Tancredo's impact: GOP race, country more mean-spirited (Laughable barf alert)

The Rocky Mountain News ^ | December 22, 2007 | Mike Litwin

[2ndDivisionVet]

I'll admit it. I underestimated Tom Tancredo. I underestimated the impact he could make as a presidential candidate, particularly as a candidate who was polling, as many of us had predicted, around 2 percent.

And yet, I had no idea he could take one issue and, with it, help make the Republican presidential race - and the country itself - an uglier, nastier and more mean-spirited place to be.

He didn't do it by himself, of course. He wasn't even the lead player. You have to give that role to Lou Dobbs and the huge audience on his team.

Still, you'd have to call Tancredo's aborted presidential run - his never-even-get-to-a- vote run, his abandonment- even-by-the-Minutemen run, his so-desperate-to-be-noticed-that-he'd-even-endorse- Mitt Romney run - a success. And that's even though, as a candidate, he was a minor disaster. And even though few will even notice, now that he's dropped out, that he's actually gone.(continued)

[2ndDivisionVet]

Good to see that newspapers are hiring the mentally ill in some kind of wacky affirmative action program.

[B Knotts]

If enforcing immigration laws is “mean-spirited,” would this intellectual giant also decry the enforcement of environmental laws? How about labor laws? Or tax laws?

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Tancredo opposed the Pence-Hutchinson bill which contained many of the provisions that Tom supported in his own bill. It would have secured the borders immediately. That told me he wanted to milk the issue rather than seeing it resolved.

By backing Romney instead of Hunter (he actually criticized Hunter) he just flushed whatever credibility he had on the issue down the gas-station commode.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

One day, this derisive Liberal writer will wake up and realize that Tom Tancredo ultimately is fighting for the sovereignty of the USA—the ultimate sanctuary for the sovereignty of the individual over government.

---

That scoffing sound I hear, Mr. Winston Smith Litwin, you can only make where individuals, not government, reign.

“WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” — “1984”

[Lexinom]

“Mean spirited” = not pushovers when it comes to rule of law.

[Kevmo]

I suppose I agree with the writer, because Tancredo basically betrayed Duncan Hunter when he endorsed Romney.

.

.

.

According to Intrade, the winner of the December 12th GOP debate was... Duncan Hunter.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1938773/posts

[B Knotts]

Tancredo opposed the Pence-Hutchinson bill which contained many of the provisions that Tom supported in his own bill. It would have secured the borders immediately.

Not exactly.

From July, 2006:

Compromise would allow unlimited immigrants

The latest proposal in Congress for a "guest"-worker program would allow unlimited immigration of eligible workers during the first three years and allow them and their families to remain here indefinitely.

Offered by two Republicans, the plan is criticized by proponents of stricter immigration laws. They say the program would tilt the nation's immigration system toward millions of uneducated, unskilled workers.

As far as endorsing Romney instead of Hunter, Hunter has no more chance than Tancredo did of getting the nomination.

[CottonBall]

Good post and thanks for the information.

[Joann37]

The author, Mike Litwin (I actually thought it read “nitwit” at first glance) sounds a lot like FNC’s “Beltway Boys”, Mort Kondracke and Fred Barnes. They’ve been calling those opposed to open borders racists, bigots, xenophobes and mean-spirited for months.

So that’s what we’re called when we want the nation’s immigration laws enforced and have concern about the crime and incredibly high health and education costs these people bring into our country. Not to mention the loss of jobs for Americans and the costs of identity theft they inflict upon real American citizens.

[Iron Munro]

Imagine the nerve of the man!

Advocating that our government servants honor their oath of office and enforce the law of the land.

What a wild radical!

[Eric Blair 2084]

“WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH” — “1984”

1984 was supposed to be a work of fiction....not a training manual.

[fantom]

Right. He made sure the issue was front and center for the pubs. None of those guys have the stones to do much without a push. those that are unwilling to get immigration under control should be marginalized . Stiff arm the dopes like you would smokers , they matter little.

[glmjr]

     Can you really imagine this bunch in the White House? 

 

        HEEHAW, HEEHAW
Hey mom...what's for super? Pedro is back. He slipped over the border  yesterday, do you think we can get Maria to cook up some her fine tacos?

 I would rather vote for a Democrat than that....more government involvement...amnesty pushing... foreign affairs ignorant......Bush bashing....high taxing....parole giving...credential lying.....preacher hick from Arkansas. That's about it (sure I missed something)

Karl Rove might be right when he said to get ready for a Democratic era in the White House.  A vote for Huckabee is a vote for a Democrat, no matter which party wins.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

IMO, anyone who thinks this way should voluntarily agree to a 50% tax hike to pay for services for illegal immigrants.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

The Pence plan would have secured the borders first. As far as the guest-worker provision, I'd still would rather have that than the AMNESTY crap that thankfully died (albeit temporarily) over the summer, and the ridiculous games being played with the border fence.

Tom Tancredo's original plan also included a guest-worker provision, though not as liberal as the Pence-Hutchinson plan.

As far as endorsing Romney instead of Hunter, Hunter has no more chance than Tancredo did of getting the nomination.

By endorsing Romney, a moderate, johnny-come-lately on immigration, Tancredo is putting money and self-interest ahead of the good of the country. He could have endorsed Hunter and really gave his campaign a shot in the arm.

[TheLion]

Tom Tancredo, stated very well, his reasons for endorsing Mitt Romney.

As a Romney supporter, I was suprised to learn tonight that Mitt finished as the number one graduate in his class at Harvard!

I knew he was brilliant but....wow!

Many of us see things in Mitt that others don’t seen to grasp, but that again is politics.

[TheLion]

That is your opinion and you are entitled to it.

Hunter is great, but does not have the staff, organization nor the right stuff to overtake all the other candidates.

Doesn’t take a scientist to figure this out.

Should Hunter become our candidate, he would be one I could get behind 100%.

Mitt does have the electability, the organization and the right stuff to go all the way.

That is why I wholeheartedly back him.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

I'm not a Hunter supporter, but Tancredo should have endorsed him or Fred instead of Romney.

By endorsing Romney, he just flushed away whatever credibility he has on the issue.

Mitt does have the electability, the organization and the right stuff to go all the way.

Mitt won't win Iowa and Paul may upset him in NH. The other states preceding Super Tuesday such as South Carolina, Wyoming, Florida, and Nevada won't go for him. He'll have Michigan, and that's pretty much it IMO.

But I'm sure he'll make another loan to his campaign before long though.

[TheLion]

As I said, Tancredo stated his beliefs and the reasons he supports Romney. You don’t agree, but that is your opinion.

Fred has a spotty flip flopping record on illegal immigration. He is now very strongly in favor of enforcement but did very little in the senate.

Tancredo, knows these things.

The result of a little research on the Thompson immigration record. He did a few thing well:

Voted to grant amnesty to nearly one million
illegal aliens from Nicaragua and Cuba in 1997
Sen. Thompson voted to grant legal status to Nicaraguans and Cubans who had lived in the United States illegally since 1995, along with their spouses and minor unmarried children. The overall ten year impact of this legislation will be the addition of some 967,000 people to U.S. population. There was no separate vote on the amnesty, as it was included in the DC Appropriations bill. The only opportunity Senators had to vote in favor of or against the amnesty was the Mack Amendment to S.1156. The Mack Amendment passed 99-1.

In 1996, removed higher fines for businesses which hire illegal aliens
Sen. Thompson, in committee consideration of S.1664 protected businesses from having to pay higher fines when they are caught hiring illegal aliens. Under the idea that current fines were not enough of a deterrent against businesses cutting their labor costs by hiring illegal aliens, the Senate immigration subcommittee approved higher fines. Various study commissions have found that the willingness of U.S. businesses to hire illegal aliens is the No. 1 incentive for foreign workers to become illegal aliens here. But Sen. Thompson voted with a 10-8 majority in the Judiciary Committee to remove the higher fines from the 1996 legislation against illegal immigration.

Tried to kill voluntary pilot programs
for workplace verification in 1996
Sen. Thompson voted IN FAVOR of the Abraham Amendment to S.1664. He was part of a coalition of pro-business conservatives and liberal civil libertarians who tried to use the amendment to kill the establishment of voluntary pilot programs in high-immigration states. The programs were intended to assist employers in verifying whether people they had just hired had the legal right to work in this country. Such verification is considered by many experts to be an essential tool for withdrawing the job magnet from illegal aliens. The verification system established by S.1664 did not involve an ID card. Rather it provided that when new workers wrote down their Social Security number on an application, employers could phone into a national verification system to help assure that the number was a real number and belonged to the person giving it. In earlier smaller pilot programs, businesses had hailed the verification system for making it easier for them to avoid hiring illegal aliens. Sen. Thompson was unsuccessful in stopping the voluntary verification system. The Senate tabled the by a 54-46 vote.

http://profiles.numbersusa.com/improfile.php3?DistSend=TN&VIPID=743#Inviting/Repelling%20Illegal%20Aliens

[ModelBreaker]

Good to see that newspapers are hiring the mentally ill in some kind of wacky affirmative action program.

It's Mike Litwin. I didn't read the article. But I bet if I sat down for ten minutes, I could predict every idea contained in the article and a lot of the wording. He's about as predictable as Miss Morford.

[ModelBreaker]

I'm not a Hunter supporter, but Tancredo should have endorsed him or Fred instead of Romney. By endorsing Romney, he just flushed away whatever credibility he has on the issue.

I donated several hundred dollars to Hunter. He would have been my choice. But he's out of the race. Wish he weren't. But he is.

Iowa is where Tancredo has the most impact in making an endorsement. To have an impact, he had to endorse one of the four viable candidates (imho, Thompson has not yet established he can get off the ground). So of the remaining four, Romney is clearly the best on illegal immigration. The other three have been actively on the wrong side of the issue. With Huckabee threatening to run away from the pack early and McCain surging in New Hampshire, Tancredo's endorsement may help stall a runaway by one of these two very bad candidates while Thompson gets his act together (that would be my hope).

Folks slagging Tancredo over this don't know Tom. He believes in the issue passionately and was in the trenches for years taking grief (from R's and D's) long before the issue became fashionable. He was persona-non-grata in the establishment Colorado Republican party for a long time because of it--lots of R's would not even appear on stage with him. When W visited Colorado, he would not shake Tom's hand or appear in pictures with him (although Tom was eventually allowed on stage at the opposite end).

I'm have no doubt he made the best call he could, given the rather slim pickin's available amongst the frontrunners.

[ApplegateRanch]

Is Mike Litwin Ward Churchill’s speech writer?

Or is he a LULAC Lawyer?

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

and the country itself - an uglier, nastier and more mean-spirited place to be.

Hell I'm not mean spirited I'm Angry Spirited 47 years old and watching every President since right after Reagan screw everyone over including some of their own party and mainly citizens ...

Mainly hard working folks getting muled out of their hard earned money and for what ? so some deadbeat can sit on their butt... after Clinton wiped his behind with the Constitution as much as he did ....Watching disgusting people do outright murderous things to unborn children ...and watching our borders leak like a sieve

Yea I'm Angry and I'm apt to stay that way i guess it will keep me warm during these days of global whining and crying ....

I'm gonna vote for Fred and gnash my teeth the whole time I'm doing it and pray he will carry out what he says he will do !

[mbraynard]

What state do you live in? Fred will likely drop out after NH - possibly right after IA - and either endorse Rudy or McCain. Hope Mitt can count on your vote - and yeah, it’s ok to hold your nose.

[mbraynard]

Romney, a moderate, johnny-come-lately on immigration

Who fed you that lie and why did you believe it so easily? Romney was on the record in 03 against drivers licenses. He vetoed instate tuition for illegals in 04. He was on the record in 02 supporting English immersion.

I'm not a Hunter supporter, but Tancredo should have endorsed him or Fred instead of Romney. .... Mitt won't win Iowa and Paul may upset him in NH. The other states preceding Super Tuesday such as South Carolina, Wyoming, Florida, and Nevada won't go for him. He'll have Michigan, and that's pretty much it IMO.

Wait - so he should have endorsed Hunter, but should not have endorsed Mitt because Mitt isn't going to win any state primaries. Yeah, totally logical.

By endorsing Romney, he just flushed away whatever credibility he has on the issue.

Sounds more like you just flushed yours.

[Publius6961]

Law abiding and insisting on respect for our laws is now mean-spirited.

Ummmm.

OK.

[ROTB]

You’re backing a front-runner because he is a front-runner.

See my tagline, for the definition of a “Front Runner” ...

[jmaroneps37]

This is a ratmedia scumbag in a small out of the way place in flyoveria using this down time to audition for a job in a ratmedia news outlet on one of the coasts. He’s saying “Hey I hate Republicans too! How about me? I’ll support socializing America with illegal aliens! Please, please read my stuff. Please call me up to the big leagues.”

[Travis McGee]

[Ben Ficklin]

Here is a side by side comparison of the bills from 2005. Keep in mind that Tancredo's bill was introduced the day before Kyl-Cornyn was introduced. Also keep in mind that Tancredo's HR 3333 was rolled into Sensenbrenner's HR 4437 the following December.

Although the phrase "touch back" wasn't coined until the Pence Plan in 2006, and Kyl-Cornyn didn't define an interval, the objections were that Kyl-Cornyn was a trick to allow touch back.

[mthom]

Pence/Hutchinson also excluded every human from outside of NAFTA/CAFTA countries. Why would anyone support that?

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Fred has a spotty flip flopping record on illegal immigration.

And Romney doesn't? Look, all of the so-called "front-runner" candidates stink on illegal immigration. The best thing about Fred is that he at least recognizes the enormity of the situation and will be more aggressive in dealing with it.

Illegal immigration wasn't as pertinent then as it is now, so I can give Fred a pass on those votes.

[Clemenza]

Litwin = NitWit

[KC_Conspirator]

Mike Litwin is a hateful piece of filth.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Pence/Hutchinson also excluded every human from outside of NAFTA/CAFTA countries.

The bill proposed by Pence/Hutchinson would have secured the borders. Since securing the borders was of utmost importance, I don't care about all of the guest-worker crap it contained because that could have been revised or dismantled over the long run. The borders had to get secured first, I know, I was fighting on the '06 immigration threads when FReepers wanted their whole cake instead of taking what they could get and fighting for the rest later. Now we have a Rat Congress just as everyone feared and almost had amnesty shoved down our throats.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Thanks

[MNJohnnie]

So after spending 7 years accusing the the sitting President of everything from complicity in mass murder by terrorists to being "worse then Hitler" the Left now wants to blame Tancredo for making the country "mean spirited"?

If they find the country "mean spirited" they can simply look in the mirror to find the source of that bile.

[MNJohnnie]

By backing Romney instead of Hunter (he actually criticized Hunter) he just flushed whatever credibility he had on the issue down the gas-station commode.

Wow, did it just get suddenly much colder? Hell has to have just frozen over again. You and I actually agree on something! :-)

[MNJohnnie]

Hell I'm not mean spirited I'm Angry Spirited 47 years old and watching every President since right after Reagan screw everyone over including some of their own party and mainly citizens ...

Curious what the 100%er Freeper purists around here would of said about a President who signed 6 tax hikes? Signed a real Illegals Amnesty? Appointed a liberal to the Supreme Court? Doubled Federal Spending in 8 years? Spent Record Deficits? Ran away from a Muslim Terrorist threat? Played diplomatic footsie with Iran’s mullahs?

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That President was Ronald Reagan. So not even the greatest President of the 20th Century could measure up to standard being demanded by the by today's purist political bigots.

Nothing in life is ever perfect. Adult minds accept that and fight like heck to see as much as possible of what they want done gets done. Childish minds, and certain pseudo Conservative talking heads, whine hysterically because their political glass is only 70% full. On Judges alone the current GOP has done more real good for the Conservative Movement then all the pseudo Conservative Junk Media talking heads with their continual whining will EVER do for us.

[x]

Is Mike Litwin Ward Churchill’s speech writer?

Check out this:

For those of us stuck with defending Ward Churchill, this is not an easy time.

I mean, if the case against Churchill wasn't clear before the Rocky's devastating series on the CU professor, it has to be obvious now to anyone who can read.

It has become all but impossible to defend Churchill on the facts.

But Litwin goes on to defend Ward Churchill, facts or no facts.

[Mr. Mojo]

I’m a big Tancredo fan, but this author is giving him entirely too much credit. The anti-illegals’ sentiment across our nation was quite apparently long before Tanc tossed his hat into the Presidential race.

[Mr. Mojo]

apparently = apparent

[gubamyster]

ping

[ApplegateRanch]

That is rich!

Guess I wasn’t as far of as I thought, with my off the cuff sarcasm.

[raybbr]

Mike Litwin

[Clemenza]

He looks like the teacher from Beavis and Butthead!

[mthom]

So youd pass a bill that virtually shuts the door to immigration from anywhere but Latin America and trust the Dems not to gut border security when they took power. Makes perfect sense.

[calvo]

Your analysis is very thoughtful, and I agree completely. I have been following Tancredo for a very long time. He was doing the heavy lifting against illegal immigration long before it came to be popular. He could have sold out at any time for personal gain.
As far as the touch back crap it is just a gimmick, I don’t think it is better to flood the country with low wage, indentured servants than have illegals. Legals here making minimum wage flood the schools, hospitals, and welfare just the same as illegals.