McCain's Lettuce Claims

Tweet

Hugh Hewitt writes about McCain and his immigration claims.

You may remember that McCain suggested Americans wouldn't pick lettuce in Arizona for $50 an hour.

Here's the story:

As he steered his Straight Talk Express across the United States in recent weeks, Republican Sen. John McCain has tried to stay a-head of the immigration issue. But Friday the immigration issue delivered 36 or so heads to his Phoenix office — heads of lettuce, that is.

McCain has been getting skewered in the media for comments earlier this month to a union group in Washington, D.C., that immigrants are taking jobs no one else wants, and offered them $50 an hour to pick lettuce in the Arizona sun for a summer, suggesting they couldn't do it.

The senator didn't stick around long enough to process any applications, despite several offers to take him up on his offer from the audience.
So Friday more than three dozen demonstrators showed up at his office, many carrying lettuce picker applications in one hand, and a head of lettuce in the other to show they could do the job.

McCain may be so out of touch to realize that $50/hour is a lot of money. He's been inside the Beltway way too long!

Virtually all Americans I know would love to get that kind of money--even if it means picking lettuce in Arizona.

Update: I spent my teenage years in Arizona, and would have loved getting more than about $5-6/hour. My friends and I would have done anything for that kind of $ (even when adjusted for inflation).