Reince Priebus
Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus is continuing to try to undo some of Iowa Rep. Steve King's cantaloupe-calved drug mules damage, hoping to convince Latino voters that King does not speak for the rest of the GOP on immigration (
even though he does). And Priebus had some
very strong words:
"Using the word 'self-deportation' — it's a horrific comment to make," Priebus said, in a forceful rebuke. "I don't think it has anything to do with our party. When someone makes those comments, obviously, it's racist."
Nice description for a party chair to have of his party's most recent presidential nominee. But self-deportation is not just Mitt Romney's immigration policy. It's in
the Republican platform:
"We will create humane procedures to encourage illegal aliens to return home voluntarily, while enforcing the law against those who overstay their visas." In addition, the current GOP platform declares that "State efforts to reduce illegal immigration must be encouraged, not attacked." The laws its referring to, like Arizona's SB 1070, are the at the core of the "self-deportation" concept as they're designed to make life for undocumented immigrants so difficult that they decide to leave on their own accord.
So, yes, that was official Republican policy that Priebus was calling horrific and
racist saying "hurts us." And he's right! He would have also been right if he had said, as initially transcribed, that it was racist! But a word to the wise: Latinos may agree with you when you call the policy horrific
and racist, but they're not actually going to vote for your candidates until the horrific and racist policy is no longer what your candidates are pushing.
9:51 AM PT: Business Insider has issued a correction:
Correction, 12:26 p.m. ET: An original version of this story said that Reince Priebus referred to Mitt Romney's comments as "racist." He said it "hurts us." Business Insider regrets the error.
This post changed to reflect that.