In the Arena

McCain and Immigration

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I’ve laid off John McCain the past few months, as his sad slide to the right in order to secure reelection has continued apace. I mean, what more is there to say? Still, it’s really remarkable to hear this former champion of sane immigration policy saying something as dim and transparent as this, in response to a question from the dim and transparent Sean Hannity about an Arizona joke the President made at the White House Correspondents Dinner:

“That is totally falsifying the law passed in Arizona, which calls for reasonable suspicion, both whether someone should be stopped or not, and, once they’re stopped, reasonable suspicion as to whether they are in the country illegally, and it specifically outlaws racial profiling,” McCain said. “For the president to make the statement that he did … is partially what brings on a lot of things said afterwards.”

One can imagine circumstances where “reasonable suspicion” doesn’t equal “racial profiling.” But it takes a lot of imagination: a sedan full of tea partiers are driving about with broken head and tail lights and spewing exhaust fumes. On second thought, nawww. What “reasonable suspicion” actually means is driving while brown and John McCain knows it.