Posted by
Andrews on Tuesday, February 26, 2008 3:42:01 PM
Recently I have run across post after post accusing McCain of "wanting to give health care to Mexico". Now, obviously, this is intended to throw red meat to the conservative audience, and try to pry votes away from McCain for Huckabee's faltering campaign, but I have to ask, is this really a big issue?
Yes, McCain has sponsored legislation to improve health care in Mexico. Our current president has thrown tons of money at AIDS in Africa. It is a constant that every president in recent memory has sponsored "humanitarian" aid for various nations. Nor has congress been reluctant to get into the game. Sponsoring legislation to throw our money at overseas health issues is nothing new.
Of course, since it involves Mexico, I am sure the anti-McCain crowd will paint this as being somehow weak on immigration, but it really seems to be nothing more than the usual humanitarian waste of tax monies, and pursuing it now smacks of desperation.
Please do not think I am in favor of such foreign aid programs. I think throwing money away on health initiatives in foreign nations is a very bad idea, but I don't hear Huckabee coming out in favor of eliminating the US Agency for International Development, or the World Bank subsidies, or any other foreign aid boondoggle, so I just don't see how he can seize the moral high ground on this. (Yes, Ron Paul probably has come out against USAID and the rest, but he has enough other problems that he isn't going to convince me with opposition to foreign aid.)
Admittedly the headlines will draw some reaction from those who see red whenever the word "Mexico" appears, and, as McCain has been weak on immigration it may make a small splash for a few days, but, unless there is more substance to this story than a senator supporting a generic foreign aid bill, I just don't see it gaining much momentum.