NYT: Republican strategists lament inflamatory debate talk about electrified fences, dream act, etc.

[pampango]

Republican candidates are competing over who can talk the toughest about illegal immigration, who will erect the most impenetrable border defense; who will turn off “magnets” like college tuition benefits.

“The discussion of creating electrified fences from sea to sea is neither prudent nor helpful,” said Ryan Call, chairman of the Republican Party of Colorado, where Hispanics cast 13 percent of votes in 2008 and helped President Obama flip the state to blue. “They’re throwing red meat around in an attempt to mollify a particular aspect of the Republican base.”

“Sharron Angle got destroyed in the election because of her anti-immigration stand,” said Andres Ramirez, a Democratic strategist in Nevada, referring to Mr. Reid’s opponent, a Tea Party darling. Mr. Ramirez predicted that Hispanic participation in the 2012 election in Nevada would surpass the 15 percent from 2008, and he said that Republicans missed an opportunity in holding a debate in Las Vegas to showcase more moderate immigration views.

“Their rhetoric on illegal immigration was very over the top,” he said. “It will cost them in the future.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/us/politics/immigration-talk-turns-off-some-hispanics.html

I wonder what "particular aspect of the Republican base" their candidates are "throwing red meat" at. ;)

Let's hope it costs them dearly next year.

[dkf]

1. I thought Sharron Angle lost because she was odd and crazy.

[Lindsay]

2. It's okay to believe in all that stuff, of course,

and to plan to implement it all once elected.

It's just not acceptable to talk about it in public beforehand.