Ruh-Roh! Perry accuses Romney of an ‘illegal’ problem

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In the nativist, anti-immigrant "Know Nothing" politics of the far-right, an"'illegal" problem can be the death knell of a campaign. In Tuesday night's debate, Governor Goodhair Rick Perry of Texas accused former Governor Willard "Mittens" Romney of having an "illegal" problem.

It turns out, Governor Goodhair was correct. But Steve Benen sees a larger problem for Romney: he puts political ambitions over principles. And voters really don't like that. Political Animal – The dangers of accidental candor:

Perry started to answer [a question about uninsured children in Texas], before ignoring the question and launching an attack on Mitt Romney for having hired undocumented workers.

“[W]e have a 1,200-mile border with Mexico, and the fact is we have a huge number of illegals that are coming into this country,” Perry said, adding, “[T]hey’re coming here because there is a magnet. And the magnet is called jobs. And those people that hire illegals ought to be penalized. And Mitt, you lose all of your standing, from my perspective, because you hired illegals in your home and you knew about it for a year.”

This led to a very heated exchange — easily the most contentious moment of the year to date — with Perry and Romney talking over each other and Romney putting his hand on Perry’s shoulder.

The former governor said he’d hired a lawn company that, unbeknownst to him, hired undocumented workers. “We went to the company and we said, ‘Look, you can’t have any illegals working on our property. I’m running for office, for Pete’s sake, I can’t have illegals!” Eventually, Romney said, he fired the company when it was “pointed out” to him that it still employed undocumented workers.

Here’s the key quote:

In terms of fact-checking, Perry happens to be correct. The Boston Globe reported on Romney indirectly hiring immigrants who entered the country illegally, and the governor did nothing. A year later, the Globe ran another story, which led Romney to act.

In the larger context, as controversies go, this isn’t terribly interesting. What matters, though, is how Romney explained himself: he told his lawn company not to use undocumented workers because he’s “running for office.”

Romney, in other words, offered some accidental candor last night — he doesn’t care about breaking the law or paying undocumented workers; he cares about his political ambitions.

* * *

Romney made it quite clear that he puts political ambitions over principles. Suspicions that Romney is a shallow, calculating politician, who cares more about electoral objectives than anything else, were confirmed when he accidentally spoke the truth.

Will Romney's "illegal" problem dog him with the nativist, anti-immigrant "Know Nothing" base of the Tea-Publican Party? It will depend on how much traction this story gets in the right-wing media noise machine. Steve Benen's larger point reminds other voters of why they already dislike Romney.