McCain Campaign Press Release - "In Case You Missed It": McCain Campaign Conference Call With Former U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin

"[Senator Obama] basically has not shown any leadership, has not shown any great peril, and he's just joining the chorus now that this issue is before him and he's attempting to reach Hispanic voters. With all due respect to Senator Obama, I think that any attacks he has against Senator McCain are unfounded and they're merely political ploys." -- Rosario Marin

ARLINGTON, VA -- Today, U.S. Senator John McCain's presidential campaign held a press conference call with Rosario Marin, former U.S. Treasurer, to discuss Barack Obama's remarks at the National Council of La Raza Conference:

Rosario Marin: "One of the things that we want to make clear is that probably Senator Obama is going to do the same thing that he has been doing when he has been meeting with different groups throughout the nation that are Hispanic organizations. And what he's going to say is the same thing that he -- most likely, he will say the same thing he's been saying, and that is that Senator McCain has changed his mind on immigration reform. And nothing could be further from the truth.

"The reality is that Senator McCain is the one senator that basically went against his own party, took the standard bearer for immigration reform. I think that needs to be fully recognized. Senator McCain did it at great political peril. He did what he thought was the right thing to do. Clearly, Washington needs to fix the problems. They have failed for the last 24 years. And here's Senator McCain, somebody who truly understands the needs not just with border states, since he's a senator that represents one of the border states -- but clearly he understands that the United States needs to fix its problem. And at great political peril he took this issue and tried to bring together all sides to on comprehensive immigration reform. It almost happened, but it didn't because of precisely people like Senator Obama, casting votes that eventually unraveled the immigration package that he had so carefully put tog ether.

"If anybody has anything to say about Senator McCain, it is that he is a person that has done what is right, has believed that he needs to do what's in the best interest of America, and America thinks it can fix this problem of immigration. He has also listened very clearly, the Senator has, to what the American people have said. And the American people have said that they want to secure the borders. And that is very important and it is paramount to ensure that we have an immigration reform that will be successful. We must not only applaud Senator McCain, but we must join him in finding solutions that will, at the end of the day, be very good not just for individual citizens, but for America as a whole.

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"[Senator Obama] basically has not shown any leadership, has not shown any great peril, and he's just joining the chorus now that this issue is before him and he's attempting to reach Hispanic voters. With all due respect to Senator Obama, I think that any attacks he has against Senator McCain are unfounded and they're merely political ploys."

...

"We have a Senator [Obama] who says one thing and then does, at the moment of truth when he has to cast votes, he actually does something that goes against what's in the best interest of Americans. On the campaign trail, he says great things, but at the moment of truth when he has to cast votes, that's when he does something that it is not in the best interest, especially of populations that are making $31,850."

Listen To The Full Conference Call