John McCain 2008

"God's Children"
60-second ad run in CO, NV, NM, announced July 11, 2008. 

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McCain (voiceover):  My friends, I want you the next time you're down in Washington, D.C., to go to the Vietnam War Memorial and look at the names engraved in black granite.  You'll find a whole lot of Hispanic names.

When you go to Iraq or Afghanistan today, you're going to see a whole lot of people who are of Hispanic background.  You're even going to meet some of the few thousand that are still green card holders who are not even citizens of this country, who love this country so much that they're willing to risk their lives in its service [video transitions to debate clip] in order to accelerate their path to citizenship and enjoy the bountiful, blessed nation.

So let's from time to time remember that these are God's children.  They must come into country legally, but they have enriched our culture and our nation as every generation of immigrants before them.

Thank you.  [applause]

McCain (voiceover): I'm John McCain and I approve this message.

 

 
Notes: There were two versions of this ad, one  in English and one in English with subtitles in Spanish (shown above).  The ad ran at a time when both campaigns were reaching out to Latino voters.  In late June through mid-July both candidates were making the rounds at three Latino events: the NALEO 25th Annual Conference in Washington, DC, the LULAC National Convention in Washington, DC, and the 2008 National Council of La Raza Annual Conference in San Diego, CA.

The audio is from more than a year earlier, the June 5, 2007 debate in New Hampshire.  For the first 30-plus seconds of the ad, the video is a montage of images; the second part is various shots of McCain speaking during the debate.