Nov 13 2007
Tancredo’s Hypocritical Exaggerations And Crass Opportunism
Addendum: After listening to this dumb ad again I realize one more thing that really bothers me about it. Not only does it reference “20 million illegals taking our jobs” (which is a crock, no illegal is after his job or my job and I don’t go after theirs), but it equates immigrants to terrorists. It doesn’t even attempt to differentiate the misdemeanor crime of being an undocumented worker with the heinous act of terrorism. Tancredo is trying to stain the immigrants with the stench of Islamic terrorism. Sorry, but those of us with two brain cells left to rub together KNOW illegal immigrants are not terrorists. Tancredo really is a foolish, bitter loser. – end addendum
When Bush and moderate Republicans put forth a multi-faceted plan to address illegal immigration this year he was attacked by the amnesty hypochondriacs using a myriad of lies. The end result is we did not get any new legislation to fix our borders. And this was the second year in a row these hyper ventilators, like Tom Tancredo, destroyed any chance to make progress.
The two most infamous lies regarding the immigration issues where: (1) we don’t need knew laws and (2) Bush and his supporters are soft on national security. It was a vapid joke then and even more of one now. What everyone agreed to was (1) stronger borders through technology, fences and increased border agents, (2) an ID system to clearly denote who was an immigrant worker, (3) a federal system to track immigrant worker status so employers could easily and clearly determine if a worker’s permissions to work here had run out (there is no way to do that now), (4) stronger penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants, (5) background checks (as are possible) on new immigrants, (6) enforced 3 year time limit with the option for 1 (and only 1) renewal for a second 3 years, (7) no path to citizenship due simply to being an immigrant worker, (8) immigrant workers would now have to pay taxes and be monitored on location (critical), (9) one violent crime and the person is deported (hard to do right now), etc.
There were a myriad of things positive about the bill Bush and many Senators brought forward. The only problem was the one item on a path to citizenship for long term immigrants who had folded themselves peacefully into our communities. Bush and others proposed background checks to make sure they did not have a violent criminal record (or out they go), fines, payment of back taxes, and minimal demonstration of or effort towards being part of our culture (speaking English, etc. It was by treating the undocumented worker as someone who violated a misdemeanor statute (which is all the crime of illegal immigration is) that the far right went ballistic. They wanted punishments more on the level of a felony (though there is no legal basis for this and you’d think they would be able to grasp this). Taking away a house, a job or the family bread winner is the kind of punishment that goes with felonies.
It was this one issue, the dealing with the long term illegal immigrant population, which was the sticking point. All claims to other universally agreed aspects of the Bill is simply an attempt at denial by those who destroyed any chance to fix the problem in the foreseeable future. It was “amnesty” for these long term immigrants that put the far right over the edge and pushed the Hispanic community and moderates away from the GOP and gave the Democrats election wins.
Now one of the bigger exaggerators is out there doing it again. Tom Tancredo has put his ridiculous fantasies into a TV ad about a terrorist blowing up a mall. The fact is we are under threat from terrorists, don’t get me wrong. But Tancredo is confused or lying about the source of that risk and who is at fault for not protecting our borders.
It is highly unlikely the long term immigrants, who were the source of division and collapse of the immigration and border security bill last spring will be the source of a terrorist attack. It is possible, but a more likely terrorist source is from legal visitors who come to this country each year, just like the 9-11 highjackers did.
But even if the long term immigrant community WAS the source for a terrorist, the fact is the bill last spring was the best opportunity to ferret a terrorist out. The background checks might not be perfect, but they would be good enough to notice an Arab pretending to be a Mexican. And it might spook terror cells to try and dodge the checks, raising a clear red flag in a population of 10-12 million people.
In addition to background checks, the bill Tancredo gleefully torpedoed last spring HAD all sorts of security measures built in. So I find his finger pointing just more denial about the self destructive nature of the far right on this issue. I said it when the bill finally failed this spring and I will say it now – all those who cheered its demise now OWN the current broken situation and are now the ones at fault for our vulnerabilities. The lie we did not need knew laws was flagrant and unforgivable.
But I am also disgusted at Tancredo’s crass opportunism. Less than a week after the news broke about possible shopping mall attacks in the US over Christmas Tancredo puts this ad out. We know we are under threat Tom – no need to act like we are no aware of the situation. And we know malls and other public areas with large crowds are optimal targets. So this cannot be informative. It can be insulting to the intelligence (like Tom’s the only one who read the news recently?).
What really bothers me is it could be a pre-emptive attempt to lay blame if an attack does occur. With this ad Tancredo has sowed the seeds of guilt upon illegal immigrants even before any attack has happened. He is playing with mob-think and it is a terrible thing to do. A sitting Congressman (which thankfully be ending soon) he is privy to details on this threat through FBI and intelligence briefings. Therefore Tancredo may think this is unavoidable and he might as well exploit it. I would hate to think this is what a congressional leader is doing – but sadly it is well within the realm of possibility. If terrorists attack, and they could have possibly been detained and stopped under the laws proposed in this year’s comprehensive bill, then it is Tancredo and his self destructive allies who left America undefended this time. Not the liberal dems on their own misguided jihad against the NSA, but elements of the far right. Tancredo better pray nothing happens.
good god steve, those “coins” you’re talking about are notorious fakes, printed up by some private company in order to excite foolish and gullible people like you.
some people will fall for anything they’re told, no matter how ridiculous.
Dave M,
I wish I was wrong too. But look at SS and how it has become a 3rd rail of politics. This is what happens when things get too strident and heated. Pols back away and play it safe. It would have been better to pass the Bill and work improvements.
Hindsight is wonderful – and totally useless in this case.
And steve, the hardliners went out of their way to kill a bill that would have had more provisions for dealing with criminals. They do not need to waste their time complaining about the way things are.
10-4 Sorry to wake you.
good god steve, those “coins†you’re talking about are notorious fakes, printed up by some private company in order to excite foolish and gullible people like you.
10-4 go back to sleep.
Aj Said-Mass deportations for what is legally the same as a speeding ticket ain’t going to happen. What is funny is how badly the GOP is failing on this issue!
Now who was it that opposed Strenghtening the penalties for comming here Illegaly? Why That was A.J. Because anyone anywhere should have the right to the American Dream. And AFTER they commite a hanous crime, then and only then, will we think about getting rid of them.
I love the way A.J. continues to blur the issue. He calls them all Immigrants, then claims they aren’t after YOUR Job. Well, that depends on just what YOUR job is, now doesn’t it. If your in the Construction, Hotel, Lawn Care, Nanny buisness, just to name a few, they probubly already HAVE your Job.
Of course, that is ignored by A.J. This is from todays news:
Warnings offered in English, Spanish at (TN) work sites
Posted by Tennessee Nana
On News/Activism 11/13/2007 5:30:09 PM PST · 110 replies
Chattanooga Times Free Press ^ | November 13, 2007 | Adam Crisp
Safety warnings are given in English and Spanish at the sprawling BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee construction site in downtown Chattanooga. Supervisors at the Cameron Hill site, where BlueCross is building a $300 million headquarters complex, say knowledge of both languages is necessary because Spanish-speaking workers outnumber English speakers three to one. Brian O’Shea, the project superintendent, has been in construction for 23 years. He has seen many work force changes and an increased emphasis on safety, he said. “It was hard to get people to wear their hard hats back then,” Mr. O’Shea said of his early years in the…
I’m sure they are all here legally, aren’t you?
Well, time for other things. Sometimes its the items that are “Missed” by A.J. that are pretty important. Take care folks!
Press 1 for English Press 2 for spanish.
Why no others? Vietnamies? Chinese? French?
The Tancredo Paradox
His issue is ascendant while the battleground shifts.
By C. Q. Lincoln
Rep. Tom Tancredo has announced that he will not seek a sixth term in Congress in 2008 but will continue his long-shot campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. His reelection to another term in Congress would have been a slam dunk, whereas he freely admits that he has virtually no chance to actually win his party’s nomination for president. What’s going on?
The pundits and political analysts who believe Tancredo blundered in choosing an impossible goal — the presidential campaign — while forsaking a slam-dunk reelection to Congress need to follow Ayn Rand’s admonition: “examine your premises.â€
Tancredo’s campaigns have never been about winning or holding onto office. Tancredo’s political life is all about “moving the ball forward,†the ball in this instance being the protection of national sovereignty and the struggle to resist and ultimately defeat radical Islamic terrorism. He believes he can do that best by leaving Congress for a larger stage.
From the beginning his presidential campaign has been about influencing the 2008 Republican nominating process and the party platform on immigration control. He knew he did not have a serious shot at winning the party’s nomination, but he could steer the party away from the Bush administration’s disastrous flirtation with amnesty. He has already achieved that goal within the Republican party and even Nancy Pelosi now runs from the amnesty lobby.
Contrary to pundits, it is not Tancredo who is on a slippery slope to political oblivion. John McCain, Lindsay Graham, Mel Martinez, and other Republican insiders miscalculated public support for a new amnesty program when they followed Bush on “comprehensive reform,†but Tom Tancredo got it right. But unfortunately, the Washington political establishment will forgive a backbench maverick like Tancredo for being wrong on a major issue, but they cannot forgive him for being right when it embarrasses the hell out of them.
Tancredo has decided to give up the Washington party game, and he is now mapping a new course that depends not on backroom deals within a dysfunctional party leadership but on the power of nonpartisan grassroots activism. That citizen activism defeated two “done deal†amnesty bills backed by powerful coalitions. The question of the hour is, can that citizen activism be organized and focused to actually enact needed legislation as well as block bad legislation. The congressional stalemate on immigration policy will not last forever and there may be irresistible pressure to act when a new president is sworn in on January 20, 2009.
The cause Tancredo championed alone for so many years now has many voices of support and leadership in the House of Representatives, where his enforcement-first proposals have become the Republican mainstream. Even the Bush White House has reluctantly concluded that the American public will never accept any “comprehensive†reform or new guest worker programs until the federal government can demonstrate secure borders and serious interior enforcement of employment laws. The most savvy voices in the Democratic Party are telling the Latino activist groups to “cool it†until 2009, fearing a voter backlash in 2008 if Democrats are perceived as weak on this issue.
Anyone who thinks the public sentiment favoring immigration law enforcement is limited to conservative Republicans or veterans in the Minutemen should look at the reaction within the New York Democratic Party to Governor Spitzer’s proposal to give driver’s licenses to illegal aliens. The rebellion among blue-collar Democrats in New York has already forced Spitzer to modify his proposal. Republicans in New York are unified in their opposition to the proposal while Democrats are deeply divided.
The growing strength of the Tancredo position is seen in the fact that attacks on him from open borders groups now avoid the policy issues and resort to dubious political warnings about the Republican loss of Hispanic voters. Such alarms are based on misreading of the electoral history and demographics. New immigrants in low-wage jobs have always voted largely Democrat in the first generation and slowly become more Republican over decades. The Bush-Cheney ticket did not attract 40 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004 by promoting Bush’s amnesty proposals, they did it by selling traditional conservative themes of entrepreneurship, educational opportunity, and national security. Pandering to the National Council of La Raza is the surest pathway to electoral disaster, not a formula for Republican success.
The greatest irony of all is that it is precisely the ascendancy of the Tancredo’s tough enforcement credo that has denied him the “wedge issue†he needs to garner support in his presidential primary campaign. With Giuliani, Romney, and Thompson all sounding like Tom Tancredo on the issue of illegal immigration, Republican primary voters who agree with Tancredo on the issue see little need to back the unknown Colorado congressman as their standard bearer against Hillary Clinton. His proposals are now indisputably mainstream, much to the chagrin of the liberal media and the open-borders lobby.
Tom Tancredo will not be the Republican nominee for president in 2008, nor will he be a member of the 111th Congress when it convenes in January of 2009. Yet, it is obvious that Tancredo has already cast a long shadow over the 2008 election. Because his message resonates with voters, he is also likely to cast a shadow over the national debates in 2009 and beyond.
— C. Q. Lincoln is the pseudonym of a former Reagan administration official and California think tank executive.
The greatest irony of all is that it is precisely the ascendancy of the Tancredo’s tough enforcement credo that has denied him the “wedge issue†he needs to garner support in his presidential primary campaign. With Giuliani, Romney, and Thompson all sounding like Tom Tancredo on the issue of illegal immigration, Republican primary voters who agree with Tancredo on the issue see little need to back the unknown Colorado congressman as their standard bearer against Hillary Clinton. His proposals are now indisputably mainstream, much to the chagrin of the liberal media and the open-borders lobby.
says it all