Early on in the primaries it appeared John McCain had learned his lesson, choosing to take a tougher stand on immigration. As the general election nears, McCain has now come full circle to where he was last year, once again stating that we need to provide illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. Speaking on Tuesday to the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Department, McCain outlined his position on immigration:

Later, the senator outlined his position on the Senate immigration debate, saying tougher border enforcement must be accompanied by guest-worker provisions that give illegal immigrants a legal path toward citizenship.

Murmurs from the crowd turned to booing. “Pay a decent wage!” one audience member shouted.

“I’ve heard that statement before,” McCain said before threatening to leave.

The first questioner seemed to challenge his commitment to organized labor. When McCain started to praise a particular labor group in Arizona, the crowd booed again.

“Stop!” he said with a smile, drawing laughter from the crowd. “I surrender.”

But he took more questions, including a pointed one on his immigration plan.

McCain responded by saying immigrants were taking jobs nobody else wanted. He offered anybody in the crowd $50 an hour to pick lettuce in Arizona.

Shouts of protest rose from the crowd, with some accepting McCain’s job offer.

“I’ll take it!” one man shouted.

McCain insisted none of them would do such menial labor for a complete season. “You can’t do it, my friends.”

Some in the crowd said they didn’t appreciate McCain questioning their work ethic.

This is the common response we hear from Democrats who claim illegal workers are necessary because they do the jobs Americans won’t do. But to believe that an American worker would not pick lettuce for a full season if offered $50 per hour is simply ludicrous. The reason there are jobs that Americans won’t do is not because the job is to menial as McCain said, but because the wage is.

However if Senator McCain is serious about his offer, I would gladly accept. Earning $50 per hour, even for only the 6 month harvesting season would allow me to quit both of my jobs and still earn a higher wage.

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Election 2008, Features, Immigration, John McCain