No, they aren't kidding. A key feature of wingnuttia is an inability to distinguish between issues which are important to them and issues which are actually popular.
Having said that, a couple of years ago I would've thought immigration would have been a winning issue for them. I was wrong, both because a split within the GOP between the money faction and the nativist faction ensured they'd screw it up and because public hostility to immigration and immigrants was much lower than I thought.
