Thread: Tom Tancredo: A lightning rod on immigration

Rep. Tom Tancredo: A lightning rod on immigration
GOP presidential candidate is a long shot
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By Antonio Olivo
Tribune staff reporter

May 30, 2007, 6:24 PM CDT

ONAWA, Iowa -- Driving along an empty ribbon of State Highway 29, the AM radio signal fades between a lonely Mexican ballad and a conservative talk show host's early morning rant.

Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) feels right at home.

Tancredo is greeted with cheerful backslaps inside a crowded truck-stop diner that sits minutes from an Indian reservation casino outside Sioux City. He has come to discuss what many in this rapidly changing corner of northwestern Iowa have waited for : His bid to become U.S. president.

They've seen or heard Tancredo, 61, during hundreds of appearances on cable TV news and talk radio, raging against one of the greatest immigration waves in U.S. history. His crusade to have every illegal immigrant in the country deported and to make English the country's official language has inspired a cult following for this grandson of Italian immigrants, attracting white supremacists and PTA moms alike.

The fifth-term Denver congressman's suggestion that Muslim holy sites be military targets and his focus on Mexican criminals when discussing border policy has also earned him scorn, making him avoided even by leaders in his party after characterizing President Bush's stance on immigration reform as "lacking courage."

While Tancredo's Republican bid is widely regarded as a long shot, the reaction he has received so far in Iowa shows his campaign can't be entirely dismissed, political analysts say. He hasn't left much of a footprint in Congress, and yet, driven by an anti-illegal immigrant wind, he now audaciously has become a single-issue candidate for president, his fists bared as he derides a bipartisan immigration reform plan being debated in the Senate or calls his opponents "soft."

Iowa, home to the nation's first presidential caucuses of the primary season in January, has one of its fastest growing foreign-born populations, as mainly Latin American immigrants arrive for jobs in meatpacking plants, on farms and in construction. Worries in the state about assimilation, shrinking wages and over-burdened schools and hospitals reflect deeper national concerns over heavy immigration that aren't likely to be resolved by the reforms being considered in Congress, both sides of the debate agree.

The longer the problem of illegal immigration lingers, the easier it will be for Tancredo to serve as a spoiler in the Republican race as his hard-line stance attracts voters feeling overwhelmed by their changing social landscape, said University of Iowa political science professor Peverill Squire.

"Here in Iowa, things have changed dramatically in the last two decades and it's probably caught a lot of Iowans by surprise," Squire said. "There is a concern among some Iowans that somehow the country is sort of losing a grip on its identity and that things are changing more quickly than people can handle.

"Tancredo talking in a way to suggest that some of these changes can be slowed down or even reversed, for some people, may be comforting," he added.

A recent University of Iowa poll showed that 96 percent of Republicans in the state considered a candidate's stance on immigration to be "very important" or "somewhat important" in their vote, with 57 percent saying they supported allowing illegal immigrants to "earn" U.S. citizenship if they paid back taxes and learned English. These issues also played out in the 2006 midterm elections .

With Republicans nationwide split over immigration policy, "top tier" GOP candidates like Sen. John McCain of Arizona, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney have recently hardened their views, favoring tougher penalties and stricter enforcement.

Touring through Iowa, Tancredo takes credit for the shift, relishing his underdog status with jokes about not being invited to the White House.

His outsider's role has allowed Tancredo to speak more bluntly than some of his opponents.

That approach worked at the Iowa Republican Party's recent Lincoln Day Dinner in Des Moines, where McCain, Giuliani and eight other candidates each addressed a crowd of about 1,000 of the party's faithful.

Tancredo grabbed the loudest applause of the night after a podium-thumping speech that cast his campaign as a fight to preserve American values and Western civilization itself.

"This is our land, fight for it. This is our flag, pick it up. This is our country, take it back," he urged as the audience rose to its feet and cheered.

In an interview afterward, Tancredo said he wants to stop a slow erosion of American identity in the face of rampant immigration from Mexico, economicglobalization and trade laws like the North American Free Trade Agreement that pave the way for a "North American Union" similar to the European Union. (Mexican immigrant leaders in Chicago and other U.S. cities embrace that concept.)

Citing favorite author Samuel Huntington, the Harvard University scholar who has sounded alarms against multiculturalism, Tancredo argued that the desire among even legal immigrants to assimilate into American culture is fading. The federal government should "encourage" assimilation by abolishing bilingual education and declaring English the country's official language, he said.

"We need to get this problem settled," said Tancredo. "I know that somebody who comes from Africa can assimilate into this country. I know if they come from Mexico, Guatemala or Honduras they can. We've had it. We've seen it."

Frank Sharry, executive director of the Washington-based National Immigration Forum policy group, agreed that there is a legitimate debate to be had over how to better assimilate recent immigrants and whether U.S. culture is becoming balkanized.

But Tancredo's approach has done more to provoke a culture of hate surrounding immigration, Sharry said, comparing the lawmaker to TV commentator and former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan. Tancredo's campaign director is Buchanan's sister, Bay Buchanan, who engineered her brother's surprise 1996 victory in New Hampshire.

Like Buchanan, Tancredo can be a verbal bomb thrower, recently drawing protests from Jeb Bush, the former Republican governor of Florida, and others for comparing Miami to "a third world country." He also sparked outrage for suggesting on a talk radio program that another major terrorist attack against the U.S. be met by "taking out" Muslim holy sites, including Mecca.

"If I was really cynical, I'd suggest he's getting paid by Democratic Party operatives," Sharry said. "He's become the face of the Republican Party on this issue."

Tancredo acknowledged past campaign fumbles, adding that some of his statements were misunderstood.

"I assure you there is no animus in what drives me and the political goals I've established for myself," he said. "This is not racially motivated or ethnically driven."

The case of U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean has helped Tancredo move beyond such talk.

The two men are serving federal prison sentences of 11 and 12 years, respectively, after being convicted last year of trying to cover up a 2005 shooting of an unarmed Mexican national allegedly smuggling 700 pounds of marijuana into the U.S.

Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, who was struck by a bullet in the buttocks while fleeing the agents, was granted immunity for testifying during the trial in El Paso, Texas. That detail has ignitedconservative talk show hosts, resonating with voters as Tancredo champions the jailed men's cause.

In Council Bluffs, close to a Dutch windmill honoring immigrants from that country, Sheri Anderson, 37, stood inside Tancredo's new campaign office and called the congressman "a voice in the wilderness."

Anderson, a computer technician from nearby Omaha, lamented the changes in the city she has spent her entire life in, where German, Polish and Italian shops in Omaha's downtown have been replaced by Mexican stores.

"Where I grew up, it's now known as 'Little Juarez,' " she said, complaining of local crime. "When I was a kid and they were teaching us Spanish on Sesame Street, it never dawned on us that this is where the country was headed. I wish I was older. My mom won't live to see that. But I will."

Her mother Judy Evans, 69, nodded in agreement, adding: "All my kids wish they were older."

Outside, Anibal and Virginia Castro walked with their two children from a nearby public library, scanning the crowd of Tancredo supporters. Toting some videos and Dr. Seuss books for their 4-year-old daughter, the couple who arrived 10 years ago from El Salvador complained the area is getting too hostile.

"We're thinking of going back to Boston," said Anibal Castro, 26, in Spanish, calling the northeastern city where he got his start as a truck driver "more tranquil."

"

Tancredo said he is not out to cause division. Once voters get to know him better, they will realize "I'm a pretty pedestrian guy" who loves Broadway musicals and wants to do right by hard-working citizens and legal immigrants who "do things the right way."

His favorite movie, Tancredo said, is "True Grit," a tale starring an aging John Wayne about a quest for justice in the Old West.

His favorite food?

"Mexican," Tancredo said, smiling at the irony as he polished off his latte and headed for another campaign event.

aolivo@tribune.com
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nati ... nworld-hed

Tancredo said he is not out to cause division. Once voters get to know him better, they will realize "I'm a pretty pedestrian guy" who loves Broadway musicals and wants to do right by hard-working citizens and legal immigrants who "do things the right way."

GOOOOO TOM!

"This is our land, fight for it. This is our flag, pick it up. This is our country, take it back," he urged as the audience rose to its feet and cheered.

My heart jumped just reading this.

While Tancredo's Republican bid is widely regarded as a long shot, the reaction he has received so far in Iowa shows his campaign can't be entirely dismissed, political analysts say.

Americans don't want congress to pass a "bad" bill just because we want something done ... we want congress to "do the right thing" and Tom Tancredo will do the job that "others" won't do!!!

(It can be done! Hazelton, PA proved this with Mayor Lou Barletta! He won both party nominations!)

Tom Tancredo for President!!!

Originally Posted by pjr40

"This is our land, fight for it. This is our flag, pick it up. This is our country, take it back," he urged as the audience rose to its feet and cheered.

My heart jumped just reading this.

Makes you want to cry for joy!

I agree JAK!!!


Tom Tancredo for President!!!