McCain fires triple-salvo at Romney

It doesn't look much like there is a McCain-Romney ticket in the offing.

Sen. John McCain, whose support of a bipartisan immigration proposal has drawn criticism from Mitt Romney, answered those criticisms Monday with a pointed riposte.

"In the case of Governor Romney, you know, maybe I should wait a couple of weeks and see if it changes because it's changed in less than a year from his position before," McCain said on a conference call. "And maybe his solution will be to get out his small-varmint gun and drive those Guatemalans off his lawn."

That was at least three political jabs packed into one. First, McCain was painting Romney as a flip-flopper, in a nod to the fact that he has expressed support for similar immigration proposals in the past and changed his position on abortion before running for president.

Next, McCain took a dig at a memorable line Romney who said he was a lifelong hunter but in fact had not taken out hunting licenses in the states where he lived. "I've always been a rodent and rabbit hunter," Romney said. "Small varmints, if you will."

Finally, the Guatemalans. That was a reference to an article in the Boston Globe late last year that quoted several from Guatemala who said they had worked on Romney's lawn in suburban Boston while in the United States illegally, as employees of a lawn care company that Romney hired. It was an early taste of one candidate for the Republican presidential nomination naming, and criticizing, another. The Romney campaign answered with a statement that only referred to McCain as "a certain candidate."

"Governor Romney has been very clear that he opposes this immigration agreement, which clearly falls short of the American public's expectations," said Kevin Madden, a spokesman for Romney. "It seems that a certain candidate who brokered this flawed plan is having a very difficult time coming to terms with the political fallout that has ensued and has abandoned any and all substantive arguments for it."