The Chess Master is Really the Pawn

Obama's 3D chess strategy. When in doubt take the GOP position on immigration and piss off the Hispanic and labor base of the Democratic Party. Obama is the Bobby Fischer of midterm election strategy. Obama did so well during the 2010 midterms that RNC chair Michael Steele won.

Fallout From Mike Fernandez Emails

Miguel "Mike" Fernandez is the chairman of MBF Healthcare Partners, L.P. Fernandez was the finance co-chairman of the Gov. Rick Scott campaign util a fallout with campaign staffers. The Miami Herald reports that Fernandez accused staffers of racial insensitivity in an email.

In his Feb. 20 email, Fernandez said a business partner, identified only as Luis, heard a Scott campaign staff member “mimicking a Mexican accent.”

“It’s culturally insensitive for him to hear a senior staff members (sic) mimicking a Mexican accent on the way to Chipotle. It shows that the team does not understand the culture YOU need to win,” Fernandez wrote on his iPad.

Fernandez was not present when the alleged comments were made. Fernandez believes comments like this will alienate the Hispanic vote.

uis works with me, he is my partner and it's culturally insensitive for him to hear a senior staff members mimicking a Mexican accent on the way to Chipolte. It shows that the team does not understand the culture YOU need to win. Would you hire me to manage a campaign in Mississippi for a country bumpkin? I hope not. We have one Texan, one guy from Wisconsin, I don't know where Tim (a brilliant guy) is from, but I guarantee you he is not from Florida, and one smart mercenary strategist. I truly believe that the difference in this race is the Hispanic vote. But what do I know, I have only made over a billion selling to this population.

In 2010, Scott to promised sign anti-immigration law like the law signed by Gov. Jan Brewer. The law would allow Arizona police to detain anyone they suspected of being an undocumented immigrant. The Supreme Court ruled that Arizona was overstepping their legal authority. Immigration status is decided by the federal government. Scott won no fans in the Hispanic community by supporting Arizona's law.

The Florida Democratic establishment is pouncing on the Fernandez controversy.

"Rick Scott’s campaign staff mocked Florida Hispanics like school children. That’s unacceptable from the people trying to elect a governor in one of the most diverse states in the nation,'' said Rivas Logan, now a Miami Democrat, in a conference call with reporters. "These anti-Hispanic comments are exactly the kind of comments that made up my mind to leave the Republican Party."

Logan urged Scott to fire the campaign staffers who made the alleged remarks. Melissa Sellers, Scott's spokesperson, did a less than thorough investigation.

“Mike (Fernandez) was not in the van,” Scott’s campaign manager, Melissa Sellers, told the Herald.

“I spoke to every staffer in the van,” she added. “If something was said in an accent, no one remembers what it was. We are a diverse organization and we do not tolerate inappropriate comments.”

The Scott campaign has handled this scandal badly. The usual Scott response is to ignore the situation and hope that it fades from the news cycle. We will see if that is the case.

Update: At the West Tampa Sandwich Shop, Charlie Crist attacked Rick Scott's handling of the Fernandez email controversy.

"If I were the head of the campaign on the other side, Rick Scott, and something would have happened like that in my campaign, those people would have been fired already.," the former governor said of the current one. "If Rick Scott’s aides are making fun of how Hispanics talk? That’s unconscionable. And they need to get to the bottom of it, and you need to as well," he said to the reporters recording his comments.

Republican Party Minority Outreach At CPAC

As you can see the CPAC minority outreach wasn't a fullhouse.

Quote of the Day

"We have no intention of ever going to conference on the Senate bill … I want us to deal with this issue, but I want to deal with it in a commonsense step by step way as we develop the principles, we’ll figure out how we’ll move ahead."

House Speaker John Boehner

Boehner knows full well that he has to go to conference to deal with any problems he may have with the Senate immigration bill. Boehner won't do that because the tea party members in his caucus would revolt if he touches immigration reform.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi responded to the Boehner press conference with this. tweet.

Actually it is easy, @SpeakerBoehner. With 190 cosponsors on H.R.15 and 28 Rs vowing support, we have the votes to pass #immigration reform.

— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) November 13, 2013

The DNC should pound Republicans for their lack of action on immigration reform.

Wingnut of the Day: Rep. Steve King

Republican Rep. Steve King can't help but say racist things about Hispanics. King told Newsmax that the children of illegal immigrant are actually drug mules.

He cites those illegals who were brought to the United States by their parents as young children, for instance.

"Some of them are valedictorians — and their parents brought them in. It wasn't their fault. It's true in some cases, but they aren't all valedictorians. They weren't all brought in by their parents.

"For everyone who's a valedictorian, there's another 100 out there who weigh 130 pounds — and they’ve got hands the size of cantaloupes because they're hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert,” King tells Newsmax. “Those people would be legalized with the same act."

How does King know that these children have "hands the size of cantaloupes"? Has King personally examined children of illegal immigrants. King says these crazy things without any facts. King doubled down and told Breitbart News that what he said was the gospel truth.

In an interview with Breitbart News on Wednesday, King pushed back against the Republican backlash by calling on people to review his remarks. He said, “they will understand that what I said is objective, it’s true and it cannot be logically challenged.”

Even fellow Republicans aren't buying it and are distancing themselves from King.

House Speaker John Boehner

“There can be honest disagreements about policy without using hateful language,” Boehner said in his statement. “Everyone needs to remember that.”

"Hateful language" is a polite way of Boehner admitting that King sounds like a racist.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor

”I strongly disagree with his characterization of the children of immigrants and find the comments inexcusable.”

Let's make things clear. Steve King is never going to march in a civil rights rally. King's has shown public disdain for gays and lesbians. King is against ENDA and made these bizarre remarks to Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council.

KING: And he said, “let me ask you a question.” “Am I heterosexual or am I homosexual?” And they looked him up and down, actually they should have known, but they said, “We don’t know.” And he said, “Exactly, my point. If you don’t project it, if you don’t advertise it, how would anyone know to discriminate against you?” And that’s at the basis of this. So if people wear their sexuality on their sleeve and then they want to bring litigation against someone that they would point their finger at and say, “You discriminate.” …This is the homosexual lobby taking it out on the rest of society and they are demanding affirmation for their lifestyle, that’s at the bottom of this.

King went as far as to accuse Attorney Eric Holder and President Barack Obama of racism. I love how racists project their faults on others.

When you look at this administration, I'm offended by Eric Holder and the President also, their posture. It looks like Eric Holder said that white people in America are cowards when it comes to race. And I don't know what the basis of that is but I'm not a coward when it comes to that and I'm happy to talk about these things and I think we should. But the President has demonstrated that he has a default mechanism in him that breaks down the side of race - on the side that favors the black person.

I hope the people in King's district are proud of their elected representative.

Florida Democratic Party Goes After Scott's Driver's License Veto.

For once the Florida Democratic Party is doing something smart by hammering Gov. Rick Scott for vetoing the right for immigrants with Deferred Action status from obtaining driver licences is stupid politics. Scott still thinks the tea party is a driving force. The Pew Research Center showed how President Obama beat Mitt Romney with Hispanics.

The state’s growing non-Cuban population—especially growth in the Puerto Rican population in central Florida—contributed to the president’s improved showing among Hispanic voters. This year, according to the Florida exit poll, 34% of Hispanic voters were Cuban while 57% were non-Cuban. Among Cuban voters, the vote was split—49% supported Obama while 47% supported Romney. Among the state’s non-Cuban voters, Obama won 66% versus 34% for Romney.

Of course, Scott's veto doesn't surprise me. Scott ran an xenophobic campaign against Muslims. A Salon investigative article found that Scott's company had to settle many discrimination cases.

Yet even before it was fully operational Solantic executives were accused of a pattern of serial discrimination in hiring, a pattern supposedly initiated by Scott himself. The suits alleged a standing policy not to hire overweight women, Hispanics with strong accents, older women and black women.

The company settled the suits, and never admitted any wrongdoing. Today, the company’s CEO, Karen Bowling, adamantly denies there was ever such a policy. But as Scott exerts influence on the national healthcare debate, and holds up his own company as a model of the virtues of the for-profit system, the chronology of the accusations is compelling. It starts with one of the very first people Solantic hired.

Scott can't help but come off as xenophobic anymore than a tiger can change its strips.

Marco Rubio/NRA Petition

CREDO is running a petition urging Sen. Marco Rubio to condemn to Wayne LaPierre's ""ugly racism." I doubt Rubio will ever say a cross word towards LaPierre. In 2010, Rubio backed harsh anti-immigration policies. Rubio's State of the Union response is testiment that the Senator isn't known for his courage.

LaPierre went on a bizarre conspiracy theory rant against Hispanics.

Mr. LaPierre

Latin America drug gangs have invaded every city of significant size in the United States. Phoenix is already one of the kidnapping capitals in the world, and though the states on the U.S./Mexico border may be the first places in the nation to suffer from cartel violence, by no means are they the last.

I recently talked to someone moving back to Phoenix. He told me it is nicer than Tampa. He never once mentioned kidnapping. LaPierre never cites statistics to prove his kidnapping or drug cartel invasion theories.

Exactly why would drug cartels stage a military invasion of the United States? Cartels kill people in Mexico that intervere with their drug trade. If the cartels would be staging mass killings and kidnappings, it would be against U.S. law enforcement. Furthermore, LaPierre is citing a kidnapping myth started by Pheonix Police Sgt and pathological liar Phil Roberts.

The Phoenix New Times found Roberts lied to propel his career. Roberts told the media and lecture audiences that there were 359 kidnappings in 2007. What should have set alarms is that Roberts said every one of those kidnappings involved drug cartels. The chances of that are nearly impossible. However, Phoenix was now being labeled as America's kidnapping capital. The actual number of kidnappings was between 20 to 30 a year.

LaPierre would deny that the Phoenix kidnapping numbers were made up. THere is just one problem Sgt. Roberts admitted he inflated the number after reporters started asking questions.

In 2009, Roberts announced that the Phoenix PD task force handling kidnap and home invasion was nothing more than a "golden ticket" for detectives to build their resumes. He started downplaying the figures he'd been touting. In his voluminous memos, Roberts claimed that Phoenix kidnapping statistics were bogus and intentionally inflated by police officials to defraud the federal government of grant money.

LaPierre is citing a scam artist police detective to defend his imaginary war. This is the man Marco Rubio and other Republicans fear.

Steve King's Hysterical Hispanic Vote Misinformation

Apparently, Rep. Steve King can't read an exit poll. King said Republicans lost the Hispanic vote by a "marginal" amount. Got that kids.

"We saw a marginal loss of the Hispanic vote, so people say we can't build a coalition again unless we make those accommodations," he said. "We should look at what happened with the conservatives who stay home. What happened with the biggest gender gap in history? What happened with the Ron Paul coalition, and the libertarians?"

The Pew Research Center found that President Obama won 71 percent of the Hispanic vote. Romney only received 27 percent of the Hispanic vote. King has an interesting definition of marginal. Of course, King is an anti-immigration tea party Republican in a red district. What is good for King's political prospects doesn't hold true for the rest of the GOP.

The Romney and Rubio Etch A Sketch

"You can legalize someone's status in this country with a significant amount of certainty about their future, without placing them on a path toward citizenship."

Marco Rubio, on his dubious immigration reform proposal.

Rubio is a potential running mate for Romney. Like Romney, Rubio is attempting to reset the Etch A Sketch with Hispanic voters.

By last week, he trailed Obama among Hispanic voters 67-27 in a new Pew Research Center survey. That's worse for Romney than the 67-31 margin Obama took in 2008 against McCain.

Romney appealed to Hispanics during a visit to Arizona Friday, hoping their concern about the economy will trump other issues.

There are other possible routes, many of them applauded by Republican officials meeting in Arizona who signaled the party grew too harsh in its approach in recent years.

Some mentioned the appeal of Romney naming a running mate such as Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a Cuban American, or Gov. Susana Martinez of New Mexico, a Mexican American.

Several said they'd support a plan by Rubio to propose a conservative version of the DREAM Act that would allow children of illegal immigrants to stay in the United States, albeit without a path to citizenship.

"We need to make it comfortable to be in the country. Not citizenship, but if they've been productive members of society, they should stay," said Glen McCall, a representative to the Republican National Committee from South Carolina.

This proposal does nothing to make a path to citizenship or give Hispanics an incentive not to enter America illegally. This is cynical politics at its worse.

Hispanic Voters Frustrated With Democrats

Sen. Lindsey Graham told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid he would not work on the energy bill if the Senate took up immigration reform.

"What wasn't me," Graham told Politico. "What changed was immigration coming out of left field."

Immigation was an issue so out of left field for Graham that a month earlier he wrote a Washington Post op-ed with Chuck Schumer urging Congress to take up immigration reform. Immigration reform was taken off the table and now Hispanic voters are frustrated with Democrats.

Hotline On Call reports Democrats still hold an edge in support, but Hispanic voters are frustrated with a lack of action by both parties. Graham told Democrats to dump immigration reform with the promise he would vote for the energy bill. Graham later reneged on his promise. Democrats are left with no energy and immigration bills and the possibility of a small Hispanic voter turnout in the general election. Dealmaking like this is why President Obama and Reid cannot get anything done.

McCollum & Arizona ID Bill

Bill McCollum received a low amount of Hispanic support during election night. McCollum's proposal for an Arizona-style ID bill was a disaster. The Miami Herald provides the details.

Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. Just one day after he unveiled a harsh Arizona-style immigration proposal for Florida, Attorney General Bill McCollum was obliged to backpedal, conceding a need to consult with ``my supporters in the Hispanic community'' about the provisions in his punitive and potentially unconstitutional measure.

That came after U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a co-chair of Mr. McCollum's Hispanic leadership team in his race for governor, pronounced herself ``blindsided'' and ``disappointed.'' Other prominent Hispanic Republicans backed away from the proposal, as well, and at least one well-known fundraiser declared she would ``not lift a finger or raise one additional dollar'' for his campaign.

Hispanic are the largest growing voting group. I have detailed repeatedly how Republicans hurt themselves by driving Hispanic voters towards the Democratic Party. McCollum pandered to the worst part of the GOP base and he deservingly paid the price for it.

Immigration Driving A Wedge Through Republican Party

Sarah Palin went of Fox News and made the laughable case that President Barack Obama doesn't understand how immigration is going to hurt the Democrats.

I think that President Obama is playing to his base on this one. And I think that's quite unfortunate because this isn't fair to the legal immigrants. It's not fair to illegal immigrants either, who do want to — many of them want to come here and find that pathway to citizenship. They, wanting to seek the right way to get over here.

This is allowing them, though, a dis-opportunity. They're going to have to hide while they're here. They're not going to be able to seize the opportunities that they sought coming over here.

So it's a lose-lose all around proposal all around for President Obama and his administration to ignore their responsibility and not enforce the laws that are existing. Again, Governor Brewer and her legislature, they did the right thing, 70 percent of Arizonians who support this law are doing the right thing in sending this wakeup call to the feds.

If the GOP wants to use Sarah Palin as a political strategist than more power to them. Immigration has been a wedge issue within the Republican Party. Jeb Bush has come out against the Arizona ID bill.

"I think it creates unintended consequences," he said in a telephone interview with POLITICO Tuesday. "It's difficult for me to imagine how you're going to enforce this law. It places a significant burden on local law enforcement and you have civil liberties issues that are significant as well."

Senate candidate Marco Rubio followed Bush's lead.

But, Rubio added, "I think that the law has potential unintended consequences and it's one of the reasons why I think immigration needs to be a federal issue, not a state one."

More specifically, Rubio said, "Everyone is concerned with the prospect of the 'reasonable suspicion' provisions, where individuals can be pulled over because someone suspects that they may not be legal in this country. I think over time people will grow uncomfortable with that."

On the prospect of suspects showing documentation to police to prove they are legal, Rubio said, "That's not really something that Americans are comfortable with, the notion of a police state."

Democrats won the Hispanic vote in 2006 and 2008. Palin's strategy for going far-right on immigration will alienate the growing Hispanic voting bloc.

A perfect illustration of how scared Republicans are of immigration: Congressional Republicans have lamented the lack of federal progress on immigration reform. Rachel Maddow compiled a video of Republicans saying that it is not the right time to tackle immigration reform. Maybe there would be progress if Republicans actually attempt to pass an immigration reform bill.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Kendrick Meek on Arizona ID Law

Kendrick Meek sent out a press release to voice his disapproval of the Arizona ID law.

"We need common sense immigration reform. The kind of measure signed into law in Arizona last week is neither fair nor practical. It encourages police to question people who have done nothing wrong, and it does a disservice to people in this country who are employed, paying their taxes and are good citizens of their communities. That is not fair. As a former Trooper in the Florida Highway Patrol, I know laws like these will also hamper law enforcement efforts and make it harder to find people who will speak out as witnesses to crimes. This law is impractical and will not make anyone safer. While new immigration laws should be tough, they should be enforceable and not driven by a philosophical agenda," said Kendrick Meek, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate.

The law is aimed at pleasing the most radical of the conservative base. The Arizona state capital was vandalized. Refried beans was smeared onto the image of a swastikas. No word on who was behind the vandalism.

The law has sparked civil rights protests across the America. President Obama has called the law "misguided." There are also questions of whether or not the law violates the Fourth Amendment.

Politically, immigration reform has been a lightning rod within the Republican Party. The GOP has played to the Southern Strategy. More moderate Republicans realize the GOP needs Hispanic voters. Democratics won the Hispanic vote in the last two election cycles. Hispanics are the largest growing voting bloc. Unsurprising, Republican Senators Mitch McConnell and Saxby Chambliss tell want to offer an opinion the Arizona law. McConnell and Chambliss say it is a bad time to be taking up the immigration reform. Heather, of Crooks and Liars cracked, " Yeah, so few days, so many more bills and nominations to obstruct."

Quote of the Day

"She did not feel comfortable speaking about issues regarding Hispanics and Latin America. Those are not topics that come up frequently in Alaska. So she asked to cancel the interview and, unfortunately, you were already there."

Ana Navarro, Hispanic issues advisor to the McCain campaign, explaining to Univision anchor Jorge Ramos why Sarah Palin cancelled an interview with the network.

Joe Wilson Tea Bagging For Dollars

Rep. Joe Wilson is using his misinformed accusation that President Obama's health care plan will provide health care for illegal immigrants. PolitiFact.com rated Wilson's, "You lie!" accusation as false.

Most illegal immigrants are also now excluded from Medicaid, the government-run health care for the poor. We didn't see anything that would change that.

One place where the bill does mention immigration status is for "affordability credits." These are tax credits for people of modest means need to buy health insurance. The credits would help them buy insurance on a national health insurance exchange. The bill specifically says that people in the United States illegally are not eligible for tax credits, on page 132, section 242.

There is nothing in the current bills that specifically states illegal immigrants not being allowed to buy private or public insurance. That is assuming a migrant worker, without the money to live here legally, would financially be able to buy health coverage. That is assuming a lot. The tea bag element of the Republican Party is treating Wilson as the savior. Attacks are more important than facts.

Congressional candidate Rob Miller has raised $450,000 since last night. Litbrit has started an ActBlue page for Miller. Knowing Litbrit, she finds it offensive that Wilson's is using his uncivility to pimp for dollars.

Update: a White House official told Fox News illegal immigrants would be prohibited from getting health coverage though the insurance exchanges.

Pat Buchanan's Latest Rant

Pat Buchanan fires off his latest missive against Hispanics. America's national security is threatened by Mexicans. Buchanan is on to Mexico's secret agenda of sending people to America to hang drywall and work as motel maids.

Mexico is the greatest foreign policy crisis I think America faces in the next 20, 30 years. Who is going to care, Andrea, 30 years from now whether a Sunni or a Shia is in Baghdad or who’s ruling in Kabul?

We’re going to have 135 million Hispanics in the United States by 2050, heavily concentrated in the southwest. The question is whether we’re going to survive as a country.

If you still have doubts about Buchanan's xenophobia problem then read this passage from his book "Right from the Beginning" about the Jim Crow era South.

"There were no politics to polarize us then, to magnify every slight. The 'negroes' of Washington had their public schools, restaurants, bars, movie houses, playgrounds and churches; and we had ours."

Buchanan defended former Klu Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke.

"Take a hard look at Duke's portfolio of winning issues and expropriate those not in conflict with GOP principles, [such as] reverse discrimination against white folks."

White people can find better champions than Pat Buchanan and David Duke. "Reverse discrimination" is another code word racists use. To say whites have had less opportunities than other ethnic groups is laughable. That same can be said for Buchanan's racial views. Their laughable and MSNBC should be embarrassed to have Buchanan on-th-air.

Florida Sotomayor Ad

Presente Action put out an ad pressuring Rep. John Mica to condemn Rush Limbaugh's comments against Sonia Sotomayor. It is fascinating how Republicans are terrified of a talk radio host and convicted drug addict. Republican elected officials would rather appear weak than stand up to Limbaugh.

The ad presents the problem facing the GOP. America is not a center right country. The Gallup poll trends from 1991 to 2007 are proof. Republicans can continue running the Southern Strategy and lose ethnic voters. Younger voters are turned off by the anti-gay and racial message the GOP is selling. The other choice is show a spine and stand up to Limbaugh.

Hat tip to Liza Sabater.

Specter Defends Sotomayor

Sen. Arlen Specter surprised me with his passionate defense of Sonia Sotomayor. Conservatives have unsuccessfully attempted to label Sotomayor a racist. Specter told Republicans they were making "a mountain out of a molehill."

"There has been a lot of talk about a 'wise Latina woman' and I think this proceeding has tended to make a mountain out of a molehill," Specter said. "We have had a consistent line of people who are nominees who make references to their own backgrounds. We all have our perspective. Justice O'Connor talked about her life experiences. Justice Alito talked about his family suffering from ethnic slurs. Justice Thomas...talked about putting himself in the shoes of other people. And Justice Scalia talked about being in a racial minority. The expectation would be that a woman would want to say something to assert her competence in a country, which denied the women the right to vote for decades, where the glass ceiling limited people, where there is still disparagement of people on ethnic background. So I can see how someone would take pride in being a Latina woman and assert herself."

In related news: Pat Buchanan offers Republicans horrible advise. The Republican Party toattack Sotomayor because Sarah Palin was not given the respect Buchanan felt she deserved. Buchanan urges the GOP to ignore the Hispanic vote and attempt to attain more white voters.

Had McCain been willing to drape Jeremiah Wright around the neck of Barack Obama, as Lee Atwater draped Willie Horton around the neck of Michael Dukakis, the mainstream media might have howled.

And McCain might be president.

Buchanan ignores the negative attacks McCain used hurt his candidacy.

But the clear perception that the Arizona senator has run a more negative campaign than Obama may hurt the Republican presidential nominee's chances of a comeback as the end of the race draws near.

"In previous elections, both candidates have been viewed as attacking the other unfairly, so the penalty for doing so has tended to cancel out in past years," CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said. "But this year McCain faces that problem all by himself, so any blowback affects only him while Obama seems above the fray."

The Census points to Hispanics being the fastest growing ethnic groups. Hispanic voters shifted toward Democrats in 2006 and 2008. Republicans will continue to have minority status if they continue to bash Hispanics.

Quote of the Day

"I’m telling you she appears to be a racist. She said things that are racist in any other context. That’s exactly how we would portray it and there’s no one who would get on the Supreme Court saying a thing like that except for a Hispanic woman and you’re going to say it doesn’t matter!"

Tom Tancredo, on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

It is amazing how racists are accusing the racism against Sotomayor.

Tancredo has a history of hostility towards the Hispanic community. The Hispanic television network Univision held a presidential debate. Unsurprisingly, Tancredo boycotted the event. This was a candidate whom needed the exposure. Tancredo sent out this press release.

Tancredo released this statement: “It is the law that to become a naturalized citizen of this country you must have knowledge and understanding of English, including a basic ability to read, write, and speak the language,” Tancredo said. “So what may I ask are our presidential candidates doing participating in a Spanish speaking debate? Pandering comes to mind...America has been a melting pot of people from all over the world but it can not survive as a nation if our immigrants do not assimilate. A common language is essential to that goal. Bilingualism is a great asset for any individual but it has perilous consequences for a nation. As such, a Spanish debate has no place in a presidential campaign.”

The Spanish language poses "perilous consequences" for the United States? What a crock of shit. That might explain why he called Miami a third world country.

"Look at what has happened to Miami. It has become a Third World country. You just pick it up and take it and move it someplace. You would never know you're in the United States of America. You would certainly say you're in a Third World country," Tancredo said.

The anti-immigration the Minutemen has white supremists in their ranks. Minutemen leader Chris Simcox and Tancredo are longtime political allies. Listen to Tancredo on Minutemen radio. (It is a hate fest.)

Ask yourself if Tancredo has earned the right to call anyone a racist?

RedState.con v. Crist

RedState.com is running an online petition against Gov. Charlie Crist and the NRSC. It is so much fun watching conservatives self-destruct.

We pledge that we will give no funds or other support to the NRSC and will reach out to NRSC donors to encourage them to withhold giving funds until the NRSC publicly pledges that it will expend zeros resources either directly or indirectly to help Charlie Crist win the Republican nomination for the United States Senate in Florida.

The Right does not have it's own version of the netroots. RedState.com is not (and likely never will be) the right-wing version of Daily Kos. This will not intimidate Crist or NRSC Chairman John Cornyn.

Peter Schorsch wrote that Crist leads Marco Rubio 53 percent to 18 percent in the latest Mason Dixon poll. Cornyn said, "Gov. Crist is the strongest candidate that will enable us to hold the seat." NRSC is in the business of winning elections. Cornyn isn't confident Rubio can beat Kendrick Meek or Dan Gelber in the general election. I would love to see the NRSC internal polling on Rubio. (That is a hint for someone to leak it to me.)

Side note: Why is Rubio so obsessed with running against Crist? Bill McCollum is a weak candidate. Rubio could beat McCollum in the primary and give Republicans a better chance against Sink. That is the best bet for keeping the Governor's mansion and Martinez's Senate seat. Republicans are more concerned with appeasing their dwindling base then winning elections. Democrats have a 600,000 voter registration advantage in Florida. The 2008 election shifted Florida Hispanics to the Democratic Party. Hard Right Republicans decide the best course of action is to call Hispanic Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor a racist. That is not building a big tent. That is political suicide.