Leader of Extremist Group Explains Election Results
January 30th, 2008
A close look at the exit polls makes it abundantly clear that Latino voters in Florida had something to say in yesterday's primary. Latinos went for McCain (54%) and Giuliani (24%) over Romney (14%). Yes, Rudy Giuliani, who did abysmally in every other demographic, still managed to soundly beat Mitt Romney among Latino voters. It seems clear that Florida Latinos like McCain, a leader in the immigration reform effort, and punished Romney, who was outdone only by Tom Tancredo in his efforts to demagogue the immigration issue for political gain. Given the slim margin of McCain's victory overall, Latino support seems to have made the difference in the outcome.
But that's no reason to give up on immigration as a wedge issue for Roy Beck, the head of NumbersUSA who has worked for and been funded by the controversial and extremist John Tanton for years. He gives his own take on Florida's election results in the January 30, 2008 edition of the Washington Post:
Foes of illegal immigration were left scratching their heads over an issue that a month ago looked like the focal point of the nomination fight.
"The older Republicans who are still very angry at Bush about the amnesty issue have lost sight of the integral role McCain had in all of that," said Roy Beck, head of the immigration-limitation group NumbersUSA, who has waged war on McCain for his efforts to grant illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship. "For a lot of people, they just like McCain - maverick in chief, the Straight Talk Express. They want to be convinced."
That's right. Despite Romney's constant efforts to remind Republican voters that immigration is a wedge issue that is supposed to drive them crazy, Florida voters just forgot that John McCain is the author of a comprehensive immigration reform bill with Ted Kennedy in the Senate. Could it be that Beck's favorite wedge issue isn't so powerful after all?
But that still doesn't explain why the Washington Post is consulting Beck in the first place. He served for years as Washington Editor for The Social Contract, which is published by John Tanton, and has a history of proudly publishing works with white supremacist content, such as the wildly racist novel The Camp of the Saints by Jean Raspail. Now Beck runs NumbersUSA, another anti-immigration group founded by Tanton, who, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, is also a funder.