Steve Benen flags this from Mitt Romney’s stump speech (emphasis added):

“There are people in this room who are informed and who care about this election, who recognize that this is a defining time for America,” he said. “We have on one side a president who wants to transform America into a European-style nation, and you have on other hand someone like myself that wants to turn around America and keep America American with the principals that made us the greatest nation on Earth. And I will do that with your help.”

“Keep America American”? Really?

Here’s the title of a pamphlet published in 1920 by the United Klans of America, as found in the catalog of Yale’s Beinecke Library:

Why you should become a klansman :

of interest to white, protestant, native born Americans who want to keep America American.

And here’s a report of a pamphlet with this title being sold in Dallas in 1950 as part of a major Klan recruiting effort — just before a series of bombings of black-owned homes.

And on the eve of World War II, a group called the American Coalition, using the slogan “Keep America American,” pressured the U.S. government not to admit Jewish refugees.

Really, Mitt? You really want to use this phrase?

(X-posted at No More Mister Nice Blog.)