Thread: LA Times hit piece on Tancredo

Immigration foe's fave food? Mexican!
By Joel Stein
Article Launched: 11/27/2007 01:38:54 AM PST

I never thought GOP presidential candidate Tom Tancredo would eat Mexican food with me. The Colorado congressman has proposed anti-immigration legislation so draconian that he's been banned from the White House and called a "nut" by Jeb Bush. And I definitely never thought Tancredo would tell me that Mexican is his favorite cuisine. That was like finding out that CNN's Nancy Grace gets turned on by violent criminals. Only surprising.

Tancredo agreed to our Mexican lunch during a campaign sweep through Iowa in October. But the night before our appointment, I found out he was already headed to Mami's Authentic Mexican Food in Muscatine for dinner. The man was planning two Mexican meals in a row. I had little to teach him.

On my way to Mami's, however, I got a call from his aide. A local Republican had tipped Tancredo off to the fact that Mami's owners marched in the Great American Boycott on May Day 2006. So Tancredo was now driving all the way to Davenport to go to Carlos O'Kelly's Mexican Cafe instead. If his campaign staff was as skilled at finding voters as Mexican restaurants in Iowa, Tancredo would win the nomination.

Carlos O'Kelly's makes the finest Mexican food with an Irish flair of any chain restaurant in Iowa. The enchiladas came with a sort of hollandaise sauce that constituted a greater insult to Mexicans than anything Tancredo has ever said. Tancredo, who is a very likable, polite man, gave the food a very generous C-plus. "I was sick we couldn't go to Mami's. I heard it was good," he said. "But if they're going to boycott America, I'm going to boycott Mami's." Looking at my enchiladas, he sighed. "For all I know, this place is owned by a big liberal." A big liberal who hates food.

Our waiter was one of the nicest, most incompetent servers either of us had encountered. He kept running away in the middle of our orders, apparently distracted by either Mexican or Irish things. I told Tancredo that I wished we were at a restaurant in Los Angeles with a Mexican waiter filling our chip basket every two minutes. "I'm with you," he said. "These people that come to our country are generally hard workers, and bless them for it."

For all his talk of assimilation, Tancredo conceded that Carlos O'Kelly's may, in fact, have gone too far. He truly enjoys the authentic Mexican restaurants in Washington, D.C., and Colorado. "Food and music are things America has always been able to accommodate and benefit from," he said. "The thing that is difficult is the lack of assimilation. It has nothing to do with the appreciation of ethnicity." So Tancredo's complaints, like those of many who oppose immigration, come down to which aspects of Mexican culture he is personally comfortable with: language and flags, no; burritos and ballet folklorico, yes.

History, Tancredo knows, hasn't been kind to anti-immigrant crusaders - the Know-Nothing Party, the No-Irish-Need-Apply sign makers, the internment camps for Japanese Americans during World War II. "But things are very different today," he said. "Can you think of a time historically when you had millions of people in the street on May Day saying very, very divisive stuff?" He feels that if America is too diverse, we'll be stripped of our national identity, no longer bound together as a country. He also feels certain that he has the wisdom to determine exactly how much diversity is OK.

Odds are, I told him, history will judge him a racist. That may be so, he said. Still, he's sure the U.S. will rally behind his cures: kick illegal immigrants out; build an effective border fence; force legal immigrants to assimilate faster. "Years from now, they'll say there was no problem. They'll say 'These guys were racists and fear mongers.' . . . That's a big cost, you bet your life," he said. "But we'll have solved the problem."

I never liked someone I disagreed with so strongly. He believes he is doing the best thing for his country. I watched him talk to rabid anti-immigrant groups for two days, and he never spoke with anger, just sadness that something he loves is being lost. Tancredo may be a reactionary, a xenophobe and a nationalist, but he isn't a racist.

However, if he gets his way - even if history proves him wrong - his personal cost will be much smaller than that paid by the millions of Mexicans denied the opportunities his own grandparents got. And smaller still than the cost to us all when America loses the very thing that historically has given it advantages in economic growth and innovation.

Before we left, I asked Tancredo: Instead of struggling with the problems that stem from illegal immigration, why don't we just let more people in legally? "Just so I can have a good Mexican restaurant?" he asked. How a man who ate the same meal as me can even ask that question is beyond my understanding.

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JOEL STEIN is a Los Angeles Times columnist.
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_7 ... ck_check=1

PUPUSAS AND CORTIDO ARE MY FAVORITE FOOD. I LOVE IT. PUPUSAS ARE ACTUALLY NOT MEXICAN BUT SALVADORENO. I AM NOT SO SUPRISED THAT TANCREDO LIKES MEXICAN CUISINE. ETHNIC CUISINE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. LEGAL IMMIGRANTS BROUGHT ETHNIC CUISINE TO THIS COUNTRY. AND AMERICANS HAVE EXPERIENCED ETHNIC CUISINE BY GOING TO OTHER COUNTRIES. DESPITE MY LOVE OF ETHNIC CUISINE, ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION IS DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY AND HAS GOT TO STOP.

So what?
I like Chinese food too, but dose that mean I am okay with China invading my country? How petty can one get?

The only possible hypocrisy would be if the busboys, dishwashers, and maybe the severing staff were known illegal aliens. Mexican restaurants are one of their favorite places to work. It’s part of the ambiance to speak Spanish there, so they think. Then a boycott of that establishment, and maybe even a call to ICE is in order.

However, if he gets his way - even if history proves him wrong - his personal cost will be much smaller than that paid by the millions of Mexicans denied the opportunities his own grandparents got.

Do we owe Mexicans anything? Why?

If we don't do something our own children will not have the opportunities we will have.

It's a silly piece, doesn't make a lot of sense. It all boiled down to we 'owe them' or 'they deserve'.

I am waiting for someone to speak up and say what Mexicans deserve is their country to straighten up and provide the opprtunities there. Why is everyone is bashing Americans because we are upset that someone is taking what we have worked to build and no one is speaking to the fact the Mexicans have a rough time because of their corrupt government.

It is funny our President is lecturing Russia now on how to treat it's citizens - never, ever says a word to or about Mexico's corruption causing problems for their people and us.

Originally Posted by nntrixie

It is funny our President is lecturing Russia now on how to treat it's citizens - never, ever says a word to or about Mexico's corruption causing problems for their people and us.

A very good observation and a very important point.

You know if we could get the microphone, so to speak, wouldn't it be nice if we could get the facts about Mexico's corruption - the facts about those 5 families having all the wealth and power - the true facts that Mexico is NOT a poor country - just a country of poor people - and put it out to the world.

We have Mexicans and Mexican governments blasting us all day long about how we are treating people who are here illegally - yet no one calls them on how they treat their very own citizens.

It's just beyond reason ----

Originally Posted by nntrixie

You know if we could get the microphone, so to speak, wouldn't it be nice if we could get the facts about Mexico's corruption - the facts about those 5 families having all the wealth and power - the true facts that Mexico is NOT a poor country - just a country of poor people - and put it out to the world.

We have Mexicans and Mexican governments blasting us all day long about how we are treating people who are here illegally - yet no one calls them on how they treat their very own citizens.

It's just beyond reason ----

People like us - educated, inquisitive, learned, concerned - and motivated to protect our hard fought for liberty, country and culture ...know...and are getting the word out. If it wasn't for people like us, illegal immigration wouldn't have even become a a blip on the political issues screen and the 2008 candidate race. We have forced the great political machines of both parties to take notice and address it. We will grow as more and more Americans wake up to the threats to our country and their livelihood. We cannot be silenced and we will not be silenced. The more people that become activists on illegal immigration the closer we are to winning and regaining control of our country.

Well, yes, and I do agree the word is getting out.

When I started posting on the internet 7 or 8 years ago now - I was blasted everytime I mentioned it. On any chat or message board, it was all pro illegal.

Constantly, the talk was how hard working, how family oriented, how brave, etc., etc.

It was sad, but gratifying at the same time, to see the rhetoric take a turn as the flood reached other parts of the country. It was different when they were actually living it.

I kept asking why in the world wouldn't they pay attention to people who were actually living the problem. We were just racists - and sometimes that was the nicest thing said.

The rhetoric is nasty now - but now we are getting it from the illegals, their organizations, and the Mexican government. Then it was nastiness from other Americans.