ticket? (McCain/Rice would also be nice.)
Posted by: ghostcat at April 19, 2006 8:35 PMNCLB has already been co-opted. This week's stories highlighting the "loopholes" that let whole swaths of the "left behind" off the testing books is evidence that whatever value NCLB offered is gone.
Another attempt at reform swallowed by the beast.
Posted by: Bruno at April 19, 2006 9:00 PMW=McCain? Not sure who this is worse news for with the GOP base.
Posted by: AWW at April 19, 2006 9:20 PMSure there is more than wiggle room. In identifying our enemies as "radical Islamic extremists and Osama bin Laden" McCain's echoing the Democratic line that our only opponent is al Qaeda, we didn't need to invade Iraq (a "secular" dictatorship), we should have kept our troops in Afghanistan, we don't need to do anything about North Korea, Iran, or Syria, and we need fight the war only through police actions, and not even that for much longer because al Qaeda is almost wiped out.
Whereas W has identified the conflict as between freedom and democracy on one side, terror and tyranny on the other, which marks countries like Iran and Syria as enemies.
Posted by: pj at April 19, 2006 9:28 PMradical Islamic extremist regimes.
Posted by: oj at April 19, 2006 10:30 PMExcept that it's working.
The U.S. needs to entertain other energy sources, given rising oil prices...
Not really.
While there are good reasons to move away from an oil-burning paradigm - less pollution, chiefly - there're vast petroleum deposits in America, and American waters.
We just don't want to use them, yet. The pain felt from depending on foreign sources hasn't yet exceeded the perceived social benefits of holding off from fully exploiting our own reserves.
Bruno:
But if that's so, then why are school districts having to spend more time teaching reading and math, and less on other subjects, as detailed by the New York Times and this fine site ?
Surely that's a beneficial effect of NCLB.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://brothersjuddblog.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at April 20, 2006 4:52 AM
"They broke the law," he said. "I'm not ready to forgive someone who broke our laws."
McCain said deporting all of those already here isn't feasible, so laws need to be passed that will help them gain citizenship.
Somehow, this does not compute.
Posted by: jd watson at April 20, 2006 5:56 AM
jd:
It's the lie we need to tell ourselves about immigration--we want to grant them amnesty but not call it that.
Posted by: oj at April 20, 2006 8:49 AMno wiggle room? GW had a real job before becoming president, McCain has a celebrity-appearance job. There's a continent of room between the two.
Posted by: Palmcroft at April 20, 2006 11:11 AMGovernor of TX is one of the weakest executives in the country.
Posted by: oj at April 20, 2006 12:00 PM