Tancredo vs. Hunter: A race to the bigot line

Resolved, that the GOP base (and large parts of its upper tiers) is teeming with bigotry, I ask for your thoughts. Which of the following two quotes, from dark horse Republican candidates best encapsulates that party's je ne sais quois:

Duncan Hunter, Wednesday, Nov. 28: "Openly homosexual people serving in the ranks would be bad for unit cohesion. The reason for that, even though people point to the Israelis and point to the Brits and point to other people as having homosexuals serve, is that most Americans, most kids who leave that breakfast table and go out and serve in the military and make that corporate decision with their family, most of them are conservatives. They have conservative values, and they have Judeo-Christian values. To force those people to work in a small tight unit with somebody who is openly homosexual goes against what they believe to be their principles, and it is their principles, is I think a disservice to them."

Tom Tancredo, yesterday: “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. So what may I ask are our presidential candidates doing participating in a Spanish speaking debate?”

My first thought when I came up with this game was that Hunter's statement is the better distillation. But then I realized that it's just the more elegant pander. After all, our "Judeo-Christian" military has been given marching orders in the past several months to train and work with former Islamic insurgents in Iraq, so I guess Hunter's real thoughts here aren't "we should separate our Christian soldiers from people who live unchristian lives," but rather "I think gays are worse than terrorists."

Tancredo, by contrast, pretty much hit the mark, even if he shrewdly avoided direct references to Mexican skin color. What do y'all think?

Comments

There is a full field of GOP entrants in the bigot race. Which of the GOP candidates DOESN'T have one or more bigoted positions that they broadcast widely?

But ya have to hate somebody, right? Huck even takes on the GOP's Wall Street Money Machine, for god's sake.

My personal nightmare is contemplating which of them actually has a chance at the nomination and winning (or buying/cheating) the election.

I've emotionally settled for hoping for the least offensive with just a poor/fair chance of winning: Willard Romney (mitt cheese, like a Philly cheesesteak). Huck just might be able to bamboozle enough Dems to win. Guiliani as President sends deep tremors through my brain and body. Those three are the likely choices (unless they end up with a brokered convention and Jeb Bush, The Newt, or Condosleeza emerges as the candidate.)

Posted by: JimPortlandOR on December 10, 2007 11:18 AM

Hunter's position that gays serving openly in the military "would be bad for unit cohesion" closely resembles a previous generation of racists' rationale for keeping a segregated army. So, I'm going with him.

Then again, Tancredo seems to take far more joy in being a bigot. Brian, I guess you got me stumped.

Posted by: Rob_in_Hawaii on December 10, 2007 07:14 PM

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