John McCain's "Hispanics is what we're talking about" Debate Response

Below is my transcription of John McCain's amazing response regarding immigrants in America during Tuesday's (June 5, 2007) CNN Republican presidential debate. He prefaced his remarks by making a point of addressing his nativist competitors with "Buenos Dias". McCain is a brave man.

Hispanics is what we're talking about: A different culture, a difficult language, which has enriched my state where Spanish was spoken before English was.

My friends, the next time you go down to Washington, DC and visit the Vietnam War Memorial and see the names engraved on the black granite, you'll see a lot of Hispanic names.

If you go to Iraq and Afghanistan, you'll see a whole lot of people of Hispanic background.

You're going to meet a few of the thousands of green card holders who are not even citizens. But who love this country so much that they're willing to risk their lives in its service in order to expedite their path to citizenship and enjoy the fruits of a blessed nation.

From time to time remember that these are god's children that come into our country legally and illegally, but they have enriched our country and our nation as every generation of immigrants have before them.

Thanks you.