Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America's Borders,
by Jim Gilchrist, Jerome R. Corsi; foreword by Congressman Tom Tancredo, July 2006


(Click for Amazon book review)

BOOK REVIEW by OnTheIssues.org:

This book is an anti-McCain and anti-Bush anti-immgration screed, written just prior to the start of the 2008 election cycle (published 2006). Jerome Corsi, the author, also penned The Obama Nation as his anti-Obama screed of this election cycle. Corsi most famously authored “Unfit For Command” – the Swift Boat book which destroyed John Kerry’s 2004 election hopes.

Corsi teams up in “Minutemen” with the founder of the Minutemen, Jim Gilchrist. The Minutemen are a volunteer organization dedicated to enforcing existing border laws. Opponents characterize them as vigilantes; supporters characterize them as fulfilling the duty that the federal border patrol cannot or will not fulfill.

The Minutemen, and this book, do not like Pres. Bush’s immigration policy, characterizing it as “amnesty.” They consider John McCain to be the main proponent of this policy in the Senate, and hence they don’t like McCain for president either. Their preferred presidential candidate is Rep. Tom Tancredo (R, CO-6) who dropped out early in 2008 after making his point about immigration (and who also wrote a foreword to this book).

This book lays out the anti-immigration viewpoint in detail, from Reagan’s 1980s “amnesty” to the present. In 2006, immigration seemed likely to be the key issue of the 2008 election cycle. It turned out not to be so important because the Iraq war and the later financial crisis overshadowed it. Perhaps it will return as a more important issue again in 2010.

-- Jesse Gordon, jesse@OnTheIssues.org, January 2009

OnTheIssues.org excerpts:  (click on issues for details)

Civil Rights     George W. Bush: 2006: National Anthem sung only in English, not in Spanish.

Drugs     George W. Bush: 2006: Asked Mexican president to overturn drug legalization.

Free Trade     George W. Bush: OpEd: Globalist perspective supports NAFTA immigration.

Immigration     Arnold Schwarzenegger: No emergency at CA border, like TX, NM & AZ declared.     George W. Bush: Minuteman Project are vigilantes.     George W. Bush: Letter from Catholic Church: Don't make priests enforcers.     Jim Sensenbrenner: Introduced HR.4437 to ban church services to illegals.     John McCain: McCain-Kennedy bill: balanced alternative to HR.4437.     Lyndon Johnson: OpEd: Immigration Reform Act of 1965 led to current crisis.     Ronald Reagan: OpEd: 1986 "adjustment" used as basis for 2006 amnesty.     Ted Kennedy: OpEd: Started immigration crisis with Reform Act of 1965.     Ted Kennedy: McCain-Kennedy bill: bipartisan alternative to HR.4437.     Tom Tancredo: Minuteman Project fills Border Patrol's inadequate resources.     Tom Tancredo: Influential in founding The Minuteman Project.     Tom Tancredo: US should not tip off Mexico about Minutemen activity.

Jobs     George W. Bush: 2006: There are jobs that Americans won't do.

Principles & Values     George W. Bush: 2004: Won 44% of Hispanic vote; key to victory over Kerry.

Click for quotations from other sources by: Arnold Schwarzenegger George W. Bush Jim Sensenbrenner John McCain Lyndon Johnson Ronald Reagan Ted Kennedy Tom Tancredo