The Wonk Room

John McCain: Lost In Translation?

Our guest blogger is Dan Restrepo, the Director of The Americas Project at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

John McCain wants English to be the national language, but apparently not until after November.

Not only is he cutting ads in Spanish, he clearly hopes those ads don’t reach too many bilingual Latinos. Otherwise, they might notice he is trying to have it both ways on immigration policy again.

In the English narration of his latest Spanish-language ad, McCain touts “pro-innovation immigration policies” — something far less objectionable to Tancredo-Sensenbrenner conservatives than his pre-flip flop immigration position.

The Spanish text that appears simultaneous to that declaration trumpets “Immigration Policy Innovation” (or under the most generous possible translation, “Innovation in Immigration Policy,”) something that reads a lot like he is still supporting the comprehensive immigration reform he has since turned his back on and which enjoys overwhelming support among Latinos (and the population writ large). Watch the ad:

Either McCain needs Spanish lessons or he needs to stop trying to have it both ways on immigration. You must be either for or against practical, effective immigration reform. You can’t rely on the myth that Spanish-speaking Hispanics don’t understand English to attempt to pull the wool over their eyes while trying not to offend your most extreme base.