An-email:
How is it that in one cartoon all of McCain’s weakness are exposed and yet on a stage on television in front of the spotlight, not one other Republican candidate lifted a finger to point any of this out?! Romney’s survival depends on him drawing distinctions… he effectively did it in last Sunday’s debates against Huckabee, but could have really been helped if he had confronted McCain directly about immigration. He had a chance to last night in Myrtle Beach and didn’t go after McCain at all. How about Romney instead using the lines: “Senator, no one questions your patriotism, but after looking at your record on immigration, I have to question your judgment. If you realize now that enforcement first is necessary, why didn’t you join Republicans in voting for an enforcement-first amendment to your Ted Kennedy co-authored Immgration Bill? Instead you opposed the very thing that you are now advocating. Senator, we also wonder why you rushed the Immigration Bill through the Senate with Harry Reid without adequate debate and without letting fellow Republicans carefully review it? And if you favor quick deportation of criminals, why did you have language in the bill that would have made deportation of criminals difficult to do and put an unrealistic burden on the government to determine status in 24 hours, which you and I know is impossible to meet? No hard questions, no probing of McCain’s record. Romney could have remained civil while challenging McCain’s judgment, which is what all of us, after seeing his record in the Senate, are worried about. Plus, it shows just how far McCain is flip-flopping on immigration. Even as worrisome, for all Thompson’s energy last night, he largely passed on the opportunities to take on McCain.