McCain's Trip to Latin America

It seems to me that the media missed the real point of John McCain's trip to Latin America. The press -- at least that part that I pay attention to -- went on and on about how McCain was highlighting his free-trade credentials. That's true enough, I suppose, but with Michigan in play (a bastion of anti-free trade sentiment), burnishing one's free-trade credentials shouldn't be a priority.

I think McCain went to Latin America because because it was one of the few ways he has left to court the Latino vote without upsetting the anti-immigration folks.

I've never been with the anti-immigration folks as a matter of policy. I happen to believe the invitation written on the Statute of Liberty.

But even as a matter of politics, anti-immigration policy is a third rail for the GOP (i.e., touch it, and you die). The GOP was competitive in California before Pete Wilson decided to ride the immigration issue to victory. He not only lost miserably, he ruined the state for the GOP as well. I think the issue threatens to do to the national GOP what it did to the California GOP -- turn the party into a permanent minority.