re: #42 freetoken

In order to get control of Congress and the WH, however, they will have to turn up the xenophobia. I think no other issue could pull enough “independents’ into the movement. “Fiscal responsibility” sounds good but is not a very good emotional motivator.

I think you’re right. It also fits with the mood of the moment. One problem is that it’s a terrible strategy for the long term. In the predictions I’ve seen about demographics, it’s going to be impossible for any party to win national office without a sizeable chunk of the Latino vote by 2030. And starting before then it can just barely be done. Nate Silver has an excellent post about this from May:
Operation Gringo: Can the Republicans Sacrifice the Hispanic Vote and Win the White House?

I think you’re right that the xenophobia angle is the one they’ll take, (which also fits nicely in a psychological and emotional sense with the paleo-cons and their isolationist tendencies), but it’s one that would only give them some short term bounce at the expense of a huge backlash later, inevitably.
So strange. The GOP always seemed to be the party with a solid grasp of longterm planning. All gone now.