Meet Kris Kobach, author of the horrible Arizona immigration law and xenophobe, extraordinaire. Kobach is currently the Secretary of State in Kansas, and has a long history of extreme views with regard to immigration.

In this segment, he expands those views, explaining that the purpose of draconian anti-immigration laws like SB 1070 and the Alabama immigration law which is currently killing their economy is really simply a way to force illegal immigrants to "self-deport." If they have family here legally, well, so what?

Kobach comes across as being a reasonable person, but he's really one of the most extreme right-wingers in public life today. While his bios mention his time in South Africa, they don't really expand on what he did while he was there.

Here's an excerpt from the Southern Poverty Law Center on Kobach's stint in South Africa:

He served as president of the Harvard Republican Club and found a mentor in the late Samuel Huntington, an influential political science professor who came to see Latino immigrants as a scourge on American culture.

With Huntington as his advisor, Kobach earned the Harvard prize for the best student thesis in 1989. He analyzed how the South African business community functioned within apartheid and took the unpopular position that investors should not divest their holdings in that country but rather remain as agents of change. A year later, he published the thesis as a book.

On Monday, Kobach will be appearing with Mitt Romney, who he has endorsed for President. In classic Romney-esque fashion, it's difficult to tell where Mitt Romney stands on illegal immigration, since he is running ads in South Carolina which are anti-immigrant, anti-Latino ads, while running Spanish-language ads in Florida talking up his Latino endorsements there. He's flipping at the very same time he's flopping.

With a public appearance in South Carolina with Kobach, I'm sure Mittens plans to sew up the xenophobe vote there, but it's hard for me to believe this will play well with Latino voters nationwide.

Never underestimate the conservative cynicism. It seems they're closing ranks around a candidate who is, as usual, inconsistent about what he believes on immigration. At least, in public. All indications are that Mr. Romney is at least as extreme in his views as his friend Mr. Kobach.

I wonder if Mitt Romney will try and use his Mexican cousins as a bridge to the Latino community. It's hard to imagine that working, since his debate gaffe more or less exposes his utter lack of regard for anyone besides Mitt Romney.