With different styles, Republican ads attack Democrats for being weak on border security

While you can bet on the Democrats holding out as long as possible before being swept into the polarizing illegal-immigration debate, after questions about granting licenses to illegals stumped the Democrats in last month's debate, it comes as no surprise that the Republicans are eager to make the issue a top priority. As Democrats were busy last week making their rounds throughout Iowa, Republican candidates Mitt Romney and Tom Tancredo launched ads warning the state's caucus goers and voters of the threats to national security posed by Democrats and their pledges to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants. Watch the two ads below. Mitt's isn't anything too out of the ordinary, but Tancredo's is a real doozy. The scariest thing about his is the relatively positive reaction with which its been met by the media and public since being aired for the first time last week.





The blatant differences in style between the two ads can certainly be attributed to the current positioning of the two candidates. Mitt, currently considered a top contender, goes for a more homey feel, casually reciting his track record on being tough on border security as Mass. Governor. On the other hand, Tancredo, who's name rarely even shows up in the results of official polls, offers what he considers a likely scenario if Democrats have their way on border policy. In reverting back to the scare tactics of such infamous fear-mongerers as Johnson, Reagan and of course Bush, it's obvious that the ad is no more than a last ditch effort to get the American people, via the media, talking about Tancredo.

No doubt, Tancredo's is a heck of a lot creepier. But still, both ads approach illegal immigration purely as an issue of border protection that can only be addressed by enforcing law and order with a heavy stick, or more accurately, a concrete wall. Top Democratic candidates share a mutual fear that once they enter the immigration debate with Republicans, in which sooner or later they'll have to admit that they support amnesty, they'll be made out to look weak on national security. However, the longer they bide their time, the more opportunity Republicans will have to frame the issue in such a way that forces Democrats into, quoting the killer speech Obama gave at the Jefferson-Jackson dinner last Saturday night in Iowa, "feeling like the only way to be tough on national-security is by acting, talking and voting like George Bush-Republicans." At all costs Democrats need to avoid being sucked into this same trap that has made them virtually powerless in ending the war in Iraq since rolling into Congress last November. Only time will tell if they're up to the challenge.