It all started with the Tancredo-Rove feud. In April 2002, Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo received a phone call from Karl Rove. Tancredo had just authored an op-ed for the Washington Times that completely excoriated President George W. Bush’s immigration policy. At the end of a twenty-minute rant, Tancredo alleges that Rove ended the conservation with the old, ‘You will never darken the steps of the White House again’ threat.
Tancredo used the criticism to propel himself into the forefront of the anti-immigration movement. He has also manipulated his intense dislike of Karl Rove and President George W. Bush into a groundswell of support that comes from many sources. All of them claim to be conservative, and most of them claiming, falsely it appears, to be Republican. I have long suspected and feared that Tom Tancredo, a Republican, would manipulate this support into an Oval Office run, even though, for months he has staunchly said he was not planning to do so.
On January 16, over at the American Spectator’s Prowler, they officially ‘outed’ a few of Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo's (R) more colorful donors. Tancredo, who has become a conservative bastion of closed borders, God, apple pie, Truth, Justice, and the American Way, has a perfect score from the American Conservative Union. As part of the ACU’s scoring, social and cultural issues are weighed. For conservatives, social issues include anti-abortion advocacy. Tancredo’s voting record is strictly anti-abortion, which contrasts mightily with his close personal association with John Tanton and Tancredo’s 100% rating by the Christian Coalition.
Anti-Immigration Connections and Support
According to the Federal Election Commission, from 1998-2006 Tom Tancredo’s election campaigns have received something like $5500 from John Tanton in individual donations. Tanton’s wife, Mary, is the president of the US Immigration Reform PAC. During this same time frame, Tancredo has received nearly $16,000 from Tanton-related PACS. This past election cycle Tancredo also received $1000 from the Minuteman PAC. During this same time frame, the Minuteman Pac also donated $10,000 to unsuccessful GOP Congressional candidate Randy Graf in Arizona. Congressman Tancredo campaigned for and endorsed Graf. Graf was also endorsed by white supremacist David Duke. Tancredo also took money from anti-abortion PACs.
The Godfather of Anti-Immigration
All of these numbers are meaningless, unless one knows just who John Tanton is. Tanton is considered the ‘godfather of anti-immigration’. A believer in strict population control bordering on eugenics, Tanton is one of the stalwarts of the pro-abortion Planned Parenthood organization. This alone gives the Tancredo–Tanton alliance something of an odd couple appearance until one digs even deeper.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Seph
I'm fairly certain that if we were to apply the same deep analysis of any other candidate's donors and supporters as you did to Rep. Tancredo we could find similiarly embarrassing people in all of them. Furthermore, many of Tancredo's listed "associations" are at several levels of remove from the Congressman, such as the Stormfront.org connection which is three nodes of connexion distant (Tancredo -> Hines -> CCC -> SF.org) from him. Again, look three degrees of seperation away from anyone and you'll find quite a few weirdos sprinkled in here and there.
Having said all that, I would like to be able to vote for a paleoconservative Presidential candidate who has a reasonable chance of winning the primary and going on to win in November 2008, and Tancredo, for many reasons, is not that man. Florida is a must win state for the GOP and Cuban votes are a large factor in that; calling Miami a "third world country" for no reason whatsoever is not a good sign of what's to come...
2 - Dave Nalle
Tancredo's close ties to the nativist movement is a large part of his problem. They're not a savory lot, and even those who are marginally acceptable are a step or two away from those who are out and out bigoted lunatics.
Dave
3 - Seph
And what movement doesn't have "unsavory" allies a "step or two away?" It wouldn't be amazingly difficult to connect the Democratic Party to, say, International ANSWER through a small number of intermediaries and it would also be fairly trivial to connect the neoconservatives to various ultra-Likudnik oddballs. The paleos are far from alone in having bizarre fellow travelers.
4 - Dave Nalle
The key question is whether these questionable types are gathering around Tancredo, or whether he's playing up to them to build a constituency of these types.
If it's the former, then Tancredo's no different than any other leader. If it's the latter, then it's quite a bit more unappealing.
Dave
5 - jon
American guns will be used against Iranians soon enough... even if they end up being channelled through the Saudis to the insurgents our boys are now fighting in Iraq.
Could it be that Bush intentionally failed to take effective action against the Sunni insurgents to prevent the Shiite majority from asserting control?
Bush's ideological hatred for Iran was the basis for violating every tenet of the Powell Doctrine.
Imagine an Iranian friendly German/Japanese style successful democracy in Iraq... no ability to control oil contracts... the neocon Nightmare explains our intentional failure.
This is not the incompetence that it seems to be. Imagine a NeoCon cabal agenda that includes the overthrow and domination of Iraq and the further overthrow of Iran and Syria. Little George cannot be as stupid as he seems. Compromise is the art of grownups. The NeoCon cabal is a greedy, corrupt, and bloodthirsty lot of bastards who have directed the U.S. Military (and population) into an ugly game of hegemony in the middle east, the benefits of which accrue to big oil (WallStreet) and the state of Israel. Who wants to nuke Iran? Our history with Iran is ugly and it is we who owe an apology to them.
6 - Seph
Needless to say, jon, it looks like you posted in the wrong thread.
Dave Nalle: If Tancredo wants to build his base around the StormFront crowd and the CCC then no one need worry about him because he won't get very far along in the primary as he will poll 1-2% in any state, at most.
If Tancredo has a weakness at this point it isn't the crowd that surrounds him but his complete absence of proper judgement in situations where he has to engage in extemporaneous speaking, and secondly the utter lack of support from the party money machine - McCain and Giuliani and to a lesser extent Romney are sucking up the available cash very quickly.
7 - Mike Taylor
How funny that the banner above this comment section reads, "personal attacks are not allowed". What I just read amounts to a vicious personal attack on a great American and I hope our next President Tom Tancredo. The author charges of racism and ultra right-wingism are the tired stuff of every opponent of illegal immigration. One brief example Randy Graf was endorsed by David Duke. What is the source of this lie? An article penned by Daniel Scarpinato of the Arizona Daily Star based on a Democratic Press Release after Randy won the Primary. A truly idiotic assertion that since David Duke put a AP wire release of the election results on his website ergo he endorsed Randy. And here's a news flash regarding her assertions on the Pioneer fund and its origins, Margaret Sanger and Planned Parenthood also believed in Eugenics and racial superiority at their inception. This is just more of the same utter baloney that one reads in the MSM.
8 - SHARK
"...The real problem here is that it's actually possible that Tancredo could secure the GOP nomination in 2008. As a card-carrying Republican, I find the prospect absolutely terrifying."
I must say -- this last sentence is shocking!!!!
9 - Jill Henry
Let's remember that David Duke is no different than the typical Jew or typical nonwhite in America.
He is racially consious and openly promotes the ethnic interests of his people.
He discriminates.
Europeans who do that are given comic book names like Nazi, supremacist, etc.
10 - Clavos
"...his complete absence of proper judgement in situations where he has to engage in extemporaneous speaking..."
Such as his characterization of Miami as a Third World city" in a recent speech given in Palm Beach.
With that one crack he lost a lot of cred in Florida, which is a key state in any presidential election. He especially lost it among the South Florida Cuban community, which historically has voted majority Republican.
I'd say he's a one issue pol, cynically playing the fears of the nativist crowd.
And not very intelligently, either.
11 - LOL!
As a Radical Leftist myself - I would love nothing more than to see the Republicans nominate Tom Tancredo - He is completely unelectable . . .
12 - Arch Conservative
"As a Radical Leftist myself - I would love nothing more than to see the Republicans nominate Tom Tancredo - He is completely unelectable . ."
No more so than Hillary...which is why I am elated to learn that Hillary's people have already begun attacking Obama. The are reports out today of Hilary's campaign attacking Obama for not being truthful about being raised as a Muslim. Priceless. The more the Democrat candidate darlings of the MSM media fight amongst themselves and tarnish each other the better! Hillary has already begun to do the work those of us on the right were going to have to do with regards to Obama. If she can do this work well enough herself so that she gets the Dem nod instead of Obama then the GOP will be all set in 2008 regardless of who ends up on their ticket. Of course this is all contingent upon the Dem core constituency continuing to act/vote in their typical elitsit, smug, smarmy, manner and refusing to see how unelectable Hillary is before it's too late.
13 - Dr. Kurt
Jill, David Duke is an ignorant, lying, racist former KKK leader. "Racially conscious" is doublespeak for "Neo-Nazi." At least be honest about your beliefs.
As a Coloradoan, let me enlighten y'all about Tancredo. He represents a congressional district composed of wealthy white people, sterotpically ex-Californians who sold their old homes for a half million dollars and bought new McMansions south of Denver. These folks vote Republican by reflex. Tancredo will never get elected outside this district - he has no politcal future as a senator or governor in Colorado. Most of us, Republican, Democrat, or Libertarian, regard him as an embarrassing moron with a chronic case of foot-in-mouth disease and an enormous ego. He is not a statesman, and his repeated use of "gosh, I didn't know" is disingenious. And yes, we are all judged by the company we keep.
We deserve better minds in congress and in the media.
14 - Heloise
I think that we could have been more forewarned about Dick Cheney. I am a card-carrying Republican too.
How many Republicans have morphed into Democrats right before our eyes?
I like Tancredo. He probably won't win. But after Bush and Cheney no repub may be able to win. That's the problem.
Heloise
15 - Jim
"Oh, yeah, he once threatened to bomb Mecca."
If you knew what Islam is, and how Mohammed wants to slit your throat, you'd understand what he's talking about. Remember this libs, you will be the first the muslims kill.
Tancredo and Paul are the only true conservatives, the others have a meaningless (R) by their name.
Jim
16 - zingzing
"Remember this libs, you will be the first the muslims kill."
why? i would think that, if they are intelligent, they would go after you first. but i don't think they're going to go after liberals or conservatives in particular...
"are you a liberal infidel, or a conservative infidel? how will you die by the sword?!"
tancredo, from what i have read here and a few other places, is just another example of the kind of one-issue politics that dominates our country. why the fuck would the people of colorado vote this guy in? what does immigration matter to them?
also, to the guy who said the words "wealthy," "california home" and "half a million," in the same sentence... half a million won't buy you a cardboard box in california. well, maybe in south central. or something. actually south central isn't all that bad these days is it? i dunno.
archie--now why do you think so many of us "typical elitsit, smug smarmies" are saying hillary is a bit too devisive to put up for election? because we "refus[e] to see how unelectable Hillary is?" i don't know that she is unelectable--if she is the lesser of two evils--but she certainly isn't the most electable dem out there. all she has is name recognition in her favor.
and to mike taylor--you can attack the subject of your article, just not fellow commentors. maybe there is a bit of irony in it... but that's what opinion writing is all about.
17 - Clavos
what does immigration matter to them?
They have one of the largest populations of Mexicans in the USA, zing.
Just an answer, not a defense; I think Tancredo is a creep.
18 - Franz Kindler
An interesting article and one that provides more information than that which the author intended. I find these articles, which are intended to disparage a particular person, inspiring. They prove the point of how far some people, such as SJ Reidhead, will go to darken the name of an American patriot, as evidenced by the web of intrigue he tries to spin around associations of various people. I have met Rep. Tancredo and he is an honorable and straight forward man, who represents world views which I share: National sovereignty and America First, which is the most inherently patriotic sentiment expressed by the Founding Fathers of this once great nation and which are best expressed in Washington's Farewell Address to the Nation. Therefore, those who attack Rep. Tancredo and others of like mind in such an amateurish and scurrilous manner only show that they are afraid and will do anything to thwart opposition, including character assasination and guilt by association. They also show that they are in opposition to America and in contempt of her taxpaying, productive citizens.
Oh, by the way, I am a Coloradan, not from California, not rich, not from Tancrado's district, retired military NCO, and not a Republican. Notwithstanding the comments from the illumined Dr. Kurt, Rep. Tancredo is not an embarrassment, nor an egomaniac. He is a man who says what he means and means what he says, and God Bless him for that. Too bad there are not more like him running for office. If one wants more of the same, vote for the so-called sure bets, vote for the smart ticket selected by the party machine or the media or the illumined Kurt's of the world. Indeed, vote as you will in a horse race (perceived winner). As for me, I will vote for those who represent my world view and who are honest and straight forward with their rhetoric and who have proven voting records to go along with it.
En garde!
Franz Kindler
19 - zingzing
"They have one of the largest populations of Mexicans in the USA, zing."
then, the question becomes HOW did this guy get voted in?
last time i went to colorado... which was about 10 or 12 years ago... it was the whitest place i'd ever seen...
then i moved to seattle, which is definitely white... with shades of yellow... pretty shades of yellow...
20 - Clavos
Apparently (and I haven't researched it), the whites do still outnumber the legal Mexicans, so they can out vote them as well. Tancredo's their man because he wants to send all the brown people away and stop any more from coming in.
Or so I hear. I live in the town he recently termed "Third World", precisely because we have more brown people than white ones living here.
21 - zingzing
ok... so colorado is filled with racists? last time i was there (10-12 years, mind you...) they seemed pretty nice. tolerant even.
i suppose his district could be a nasty little hellhole.
22 - Clavos
so colorado is filled with racists?
Well, I don't want to make any WAGs, especially without data, but they keep electing him.
23 - One if by Land
Tancredo a racist??
He is just looking for CITIZENS who are willing to do the Immigration Control Job our
Government won't do!
Open Borders Zealots "Can't Handle the Truth"
24 - lono
Hey all,
I am from Tom's district here in Colorado, and one of the few Democrats left. Dr Kurt's assesment of our district is dead on. To say our district is racists isn't necessarily accurate. I can tell you there are absolutely no minorities here in Douglas county. Don't know that it makes us racist... but it is a fact.
Needless to say, as a Dem in Douglas County, I watch Tancredo's moves very closely. Tom is running for president, I promise you that. However, he won't get far. I think his biggest impact will be getting the other GOP candidates to seriously address the immigration issue. Once they (if they) manage to do that... he will be deflated. He is a one trick pony, I promise.
One thing to Tom's credit, though. To be fair, Tom has been banging the anti-immigration drum long before Sept 11th. During the last debate he had for his seat in the district last year (which he almost lost), he made a great point: I say what I mean and mean what I say. It is true, he isn't duplicitous to me.
As a (er... the Democrat down here, I am stoked to see him run for President. It will take him out of this district and we can get Bill Winter in his seat. Tancredo won't win anyway... so this is just a big 'Go away Tom' initiative as I see it.
Lono,
Parker, CO
25 - lono
Oh yeah, one other thing. Being on Rove's enemy list only tells me he is a man of character. Rove is a douchebag whose goal is to undermine democracy by any means. Mostly, that is done by calling his opponents gay... but he has even pulled the child molester card.
Rove is the Devil. Tancredo is a decent guy, I just don't share is values or goals.