McCain?s new ?Complete the Danged Fence? ad features the wrong sheriff.
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on May 12th, 2010 4:39 am by HL
McCain?s new ?Complete the Danged Fence? ad features the wrong sheriff.
In his attempt to portray himself as more right-wing than his far-right senatorial competitor J.D. Hayworth, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) put out a new ad this past weekend called “Complete The Danged Fence.” In it the ad, McCain is walking along the border in the southern Arizona town of Nogales, telling Sheriff Paul Babeu about […]
In his attempt to portray himself as more right-wing than his far-right senatorial competitor J.D. Hayworth, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) put out a new ad this past weekend called “Complete The Danged Fence.” In it the ad, McCain is walking along the border in the southern Arizona town of Nogales, telling Sheriff Paul Babeu about his 10-point border security plan:
BABEU: We’re out-manned. Of all the illegals in America, more than half come through Arizona.
MCCAIN: Do we have the right plan?
BABEU: Plan’s perfect. You bring troops, state, county, and local law enforcement together.
MCCAIN: And complete the danged fence.
BABEU: It’ll work this time. Senator, you’re one of us.
Watch it:
There’s something wrong with McCain’s video: Nogales is in Santa Cruz County. Babeu, however, is from Pinal County, which is 115 miles north in central Arizona:
As Andrea Nill explains on the Wonk Room, “Chances are McCain didn’t feature a local border town police chief because that person probably would’ve told him his ten-point plan is a waste of manpower and resources.” Indeed, the assistant police chief in Nogales has said that they have not “witnessed any spillover violence from Mexico.” The Santa Cruz County sheriff has also said that the state’s new anti-immigration law — which McCain called a “good tool” — is downright racist.
Flashback: McConnell And DeMint Praised Harriet Miers’ ‘Wealth’ Of ‘Great Experience’
Soon after President Obama announced that he had nominated Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell (KY) and Jim DeMint (SC) attacked his choice because Kagan has never served as a judge: MCCONNELL: “She’s the least qualified in terms of judicial experience in 38 years. Now some would argue that […]
Soon after President Obama announced that he had nominated Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell (KY) and Jim DeMint (SC) attacked his choice because Kagan has never served as a judge:
MCCONNELL: “She’s the least qualified in terms of judicial experience in 38 years. Now some would argue that maybe we need to have people who don’t have judicial experience. I saw a survey indicating that about 70 percent of the American people think that judicial experience is a good idea for somebody who is going to be on the Supreme Court.”
DEMINT: “I’m concerned that she has no judicial experience to give Americans confidence that she will be impartial in her decisions.”
Yet back in 2005, both DeMint and McConnell praised Harriet Miers’ nomination to the Supreme Court before she withdrew. Like Kagan, Miers had no previous judicial experience, yet both GOP senators expressed admiration for Miers, specifically citing her “experience”:
MCCONNELL: “Ms. Miers has an exemplary record of service to our country. She will bring to the Court a lifetime of experience in various levels of government, and at the highest levels of the legal profession. She is a woman of tremendous ability and very sound judgment. … Ms. Miers has great experience in government as well, at the local, state, and federal levels. …She is well qualified to join the nation’s highest court. … She will make a fine addition to the Supreme Court, and I look forward to her confirmation.”
DEMINT: “Ms. Miers would bring a wealth of personal experience to the Supreme Court. I expect she will show that she has the intelligence, fairness, and open-mindedness needed to serve on the Court.”
Some of McConnell’s and DeMint’s GOP colleagues recognize the importance of having other professional experiences beyond serving as a judge. “It can be very valuable to have an individual who has a background other than that of being a judge,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said of Kagan, adding, “So I do not see that as being a problem at all.” Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) expressed similar sentiments. “I think that having some judges without judicial experience is not bad thing,” he said yesterday. And today on ABC’s Top Line, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said, “Some said, ‘Well she’s not a sitting judge.’ Well I don’t think that’s a disqualification. Some of the greatest justices in history never sat in a court room.”
Indeed, out of the 111 justices who have served on the Supreme Court, 41 had no prior judicial experience before Senate confirmation — including former Chief Justices Earl Warren and conservative William Rehnquist. And as the Huffington Post’s Sam Stein noted, Rehnquist “would be considered something of a novice by the standards some are applying to Kagan.”
