NPR's Liasson cited McCain's work with Kennedy on immigration reform as a "source of his maverick reputation," didn't note flip-flop

Summary: NPR's Mara Liasson said that Sen. John McCain "has made a career of taking heat from his own party for working with liberal Democrats like ... Ted Kennedy on immigration." However, Liasson did not note that during his run for president, McCain reversed his position on a key component of comprehensive immigration reform, and stated that he would not vote for the bill he co-sponsored with Kennedy.

In a July 2 report on National Public Radio's (NPR) Morning Edition, national political correspondent Mara Liasson said that Sen. John McCain "has made a career of taking heat from his own party for working with liberal Democrats like [Sen.] Russ Feingold [WI] on campaign finance reform or [Sen.] Ted Kennedy [MA] on immigration. These bipartisan efforts are both the source of his maverick reputation and the cause of his ongoing problems with the Republican Party's conservative base." However, Liasson did not note that in the course of seeking the Republican nomination for president, McCain reversed his position on a key component of comprehensive immigration reform. McCain now says that "we've got to secure the borders first" -- a position at odds with his prior assertion that border security could not be disaggregated from other aspects of comprehensive immigration reform. McCain further stated during the January 30 Republican presidential debate that he would not vote for the bill he co-sponsored with Kennedy if it came to a vote on the Senate floor.

A November 4, 2007, Associated Press article about McCain's change in position noted that his "high-profile support" for the McCain-Kennedy bill "hurt him politically" and quoted McCain stating: "I understand why you would call it a, quote, shift. ... I say it is a lesson learned about what the American people's priorities are. And their priority is to secure the borders."

Media Matters for America has documented a pattern of media outlets describing McCain as a "maverick" for his work on immigration reform without noting his later reversal.

In contrast to Liasson, in a June 23 Politico piece headlined "McCain's immigration zigzag," contributing columnist and Washington journalist Gebe Martinez wrote that "McCain, the Arizona senator, dismayed Latinos last year when he stepped back from his immigration bill that would have tightened the borders and legalized undocumented immigrants. As boos and hisses from angry Republican conservatives grew louder at campaign events, he switched course and vowed to 'first' secure the borders. Were his failed bill to come up again, he would not vote for it, he said." From Martinez's article:

McCain, the Arizona senator, dismayed Latinos last year when he stepped back from his immigration bill that would have tightened the borders and legalized undocumented immigrants. As boos and hisses from angry Republican conservatives grew louder at campaign events, he switched course and vowed to "first" secure the borders. Were his failed bill to come up again, he would not vote for it, he said.

[...]

Trying to regain Latino support, McCain has chastised Republicans who stoke the fires of the immigration at election time. And at a private meeting with Chicago-area Latinos last week, he promised to push for a comprehensive immigration bill.

"It sounds like he's trying to have it both ways, and it's not convincing anyone," said Frank Sharry, who also was involved in immigration bill negotiations when he headed the National Immigration Forum.

This is not the McCain Hispanics thought they knew. Even after the 2001 terrorist attacks placed an emphasis on national security, McCain's speeches to Latino audiences and on the Senate floor prioritized the compassionate side of the immigration argument.

He understood that border security "first" means "deportation only" in the eyes of immigrant activists, and he championed a broader approach.

As the Senate mulled immigration in 2006, McCain often stood in the Capitol's corridors, pounding his fist in the air, arguing that border enforcement would not work without simultaneously penalizing employers who hire workers illegally, creating a temporary worker program and finding a way to bring 12 million illegal immigrants "out of the shadows" of society.

"It won't work! It won't work!" he protested of suggestions to do enforcement first. The stool cannot stand on one leg.

From the July 2 edition of NPR's Morning Edition:

LIASSON: McCain has made a career of taking heat from his own party for working with liberal Democrats like [Sen.] Russ Feingold [WI] on campaign finance reform or [Sen.] Ted Kennedy [MA] on immigration. And these bipartisan efforts are both the source of his maverick reputation and the cause of his ongoing problems with the Republican Party's conservative base.

One of McCain's closest allies, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham [R-SC], says McCain's willingness to work across the aisle on those hot-button issues is one of his strongest qualifications.

GRAHAM: All of these other issues that have been tough and controversial, John has been out front more than anybody else in the Senate and when it comes time to ask the question who will do the hard things as the next president. The best way to answer that question is to ask who has done the hard things before they got to be the next president.

LIASSON: Whenever there's a bipartisan scrum of moderate Democrats and Republicans working toward a compromise -- the Gang of 14 on judicial filibusters, or other groups dealing with torture, tobacco regulation, or global warming -- McCain can usually be found right in the middle.

—E.H.H.