McCain Blasts Romney, Says Cornyn Exchange Exaggerated

Senator McCain participated in another conference call today with assorted bloggers and reporters.

McCain opened the call with an explanation of the widely-reported dust-up that occurred late last week between him and Senator John Cornyn. McCain reportedly dropped an F-bomb on Cornyn after Cornyn accused him of "parachut[ing] in here on the last day" of negotiations on immigration reform to offer objections. McCain "suggested" today that "the exchange between myself and my friend John Cornyn was a bit exaggerated...I'm sorry that YouTube wasn't there to give you the full and complete picture of what took place, sometimes we have tough issues and sometimes we are very frank with each other."

Another highlight came when Ryan Sager asked if the senator had any response to attacks by Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson over his support for this latest proposed immigration reform. McCain: "I'm a little disappointed in Fred [Thompson] because he had a very different position not that long ago, but since he's not a declared candidate, I think that Fred will [soon] be able to articulate his position, I think. In the case of the governor [Romney] maybe I should wait a couple of weeks and see if it changes because it's changed in less than a year from his position before and maybe his solution will be to get out his small varmint gun and drive those Guatemalans off his lawn, I don't know."

McCain spoke at length about immigration, saying "the system in this country is broken, it poses an enormous national security risk. There are 12 million people in the country illegally, we have no idea who they are or where they are...this legislation has first and foremost securing the border. In fact 18 months is given for the notification that the border is going to be secured before any other action can take place."

On the issue of amnesty, McCain said: "I don't know how you can call a $5,000 fine, a wait of at least eight years, going back to the country of origin, as fitting the dictionary definition."

Powerline's John Hinderaker pressed McCain, who explained that illegals would essentially be placed on a "probationary status...they're going to have to go through background checks, they have to pay fines, they have to go back to the country [of origin] if they want to have any kind of real legal status...then the green card backlog has to be cleared up, which is at least about eight years, some say more than that, before they can get in line behind everybody else to have a truly legal status...I don't view that as amnesty, and I don't see unless you give them some kind of probationary status, the other choice is to deport everyone of them, or leave them in some sort of illegal status--the status quo."

Ann Althouse asked "isn't there some truth to the idea that you were parachuting in as was reported?" McCain explained he'd been "in daily contact with the negotiators, back and forth on conference calls, meetings with Republicans and Democrats--I've been involved with it for many years...in intense negotiations a lot of things are said and my friend John and I had a difference of opinion."

Jennifer Rubin asked if McCain was surprised at the reaction from the conservative base to the immigration bill, particularly the boos that greeted Senator Graham this weekend at a townhall meeting in his home state. McCain: "Well, of course I was a bit disappointed in the reaction because I was hoping they would evaluate it rather than listen to some people's interpretation of it. I think that this is a proposal on an issue that is very well known, I think it's fairly easy to comprehend it. I think we should vote for cloture and then relevant amendments, not irrelevant amendments, will be allowed. I'd like to get it done this week, in five days of intense debate and amendments. If we can't, we can't."