Tea Party favorite Tim Donnelly, who holds a big lead among the Republicans running for governor in the latest Field Poll, is unapologetic about delivering what he labeled a “call to action” in a 2006 speech in which he likened taking steps against illegal immigration to warfare.

“The truth is, people will respect you if you stick to your guns,” Donnelly said in an interview Tuesday at a Republican event in San Francisco. “The only thing they’ll forgive you for is passion in the defense of liberty.”

Donnelly addressed reports Tuesday in the Los Angeles Times, which detailed a 2006 speech on illegal immigration that he delivered in Temecula (Riverside County) as a founder of the California Minutemen, a self-styled border patrol.

“I am a descendant of Jim Bowie, who died at the Alamo,” Donnelly said back then. “It is rumored that he took a dozen Mexican soldiers to their deaths before they finally killed him. How many of you will rise up and take his place on that wall?”

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