As the Wallow wildfire charbroils more than 500,000 acres of Arizona, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is blaming illegal immigrants. "There is substantial evidence that some of these fires have been caused by people who have crossed our border illegally," McCain said Saturday, while declining to offer any such evidence. (Watch the video below.) Meanwhile, Randy Parraz, McCain's 2010 Democratic rival, accused McCain of recklessly fanning "the flames of intolerance" and U.S. Forest Service spokesman Tom Berglund insisted there's "absolutely" no evidence the fire was started by illegal immigrants. So what is McCain going on about?
McCain has hit a new "outrageous" low: Blaming undocumented Latinos for the fire, especially without any proof, isn't just the "most disgusting, reprehensible, and irresponsible" thing McCain has done in his career, says Stephen Lemons in the Phoenix New Times. It's also "patently racist." Just replace illegal immigrants with "'the Jews' or 'blacks,' and see how far that gets you before you receive a much-deserved smack in the jaw."
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