Strom Thurmond was an old-fashioned Democrat, too!

After reading this brief interview with Samuel Huntingdon, I can't help but wonder if "old-fashioned Democrat" is a euphemism for "like the people who opposed the abolition of slavery and supported institutionalized racism for almost a century after emancipation."

Okay. I admit, that's going a bit too far. But if this off-the-cuff interview is any indication of Huntington's more developed thoughts, he doesn't fit well with any semblance of the Democratic Party of the past forty years, at least.

In a new book, Who Are We? The Challenges to America's National Identity, Huntington argues that the recent influx of Hispanic immigrants is undermining American greatness. What does he have to say to back this up?

Over 50 percent of the immigrants coming into the country are Hispanic, from Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America. And about half of the people coming into the country speak a single, non-English language. That is totally unprecedented.

Hmm. First of all, I'm not entirely sure that this is a "totally unprecedented" development. Huntington's conception of early America as nearly univerally English-speaking and Protestant notwithstanding, the colonies were pretty damn diverse.

But more importantly: what exactly is the problem here? An unprecedented development is not necessarily a bad one. All Americans having some form of health coverage would be unprecedented, but I can't imagine anyone decrying that.

Huntington seems to be arguing that bilingualism poses a danger to the United States. But he admits that, "There are perfectly decent, responsible, democratic countries, like Canada and Belgium, that are bilingual." Again, where's the problem?

The problem, as Huntington sees it, is that these new immigrants just aren't assimilating. He admits that immigrants have made plenty of contributions to the U.S. in the past.

Immigration has been central to American development, as well as my personal life. My wife is the daughter of an Armenian immigrant who assimilated totally and successfully, as immigrants should.

"Some of my best friends are..." anyone? And let's not even start with the shockingly ahistorical presumptions Huntington makes.

Everything Huntington says is either offensive or nonsensical. I really don't think people should be listening to this guy, even if he can come up with a good title for a book.