The Washington Monthly

December 2, 2005

PRESERVING OUR NATIONAL IDENTITY....Nativist Republican congressman Tom Tancredo recently wrote a Thanksgiving letter to his Team America PAC expressing gratitude for their help in the "struggle to preserve our national identity, against the tide of illegal immigrants flooding the United States." Marc Ambinder at the Hotline comments:

"Preserving national idenitity" is an innocuous enough phrase, and in the context of political traditions or history or even language, it means what it means.

But in the immigration debate, many GOP pollsters and strategists and big thinkers believe that independent voters, especially women, and nearly all Latino voters, interpret "preserving national identity" as a code word for "keeping America white and Christian."

Some have tested the phrase in polls and focus groups and confirmed their findings.

I'll just bet they have. Tell us more, Marc. That post ended rather abruptly, didn't it?

—Kevin Drum 1:47 PM Permalink | Trackbacks

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