John McCain: It's OK to be undocumented if you are Irish

So is it a color thing for McCain?

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McCain Bemoans Fate of Undocumented Irish in America
By Robert Barnes

Washington Post
SCRANTON, Pa. -- An issue that has been largely missing from the English-language presidential debate recently -- immigration reform -- made a brief return here this morning when Republican John McCain addressed a largely Irish-American crowd.

McCain said there were "50,000 Irish men and women in this country illegally who want to become citizens'' and that "we have to give them a path to citizenship."

McCain was a leader of the failed effort in Congress last year to overhaul the nation's immigration policies, and told the audience that it was an example of his willingness to take on controversial issues despite the political costs -- a point McCain has been making of late in ads playing on Spanish-language radio stations in key states, but by and large eschewed before non-Hispanic audiences.

"It didn't make me the most popular member of my own party and it almost cost me the nomination of my party," McCain said.

McCain said it also showed he had a willingness to reach across the aisle to form common ground -- he specifically mentioned Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), a hero in the Irish community -- which he said Democratic rival Barack Obama did not possess.

"To preserve that fragile coalition, I had to sometime take votes which were not popular," McCain said. "Senator Kennedy took votes that were not popular. Senator Obama took a hike."

McCain said he wanted to see tighter border security, a more highly regulated temporary worker program with penalties for companies that hire illegal workers and also a way for those here illegally to become citizens, although not ahead of those who have played by the existing rules.

"This nation is all the stronger -- this nation is stronger, this nation is stronger -- for the infusion of fresh blood and vitality that has come to this nation wave after wave: Irish, Italian, Poles, everybody who's come to this nation has enriched our nation, including our Hispanic citizenry. OK? That's what America's all about."

Still, immigration reform is not something that McCain often mentions as a priority, unless the subject is something of particular interest to his audience, or he is asked about it.

Posted at 2:15 PM ET on Sep 22, 2008