[Lamplighter]

During his acceptance speech in 1984 as Democratic nominee for President,
Walter Mondale said:

"By the end of my first term, I will reduce the Reagan budget deficit by two-thirds.
Let's tell the truth. It must be done, it must be done.
Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did."

I have a memory of this moment because of the stunned silence that followed.
While this was meant to show that Mondale would be honest with voters,
it was largely interpreted as a campaign pledge to raise taxes.
Mondale's loss was catastrophic: winning only District of Columbia and his home state, Minnesota

Yesterday during the GOP candidates' debate,
Newt Gingrich may have just made the same sort of statement on "llegal immigration"

“I don’t see how the party that says it’s the party of the family is going to adopt
an immigration policy which destroys families that have been here a quarter century,”

“And I’m prepared to take the heat for saying let’s be humane in enforcing the law
without giving them citizenship, but by finding a way to create legality
so that they are not separated from their families.”

"I want to be tough, but I'm not willing to kid people," he said after the debate.
"I can't imagine any serious person in this country that wants
to tear families apart that have been here for 20 years."