Tom Tancredo for President!
De-elect that RINO George W. Bush in '04!
Posted on 11/18/2002 6:23:24 PM PST by Mark Felton
November 18, 2002
Target: Tom Tancredo
Some Say GOPPrimary Challenge Likely
By Josh Kurtz He represents one of the most conservative districts in the nation. He just trounced his Democratic challenger by 37 points. Yet Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) may be one of the most vulnerable incumbents in the 2004 election cycle.
Tancredo, a controversial, outspoken voice for the Republican right who is entering his third term, has angered leading Republicans back home and in the White House.
The House Member's criticisms of President Bush's immigration policy bought him a 40-minute rebuke earlier this year from Bush adviser Karl Rove, who, in the Congressman's own words, warned him "never to darken the door of the White House again." And his decision to renounce his pledge to serve only three terms has infuriated powerful Colorado Republicans, including his political patron, former Sen. Bill Armstrong (R).
"I'll be surprised if he doesn't have a primary [in 2004]," said Floyd Ciruli, an independent Colorado pollster.
Several Republicans, including popular state Treasurer Mike Coffman, who just won a landslide re-election of his own, are considering taking on Tancredo in the '04 primary.
Other potential candidates include state Sen. Jim Dyer (R) and former Arapahoe County Commissioner Steve Ward. "It's a given" that someone will run against the 56-year-old lawmaker, Coffman said. "There are questions about his term-limit pledge. When you have someone like Senator Armstrong, who was his mentor, backing away from him - I think that resonates."
Armstrong was instrumental in getting Tancredo elected in the first place, endorsing him over four strong opponents in a competitive GOP primary to replace retiring Rep. Dan Schaefer (R) in 1998. By Tancredo's reckoning, Armstrong's blessing was worth 3 points at the polls - which just happened to be his margin of victory in the primary.
Even though he may not seek re-election in 2004 - and would consider running for Senate if Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R) retires - he has chucked the term-limit promise nevertheless.
"The term-limit pledge in and of itself is not the deciding factor if he will run again," said Tancredo spokeswoman Lara Kennedy.
Like all Members who change their minds on term limits, Tancredo has cast his decision as being in the best interests of his district and pet causes. Tancredo wants to preserve his seniority for his suburban district south of Denver and angle for better committee assignments. Plus, he does not want to lose the momentum he has built fighting the government's open immigration policies, Kennedy said. Tancredo is the founder of the House Immigration Reform Caucus.
While plenty of politicians have broken their term-limit pledges before, including Rep. Scott McInnis (R-Colo.), Tancredo's decision is more noteworthy because he once headed Colorado's term-limit organization.
"All too often you have terrific candidates who come to Washington with the best of intentions, but they get too comfortable, and when the time comes, they don't want to go home," lamented Stacie Rumenap, a spokeswoman for U.S.Term Limits.
Whether Tancredo suffers any political damage remains to be seen. So far, the handful of Members who have broken their pledges, including McInnis, have not suffered any consequences at the polls, Rumenap conceded. And U.S.Term Limits is not in the business of recruiting challengers to incumbents who have broken the pledge.
Tancredo has promised to return campaign contributions to donors who are dismayed at his decision to ignore the term-limits pledge. But Armstrong - who did not respond to several messages left at his Denver law office - called the refund offer "hollow," according to The Rocky Mountain News.
Armstrong, meanwhile, has offered some kind words about Coffman.
"Mike Coffman is someone the Republican Party and the people of Colorado will rally around,"he told the News. "There is no doubt in my mind that he will be on the short list for whatever comes along - it could be governor, it could be Senator, it could be Congress."
Coffman, in fact, began running for Congress last year - in the new 7th district, which adjoins Tancredo's. But when the final district lines were drawn, Coffman found himself in Tancredo's 6th district, just a few blocks from the 7th, and chose not to move or run.
Coffman said that while he has not given much thought to the 2004 election yet, he believes that Tancredo will be vulnerable. The three Republicans most frequently mentioned as challengers are all military veterans, while Tancredo is not, and that could make a difference in a district that values military service, political insiders said.
Coffman, a 47-year-old Marine Corps vet who served in Operation Desert Storm, said Tancredo's military deferments during the Vietnam War would hurt him as America prepares to attack Iraq, and could be linked to his decision to ignore the term-limit pledge.
"Here's a guy ordering young men off to war and he himself didn't serve," he said. "I think in this conservative district, something like that could resonate."
Certainly, Tancredo's record would contrast with Coffman's, or Dyer's, who is an Air Force veteran, or Ward's, who is a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps Reserves and is on active duty in Florida.
Dyer called it "highly unlikely" that he would challenge Tancredo, but said somebody else might, and predicted that the term-limit issue would sting the incumbent.
"I think a number of people that support Tom are not going to support him if he breaks the term-limit pledge,"said Dyer, who was a surrogate for Tancredo at a candidate forum this fall. "We can't say that situational ethics is bad for party A but not for party B."
Ward, a former mayor of suburban Glendale, could not be reached for comment, but is expected to return to Colorado next year. In an interview with the News after completing his one term on the Arapahoe County Commission, Ward made his opinion of politicians who stay in office too long perfectly clear.
"Any politician who can't find the bathrooms in the first week doesn't deserve to be in public office," he said.
It is unclear whether the White House would try to get involved in a primary challenge to Tancredo.
But it is fair to say that Tancredo is not one of the president's favorite people. Earlier this year, the Congressman accused Bush of pandering to Hispanic voters and trying to prop up Mexican President Vicente Fox by offering amnesty to certain undocumented immigrants. That declaration brought an angry 40-minute phone call from Rove, and Bush pointedly failed to introduce Tancredo to the crowd during a political rally in Colorado in September.
With his hard-line views on immigration, Tancredo is no stranger to controversy. In 1999, he gained publicity for reaffirming his support for gun owners' rights just days after the massacre at Columbine High School, which is six blocks from his house.
The Southern Poverty Law Center released a report last summer linking Tancredo to extremist groups, which the Congressman dismissed as "McCarthyism."
And he was embarrassed earlier this year when it was revealed that undocumented workers had been hired to do some construction work on his Littleton home.
But pollster Ciruli said Tancredo's views on immigration are in line with his constituents'.
"Nobody who's going to argue the soft side of immigration is going to beat him in the Republican primary, or even in the general," he said.
After seeing two fairly viable opponents get wiped out by Tancredo in 1998 and 2000, Democrats appear to have abandoned the 6th district - leaving Republicans there to decide whether they want him to remain in office.
Autobiography, somebody's written account of his or her own life, or of events in which he or she took part.
Your memoirs are fictional? How Hillary Clinton of you.
You do know that ol' winger2 publically called for the defeat of Sununu by Shaneen and actullay prayed for that result. He claimed that Sununu was the Republican equivalent of Cynthia McKinney.... But not to worry he is the true RINO as he hasn't voted Republican in the past two Presidential elections.
We all know we can find a statistic to support whatever position we would like to pose on almost any subject. I don't need other people's statistics. I see those people. They are here. The got here somehow. They had to cross a border somehow to get here. It is just that simple. I don't care what numbers you post or whose numbers you post. Those people are here. There are here in huge numbers - our cities, hospitals, schools, and states are in big trouble. It takes a large amount to cause that.
Now you have given your statistics, and I have pointed to visible truths. We need to leave it at that. WE aren't going to agree. We both know the truth. Does it really matter if 40 million or 10 million are here - the problem is here. The destruction to our nation and our individual families are here. I don't care if it is 5 people causing all these problems - it needs to be fixed and fixed now.
Now there may be some who will be swayed by your posts, I certainly hope not. If that happens, it would be a disservice to this country. This is too important to the survival of our nation to play games.
Tancredo is the only politician that has the fortitude to speak against the tide. I don't know what his reasons are for doing it - I just know it needs doing. If he gets some benefit from it - good - he deserves it. If it were not a problem and if the facts would prove otherwise, why are the media, the Democrats and our very own Republicans trying to destroy him. They know the truth. They know the problem. They also know they are benefitting too much from this to let some little old 'obscure' representative from Colorado throw a monkey wrench in their well-oiled machinery and get the people all informed about what is really happening. No, the big guns out there aimed at him tell the whole story - they have too much to loose. Didn't you ever wonder why a WH who is so 'compassionate' toward so many people and things would have such a virulent reaction to Tancredo's words. My goodness, the response to Tancredo was more in line with the threats aimed at our mortal enemies. As I said - that tells the story.
Their presence and the state of this country paint the only picture necessary. Statistics won't fix our hospitals, schools, cities and states. It won't lower the tax rates so people can keep their homes. It won't fix the crime problem. So there is no need for you to post me statistics - I see the problem with my own eyes. I feel the problem. I live the problem. It is real. Not numbers on a page.
Least of all James Ziglar's statistics.
The blood of every one of John Malvo's victims is on his hands. His incompetent leadership is directly responsible for John Malvo being on the loose.
The victim's families should sue him.
Although it was thirty years ago+/-, I remember as a child hearing broken English spoken in public, and my mother explaining that the speaker was a brand new American, and that it takes a long time to learn a new language.I was in awe of a person so brave as to go to a brand new country and become a citizen of the USA, because they believed in our country so much.Since that time, I have travelled the world.The USA is, beyond any doubt, the best country to live in.
It has only been in the last 10-15 years, that my awe and respect of immigrants has been tainted by the reality that I can no longer hear that broken English, or different language, and automatically think the speaker is a tourist, or a brand new citizen.
Those of us who live among large illegal populations know the look in the eye of an illegal.Two expressions prevail, fear or hatred.Neither option is acceptable to me.If they were not illegal, they would not have that fear. If they were not illegal, and dangerous to the all of us, they would not have that hatred.
I live in Florida.Just today, some Mexican slaveholders of 700 Mexican illegal immigrant citrus workers were sentenced.The news did not specify what happened to these "slaves", who had all "enslaved" themselves to sneak into this country, against our immigration and labor laws.I really do not feel sorry for this group.I want everyone involved deported or jailed.The grove owners included.
Those on this sight who see nothing wrong with several families, consisting of over 30 people, living in a 1000 square foot house, have never enjoyed the opportunity to live next door.Creating a new imported underclass of non-citizens, just so some self centered schmuck can save $50.00 a week on labor costs for their maid or gardener is worse than obscene to me.It is in fact criminal, and I will notify the authorities.Slavery was outlawed in this country over a century ago, and I will not stand blindly by while attempts to re-introduce it are ongoing.
Those who claim to be "compassionate" on the plight of illegal invaders are either hypocrites ,intellectually and morally challenged,or delusional socialists.
Jeb Bush is my Governor, and I see attempts made to enforce Florida laws.We allow Cubans special entre rules here, and it is legal.I have absolutely no problem with Cubans.I was not raised around "latino" people, but I now know it is fairly easy to differentiate a Cuban from a Mexican, or a Brazilian.That look in the eye.....
When they first started this invasion, it was small, usually only men, and usually young men. My husband would see them at the Post Office and interpret for them. He was practically raised by Mexicans and has a real love for the Mexican people and their culture. If he is in an area where many are speaking Spanish, he begins to actually think in Spanish. They would come to him if they were sick, because they were afraid then. He played golf with a doctor who was of Mexican decent and he would either send them to this doctor or if they just needed medicene, he would call a local pharmicist and explain the problem and they would go pick it up. These people stayed out of trouble, worked for a while, and went home. While they did take money home, they took no freebies, had no family or children here for us to support. Years later when I began to deal with the families, especially the women and children while liquidating estates, I would tell my husband of the problems with stealing, and he would be angry with me. He didn't believe me. I made him go with me a few times and he literally wept. It was so sad. He said, "These are not the people I know."
[Those of us who live among large illegal populations know the look in the eye of an illegal.Two expressions prevail, fear or hatred.Neither option is acceptable to me.If they were not illegal, they would not have that fear. If they were not illegal, and dangerous to the all of us, they would not have that hatred.]
I haven't seen fear in a long time. All I see is hatred and distaste. Believe me, these people know we are stupid. You can see it in their faces. They know our government is allowing this to happen and we are doing nothing.
Are there some good ones, certainly. But they are all illegal and they are all causing harm to this country by breaking our laws and enjoying the freedom, education and other benefits of this country without paying for it in any way.
Your challenge seeks to take advantage of the fact that the informational well has been poisoned by busy fingers ever since 1965, when Lyndon Johnson, in the fulfillment of his potential for cosmic wickedness, deliberately opened the floodgates because his fellow Southerners wouldn't "vote right".
If there are reliable figures anywhere, let's have them. But you know as well as I, how hard the Democrats and the Business Wing of the GOP have been working to conceal the extent of the invasion.
I know they are here, you don't need to convince me that there are illegal aliens here. But you said that several million got in in 2001, and that "open borders" stuff has been going on forever (it didn't begin after Bush took office), so I guess there must be thirty or forty million of them here.
My own guess is about 30,000,000, extrapolating from population increases in Texas and California.
Now, when you DO post that stat, ask yourself how the group or individual that you will be quoting could possibly know how many people we don't know about are here.
There, you did it again, pointing to the absence of evidence (good numbers) as evidence of absence: a fallacy. You're so busy being cute, you don't even care that your argument is intellectually corrupt and morally questionable, given the attendant consequences.
Nan is entitled, in the absence of good data, to attempt her own working estimate, particularly since the people who have real numbers don't want to play, but only to estimate into existence legions of "ghost citizens" who are entitled to representation in Congress, so that minoritarian Congressional districts already have fewer voting citizens in them than any others -- IOW, the people in these districts are already overrepresented
If you don't want to contribute, if you don't want to help, fine. But please refrain from disingenuously taunting someone who is trying to discuss it seriously.
Well, since Lyndon's folly, there have been eight years of Nixon/Ford, eight years of Reagan, four years Bush I, and four years of Bush II (I'm guessing eight), as opposed to four years of Carter, and eight years of Clinton (thanks to Perot). There was the Reagan revolution, and now the Dems have no control over any aspect of the Federal government, no leader, no message, and no direction.
How's Lyndon's plan doing so far?
"If there are reliable figures anywhere, let's have them. But you know as well as I, how hard the Democrats and the Business Wing of the GOP have been working to conceal the extent of the invasion."
I'm not wasting my time, you don't WANT to believe anything other than what you already believe.
I will believe the figures posted by the Border Patrol and the INS, long before I believe anything posted by anyone calling this an "invasion"...in and of itself, that shows a bias.
"My own guess is about 30,000,000, extrapolating from population increases in Texas and California."
Well thank you for that, why not make it 100 million, or a gizzillion!!!
My guess is about 5 million, roughly 50% of them being Mexicans.
"There, you did it again, pointing to the absence of evidence (good numbers) as evidence of absence: a fallacy. You're so busy being cute, you don't even care that your argument is intellectually corrupt and morally questionable, given the attendant consequences."
My argument is intellectually corrupt?
You guess that Lyndon Johnson set into motion a plan to impact the vote in the US, and that he did it in order to positively impact the Democrats, yet since 1965, Republicans have enjoyed many more victories than Democrats, all along the board. Take a look at the general make-up of government BEFORE Lyndon brought in immigrants to strenghten his party.
"If you don't want to contribute, if you don't want to help, fine. But please refrain from disingenuously taunting someone who is trying to discuss it seriously."
LOL!!!!!
This from the guy who "guesses" at the number of illegals in the country!!!
LOL!!!!
BTW, IF there are so many illegals in the country, AND they are here to help the Democrats stay in power, then why is it that with the exception of California, the States with the biggest illegal immigrant problems have largely conservative elected officials?
Joining you, and everyone else who isn't lying, or trying to.
BTW, IF there are so many illegals in the country, AND they are here to help the Democrats stay in power, then why is it that with the exception of California, the States with the biggest illegal immigrant problems have largely conservative elected officials?
Because they haven't got their Motor Voter Citizenship papers yet. Once they start voting, Texas Republicans are toast, California Republicans are toast, New York Republicans and Arizona Republicans and lots of other Republicans are all toastier than pop-tarts.
Which was what Landslide Lynt'n intended. He couldn't stop the then-current electorate from swinging for Nixon and whoever else the Pubbies put up -- he called the turn himself, at the signing ceremony for the 1964 Civil Rights Act, in a famous quote -- but he could sure compass their doom over the longer term. And he did.
No way, Jack! We've got nearly half a million Mexican illegals in Houston alone! That's illegals who came here since the 70's -- and I saw lots of illegals walking around when I got here in 1979.
A lot of them didn't take the amnesty in 1986 (tho' a lot did), because they didn't want to expose themselves -- they just stayed in the background, and so they stayed illegal. There's been a land-office business in phony documents, rent receipts and backdated utility bills and birth certificates and so on, and I'm not counting any of that as "washing" illegals -- if they got here illegally, they're illegal and shouldn't be here, period. I don't care who they fooled down at the Driver's License office and whether they (illegally) registered to vote through Al Gore's Motor Voter fraud.
Bottom line, if you really checked out the 800,000 Hispanics living in the Houston SMSA, more than half a million of them would be Mexican and Central American nationals who came here illegally -- and are therefore still illegals AFAIC. Their children are U.S. citizens by U.S. law, if they were born here -- but they're still here illegally!
The big majority of all Hispanics living here -- about 70-75% -- are Mexicans, almost all of whom swam rather than immigrated. Even the late Ninfa Laurenzo, pillar of the Hispanic Republican caucus in Texas, immigrated illegally -- literally swimming across the Rio Grande when she was a young woman, back in the 1930's or 1940's.
Like that Barr fellow. Good riddance.
(gosh what a pity I missed this thread =)
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