Joy Behar may have been the first to suggest that Beto O’Rourke and Cory Booker were “pandering” by answering questions in Spanish during Wednesday night’s first Democratic Primary debate in Miami. But her View co-host Meghan McCain was the one who ran with it.
“Really quickly, I don't speak Spanish, and I genuinely wanted to hear what they were saying, so I would like subtitles for the future,” McCain said. “And I mean this genuinely, I don't mean this facetiously. I couldn't understand what they were saying.”
“And apparently it was really important about taxes and I'm watching the debate, I don't speak Spanish, would love to understand what you were saying,” she continued as Whoopi Goldberg backed her up. “And great for Spanish speakers, but for non-Spanish speakers, I still want to know what you are saying.”
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“I did think that when I was listening,” Sunny Hostin chimed in. “I was like, I understand everything, but I wonder if everybody else does.”
“What did they say?!” McCain asked Hostin, who then attempted to translate O’Rourke’s comments about how “every voter needs representation” in America.
Later in the show, when the hosts welcomed former Obama cabinet secretary Julián Castro via satellite from Miami, McCain confronted him about his showdown with O’Rourke over the border.
“I hear what you are saying, but if you decriminalize, aren't you calling for open borders?” McCain asked the candidate. “And how can you enforce any rules if there are no repercussions for doing something illegal?”
“Well, there would be repercussions. Somebody is still in the court system,” Castro replied, drawing a distinction between a misdemeanor and a civil violation. “They're still subject to be deported if that's the determination of the court.”
When he added, “So this is not open borders, that’s a right-wing talking point,” McCain began to talk over him, saying, “With all due respect, sir, I don't think it's a right-wing talking point when you’re saying that someone who is doing something illegal, that there shouldn't be ramifications, which at a certain point, if you become a general election candidate against Trump, you're going to have to win over people like me who are skeptical of this.”
“How can we possibly say that we have ‘open borders’ when we have 654 miles of fences, thousands of personnel at the border?” Castro asked. “We have planes, we have boats, we have helicopters, we have guns, we have security cameras. We have states like my home state of Texas that put an extra $800 million into border security. We can maintain a secure border, and people are still subject to the law, but what I don't believe we should do is criminalize desperation.”
Unsurprisingly, McCain was not convinced.
