DADvocate

On April 4, John McCain expressed incredible disrespect for the American worker. While speaking to the AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades Department, McCain had this exchange:

But he took more questions, including a pointed one on his immigration plan.

McCain responded by saying immigrants were taking jobs nobody else wanted. He offered anybody in the crowd $50 an hour to pick lettuce in Arizona.

Shouts of protest rose from the crowd, with some accepting McCain's job offer.

"I'll take it!" one man shouted.

McCain insisted none of them would do such menial labor for a complete season. "You can't do it, my friends."

Some in the crowd said they didn't appreciate McCain questioning their work ethic.

Impressed by McCain's moxie
"I was impressed with his comedy routine and ability to tap dance without music. But I was impressed with nothing else about him," said John Wasniewski of Milwaukee. "He's supposed to be Mr. Straight Talk?"

So, according to McCain, the American worker isn't capable of picking lettuce at $50 an hour. (Or any other wage it would seem by McCain's comments.)

Either he is hopelessly out of touch with the average American worker or is desparately seeking an excuse to grant amnesty to illegal workers. Either way, he's lost my vote.

I grew up in a somewhat "privileged" family. Because my father worked hard and became not only the first person in his family to graduate from college but the first person from his faPhDy to earn a Phd, we enjoyed an upper middleclass lifestyle. But my father never forgot the value of hard work and we spent many summer days clearing weeds out of our yard. (Our 1.5 acre lot was 100% wooded when my parents bought it and a virtual jungle of honeysuckle.)

During college I married and at that point my father considered me independent. I had to earn my way through college. During school breaks I would go to Manpower Temporary Services and work for minimum wage or slightly above. The jobs I performed included unloading coffee beans of of boxcars at JFG Coffee. The bags weighed 180 lbs. each. One day we got a break and unloaded peanuts. The peanut bags weighed only 130 lbs. In many of these jobs I worked with other college students also earning their way through college.

In 1990, I moved to the Maysville, KY area. Maysville is the second largest tobacco market in Kentucky and most farmers grow tobacco. One of my ex-wife's brothers grows 40,000 to 50,000 lbs. a year. Cutting and putting up tobacco is very hard work. I've done it all. Climbing 30 feet up in a barn and standing on unsecured poles to hang the tobacco is scary work as well as hard. Putting up hay in 98 degree heat isn't easy either. Many times I did this work for free just to help out my in-laws. I've seen people drive as far as 60 miles to put up tobacco for $8 an hour to get a little extra money for Christmas or whatever.

A co-worker of mine owns a lawn trimming business on the side to earn extra money so his wife can stay home with the kids. She does perform some part-time work for the Catholic Diocese. My boss (warning: morbidity) picks up dead bodies for a funeral home to earn extra money so his wife can stay at home with the kids. (Some of the bodies are so heavy they have to use an engine hoist to pick them up.)

A friend of mine in Maysville works at UPS plus owns and operates a lawncare business on the side. For a time he was also a single parent father as his wife left him and their son because she found someone more exciting. My friend's father has done farm work for my ex-wife's family for more than 2 decades. He has double hip replacement and still goes out everyday.

If you drive through rural America, stand outside its factories and other workplaces, you will find some of the hardest working people on the planet. The American worker is the most productive in the world. Yet, McCain says, "You can't do it, my friends." What kind of friend is McCain?

American workers also work long hours.

You're not imagining it. The United Nations' International Labor Organization (ILO) has the proof:
"Workers in the United States are putting in more hours than anyone else in the industrialized world."

But we can't do it.

And, now, McCain wants to help Kennedy give away your country. And, why not, we can't do it.

Senator John McCain still believes he can win passage of an immigration package that would potentially allow millions of illegal immigrants to gain U.S. citizenship.

One thing's for sure, he'll never win the presidency and hopefuly not the Republican nomination. Every opponent will be playing the sound bite, "You can't do it, my friends."

Interestingly, McCain was in Cincinnati today speaking on behalf of Congressman Steve Chabot. Chabot disagrees with McCain on immigration. "Chabot said afterward that he disagrees with McCain's approach and supports the House bill." Guess you have to show some party loyalty.

Hat tip to Tammy Bruce.
Patrick Armstrong at HurricaneRadio also has an excellent immigration post.
Check out GM Roper's open letter to the Republican Party. He got an Instalanche.