John McCain clearly has a problem. He's changed his tune on immigration so much that it greatly resembles the "Bohemian Rhapsody" of McCain's platform. Clearly he believes in comprehensive reform, and he's clearly trying to dupe anti-immigration voters into thinking that maybe/sorta/kinda he might toss them some red meat. If elected, McCain will have to deal with a heavily Democratic congress that is going to want immigration reform, and he's clearly sympathetic to this. So how does a Democrat exploit this intra-Republican cleavage?
Answer: very carefully. Democrats clearly want to establish themselves as the Hispanic-friendly party, and Obama is doing much better with Hispanics than he once was. I think the best thing to do is to highlight McCain's contradictory stance on this issue. Try to tell Hispanics that they can't trust McCain to be humane on this issue. But keep it alive and at the forefront of peoples' minds.
Why? Because if people start talking about McCain's flip-flopping on immigration, they'll be more receptive to a broader argument later down the line that McCain has ceased being a Maverick® and has shifted his positions and pandered. This has the added (Nixonian) benefit of causing a split in the GOP that McCain will not have enough trust to mend. Possibly.
I'm trying to think of a way to move rhetorically to McCain's right on immigration that won't piss off Latinos. I wish I were more of an immigration wonk! Didn't the McCain-Kennedy-Bush bill not have a back taxes provision for illegal immigrants? Why not push that, or something like it?
