Former Republican congressman Tom Tancredo claimed today that the GOP would have won Tuesday's election by a landslide if only they had increased their animosity toward Latinos.
Mitt Romney garnered only 27% of the hispanic vote on election day, versus 71% for Barack Obama. The difference provided Obama with his entire margin of victory.
As the proportion of Latino voters continues to rise, major figures in the Republican Party are calling for a reevaluation of their strategy to reach this key demographic. But Tancredo says the analysts have it backwards:
"We should have hated Latinos more," he claims in an exclusive interview with The Daily Currant, "Real Americans are fed up with these free-loading taco jockeys, and conservatives should have exploited that anger."
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Tancredo explains that 'white America' is so disgusted with immigration, Romney could have gotten 90% of their votes if he focused more on the issue:
"If the GOP had stuck to its principles, Romney would have won with 400 electoral votes and they'd have 60 seats in the Senate. America is still 70% white - thank god - so if you get all the white vote you can still win big."
Tancredo ran for president in 2008 on an anti-immigration platform, but failed to win a single primary. He says if he were the nominee this time around he would have emphasised the destructive nature of Latino immigration:
"Everyone talks about the positive effects of immigration, like maximizing the comparative advantage of the labor force, the increased intercultural exchange, and the demographic benefits of a younger society."
"But no one in the talking about immigration's negative effects. Did you know that due to the increase in tortilla and tamale consumption America will completely run out of corn by 2018?"
"We could have won Iowa with that message! And we could have easily won Ohio by pointing out that Mexicans only drive used Honda Civics."
"And my home state Colorado? Our entire economy is built around skiing. And everyone knows Latinos can't ski because they're missing the gene for it. What will Vail or Aspen look like when 40% of America stops showing up? I shudder to think..."
Disgusted by his party's increasing 'moderation' on the immigration issue, Tancredo left the Republican Party in 2010 to run for governor of Colorado on the Constitution Party ticket.
He came in second place, ahead of the Republican nominee.
