K
Kickin' Ass and Takin' Names
Guest
Hasta La Vista
By Dana Milbank
Friday, December 21, 2007; A02
DES MOINES, Iowa
Tom Tancredo is an angry man.
We know this because he has proposed dropping bombs on Mecca. We know
this because he sang "Dixie" at a South Carolina gathering full of
Confederate flags and white supremacists. And we know this because he
wants to expel 12 million people now living in the United States.
Now, the Republican congressman from Colorado has a new reason to be
angry: The voters of Iowa, inexplicably, do not want him to be their
president.
"I know I cannot win," he confessed at a lightly attended news
conference in the Marriott hotel here, where a balky sound system --
made in China! -- marred the announcement that he was quitting the
presidential race. Thus, just two weeks before the Iowa caucuses,
Tancredo determined that "it was best for the cause that I step down."
A grand total of 18 staff members and supporters -- some wearing pins
proclaiming "Proud member of Tom's Army Against Amnesty" -- stood to
the side and fought back tears. Adding to the pain, the Marriott
restaurant, just steps from the meeting room where Tancredo quit the
race, was serving a "South of the Border Thursday" lunch buffet.
The supporters passed by the restaurant and went upstairs to a hotel
room to mourn their candidate's departure from the race. Conveniently,
all the Tancredo supporters were able to fit in one elevator.
This week's Washington Post-ABC News poll put Tancredo's support at 2
percent in Iowa, down from 5 percent in the summer. While that's still
double Rep. Duncan Hunter's haul, Tancredo could accurately conclude
from that poll that 98 percent of Iowa Republicans are against him.
And while some say his deport-'em-all illegal immigration proposal is
irrational, there was no disputing Tancredo's analysis of the race
Thursday: "Somebody's going to be the president of the United States.
It's not going to be me."
But that's when Tancredo's logic broke down and his anger crept in. In
response to questions, he admitted he was pulling out to help defeat
somebody he dislikes more than an undocumented Mexican in the desert:
former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, the new Republican front-
runner here with what Tancredo called an "abysmal" record of
"inviting" illegal immigrants. "It was important in making this
decision -- you bet your life it was," Tancredo said.
Never mind that Huckabee was tough enough on immigration to win the
support of the border-vigilante Minuteman Project. Tancredo said he is
throwing his support behind former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney,
a man who has twice entrusted his landscaping to illegal immigrants
and who only two years ago described as "reasonable" efforts by Sen.
John McCain to let illegal immigrants become legal. Back then, Romney
disputed Tancredo's characterization of the McCain plan as the dreaded
"amnesty."
Tancredo's blind rage against Huckabee seemed to have gotten the
better of his judgment, for he embraced Romney as a true believer in
the immigrant crackdown. "This morning, I met with Governor Mitt
Romney," Tancredo said, and "I am convinced he is committed to the
principles I've outlined." Specifically, Romney "will require those
who are presently here illegally to return home."
Oh? "The governor has stated he doesn't believe it's practical to
deport 12 million illegal immigrants," Romney spokesman Kevin Madden
said Thursday. Romney, though campaigning in Iowa himself, couldn't be
troubled to join Tancredo at the endorsement event, and his staff
issued a tepid thank-you: "While we don't agree on every issue, we
agree on the need to keep America strong."
Understandably, Romney might wish to keep some distance between
himself and Tancredo, who boycotted a Spanish-language GOP
presidential debate this month, calling it "Univision's Illegal
Immigrant Debate." Tancredo instead released a video featuring a
scantily clad woman singing in Spanish while other GOP candidates were
superimposed riding on a truck with Hispanic farm workers, wearing
sombreros and watching a ****fight. Romney was superimposed loitering
outside a "carniceria."
It might be tempting to conclude that Tancredo's failure meant that
voters had rejected such immigrant-baiting. But in the angry mind of
Tancredo, his was a triumphant campaign.
"Hello, everyone! Why so dour?" he chirped as he entered the room for
his announcement.
"It's beyond anybody's wildest expectations that we have been able to,
with the help of America, really, get our national leaders to pay
attention to the issue," declared Candidate Two Percent.
He boasted, with some validity, that his candidacy helped lead "nearly
every Republican presidential candidate to commit themselves to an
immigration plan that calls for securing our borders." It's true: As
his rivals coopted his nativist positions -- even if just rhetorically
-- Tancredo became a victim of his own success.
"I am, indeed, pleased as to how this issue has ripened," he
continued. "If you think about it, it's enormous the amount of
progress we have made -- something, I must admit to you, that stuns
even me at this time."
Standing before the TV cameras, in front of a "Team Tancredo" backdrop
(made in the U.S.A.!) the former candidate looked about as content as
an angry man can get.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/20/AR2007122002278.html?hpid=topnews
By Dana Milbank
Friday, December 21, 2007; A02
DES MOINES, Iowa
Tom Tancredo is an angry man.
We know this because he has proposed dropping bombs on Mecca. We know
this because he sang "Dixie" at a South Carolina gathering full of
Confederate flags and white supremacists. And we know this because he
wants to expel 12 million people now living in the United States.
Now, the Republican congressman from Colorado has a new reason to be
angry: The voters of Iowa, inexplicably, do not want him to be their
president.
"I know I cannot win," he confessed at a lightly attended news
conference in the Marriott hotel here, where a balky sound system --
made in China! -- marred the announcement that he was quitting the
presidential race. Thus, just two weeks before the Iowa caucuses,
Tancredo determined that "it was best for the cause that I step down."
A grand total of 18 staff members and supporters -- some wearing pins
proclaiming "Proud member of Tom's Army Against Amnesty" -- stood to
the side and fought back tears. Adding to the pain, the Marriott
restaurant, just steps from the meeting room where Tancredo quit the
race, was serving a "South of the Border Thursday" lunch buffet.
The supporters passed by the restaurant and went upstairs to a hotel
room to mourn their candidate's departure from the race. Conveniently,
all the Tancredo supporters were able to fit in one elevator.
This week's Washington Post-ABC News poll put Tancredo's support at 2
percent in Iowa, down from 5 percent in the summer. While that's still
double Rep. Duncan Hunter's haul, Tancredo could accurately conclude
from that poll that 98 percent of Iowa Republicans are against him.
And while some say his deport-'em-all illegal immigration proposal is
irrational, there was no disputing Tancredo's analysis of the race
Thursday: "Somebody's going to be the president of the United States.
It's not going to be me."
But that's when Tancredo's logic broke down and his anger crept in. In
response to questions, he admitted he was pulling out to help defeat
somebody he dislikes more than an undocumented Mexican in the desert:
former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, the new Republican front-
runner here with what Tancredo called an "abysmal" record of
"inviting" illegal immigrants. "It was important in making this
decision -- you bet your life it was," Tancredo said.
Never mind that Huckabee was tough enough on immigration to win the
support of the border-vigilante Minuteman Project. Tancredo said he is
throwing his support behind former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney,
a man who has twice entrusted his landscaping to illegal immigrants
and who only two years ago described as "reasonable" efforts by Sen.
John McCain to let illegal immigrants become legal. Back then, Romney
disputed Tancredo's characterization of the McCain plan as the dreaded
"amnesty."
Tancredo's blind rage against Huckabee seemed to have gotten the
better of his judgment, for he embraced Romney as a true believer in
the immigrant crackdown. "This morning, I met with Governor Mitt
Romney," Tancredo said, and "I am convinced he is committed to the
principles I've outlined." Specifically, Romney "will require those
who are presently here illegally to return home."
Oh? "The governor has stated he doesn't believe it's practical to
deport 12 million illegal immigrants," Romney spokesman Kevin Madden
said Thursday. Romney, though campaigning in Iowa himself, couldn't be
troubled to join Tancredo at the endorsement event, and his staff
issued a tepid thank-you: "While we don't agree on every issue, we
agree on the need to keep America strong."
Understandably, Romney might wish to keep some distance between
himself and Tancredo, who boycotted a Spanish-language GOP
presidential debate this month, calling it "Univision's Illegal
Immigrant Debate." Tancredo instead released a video featuring a
scantily clad woman singing in Spanish while other GOP candidates were
superimposed riding on a truck with Hispanic farm workers, wearing
sombreros and watching a ****fight. Romney was superimposed loitering
outside a "carniceria."
It might be tempting to conclude that Tancredo's failure meant that
voters had rejected such immigrant-baiting. But in the angry mind of
Tancredo, his was a triumphant campaign.
"Hello, everyone! Why so dour?" he chirped as he entered the room for
his announcement.
"It's beyond anybody's wildest expectations that we have been able to,
with the help of America, really, get our national leaders to pay
attention to the issue," declared Candidate Two Percent.
He boasted, with some validity, that his candidacy helped lead "nearly
every Republican presidential candidate to commit themselves to an
immigration plan that calls for securing our borders." It's true: As
his rivals coopted his nativist positions -- even if just rhetorically
-- Tancredo became a victim of his own success.
"I am, indeed, pleased as to how this issue has ripened," he
continued. "If you think about it, it's enormous the amount of
progress we have made -- something, I must admit to you, that stuns
even me at this time."
Standing before the TV cameras, in front of a "Team Tancredo" backdrop
(made in the U.S.A.!) the former candidate looked about as content as
an angry man can get.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/20/AR2007122002278.html?hpid=topnews
