Excerpt from McCain Speech to National Council of La Raza

Senator John McCain strongly defended his record on immigration before the national conference of NCLR (Sen. Obama spoke yesterday). Said Obama's criticisms in speeches to Hispanic groups were wrong. Strong statement in this excerpt provided by the Associated Press.



McCain supports the DREAM ACT.



McCain then took questions five from the audience. Smart. And he strongly defended NAFTA.

Enrique Morones got the mic and asked a pointed question on immigration of Sen. McCain.

Newsweek.com reports McCain kept answering questions from the audience even when NCLR staff took mics away from audience members. Good for him.

"But it was what happened after the speech that was the most notable moment of the day. McCain, who continues to talk up his idea of joint town halls with Obama, decided to take questions from the audience after his remarks. After fielding several questions, many not so friendly, McCain was about to take another when he was interrupted by one of the organizers, who announced over the PA system they were out of time. As he often does when his own staff tries to wrap up an event, McCain shook off the intrusion like a pitcher defying his catcher and took the next question. But NCLR reps, trying to keep the event on time, just wouldn’t be stopped. While McCain was answering the question, one of the organizers took away the microphone audience members had been using to talk to McCain. When the senator finished his answer and saw the microphone was gone, a look of annoyance flashed on his face. And then, McCain simply threw his own microphone into the audience, calling for one last question. It’s a move that’s patent McCain. In the run up to Super Tuesday, McCain often rebelled against his staff, who packed his schedule with quick airport rallies rather than his preferred town halls."