Republicans Abandoning Illegal Immigrant Bashing?

Just three days after their 2nd consecutive election where a massive investment in demonizing immigrants did not pay off their Party, the leading GOP Presidential candidates have agreed to participate in a December Univision debate in Miami.  There is simply no way to read this action as anything but a national repudiation of their extreme anti-immigrant strategy of recent years, and a desperate attempt to beg the Hispanic community for forgiveness.

That's right, following Tuesday's elections, Republican candidates for President appear to have done a rapid about-face on the immigration issue.  Here's the Miami Herald

Jilted by the GOP earlier this year, viewers of the nation's largest Spanish-language television network will get a chance to see the Republican presidential candidates debate in Miami on Dec. 9.

Three of the leading candidates -- Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney -- agreed Thursday to participate in the forum at the University of Miami, joining John McCain and lesser-known candidates Ron Paul and Duncan Hunter.

Only McCain and Hunter accepted a Sept. 16 invitation from Univisi+¦n, forcing the network to call the debate off and allowing the Democrats to lay claim the week before to a history-making opportunity to reach more than two million Hispanic voters.

Now, the only Republican candidate who definitely says he will NOT attend the Univision debate is now Tom Tancredo who says that "The Republican Party looks at massive immigration, legal and illegal, as a source of cheap labor, satisfying a very important constituency."  The Republican Party also sees Hispanics as a major source of votes, and now it looks like they may be ditching the harsh anti-immigrant rhetoric that almost guaranteed they would lose the White House in 2008 (and beyond).  Well, I should say the Republican Party outside Virginia.  Here, it's still open season for Corey Stewart et al. on bashing illegal immigrants without doing absolutely anything to deal with the problems associated with it.  That's a losing strategy by any standard, not to mention an immoral one.  Heckuva job, Corey Stewart!

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