Prominent conservative anti-immigration "think tanks" linked to white-supremacist organizations

[Are_grits_groceries]

We've known for some time -- ever since the Southern Poverty Law Center first reported it back in 2002 -- that there was a web of interests and backgrounds that connected some of the most prominent conservative anti-immigration "think tanks" to white-supremacist organizations, all revolving the activities of an environmentalist-turned-nativist named John Tanton.

Despite the overwhelming evidence, though, that this was the case, these groups -- particularly the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and NumbersUSA -- have continued to enjoy mainstream respectability, in large part because they have continued to deny the connections to Tanton and to each other.

Now, the SPLC has definitively established the connections, thanks in large part to reporter Heidi Beirich's intrepid investigative work digging through Tanton's own papers and examining the groups' leaders records. One can only hope the report will finally persuade genuine conservatives and thoughtful Republicans that they would want nothing to do with either these organizations or their largely fabricated disinformation, which disguises a hateful, white-supremacist agenda.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5M8F-axFIU

http://crooksandliars.com/node/25709

All the haters balled up together.

[Taverner]

1. But of course! How else would they connect with the "Joe the Plumbers" of the world?

[xchrom]

2. recommend

[roguevalley]

3. they are such awful people.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. Who saw it coming?

[starroute]

5. I keep seeing Tanton and FAIR quoted as if they were respectable

Tanton is said to be a friend and major donor to Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado -- and I wouldn't mind seeing a little of the slime stick to Tancredo, either. Or to Rep. Brian Bilbray of California, who used to be a lobbyist for FAIR.

Basically, with this stuff there's always a continuum from the "respectable" racists to the outright Nazis, but the respectable ones mainly seem to maintain plausible deniability. I really hope that's changing.

For that matter, there are links between the "English Only" groups, the far-right Gun Owners of America, and the Prop. 8/Howard Ahmanson faction in California. Many of the links go back to the 60's and 70's and run through either the John Birch Society or Jesse Helms and his associates.

Once you start digging -- and particularly looking at their own sites, which takes a stronger stomach than I have most days -- all sorts of creepy stuff comes out in the light. I think our political system is due for a good cleaning.