The Opinion Journal has an excellent piece on the Tancredo Republicans and how they stand poised to lose the House and destroy the GOP for many years to come. "...Yet by denouncing any such compromise as "amnesty," the restrictionists have poisoned their own voters against accepting the only policy with a chance to solve the problem. When Indiana's Mike Pence, a stalwart conservative, offered a compromise that included a guest worker program, the Tancredo brigades savaged even him as endorsing "amnesty." Rather than see the Pence plan as a way out of their political mess, Mr. Hastert failed to defend him. On immigration, Mr. Tancredo is now the real speaker of the House.Even if all of this somehow works this election year, the long term damage to the GOP could be considerable. Pete Wilson demonized illegal aliens to win re-election as California Governor in 1994, but at the price of alienating Latino voters for a decade. The smarter Republicans--President Bush, Karl Rove, Senator John McCain, Colorado Governor Bill Owens and Florida Governor Jeb Bush--understand that the GOP can't sustain its majority without a larger share of the Hispanic vote. Making Mr. Tancredo the spokesman on this issue is a surefire way to make Hispanics into permanent Democrats.
Every poll we've seen says that the public favors an immigration reform of the kind that President Bush does. That's because, whatever their concerns about border security, Americans are smart enough to know that immigrants will keep coming as long as they have the economic incentive to do so. They also don't want the social disruption favored by the deport-'em-all Tancredo Republicans.
On policy, the country could do worse than pass nothing this year on immigration. We've muddled through for years, and at 4.6% unemployment the U.S. economy is easily absorbing the illegal workforce. But having turned the immigration issue into a rallying cry, Republicans have put themselves at political risk if they do nothing. If the GOP finds itself in the minority next year, we trust its restrictionists will stand up and take a bow."
First some housekeeping and thanks to the blog Called As Seen for having the great taste and insight to link to The Pink Flamingo! Seriously, it is nice to know there are others out there who are just as interested as I am about the state of affairs with what I call 'tarnished sources'. And thanks to the Pondering American for taking the ball and running with it. James has been a tremendous encouragement. It is gratifying to know at least a few people care about what is going on in this country. And you simply must check out his expose of the WND headline about an illegal raping a puppy (yes, you read it correctly). I gave up on World Net Daily ages ago when I discovered Joseph Farah was one of the major promoters of Chicken Little conspiracy theories on the right. Oh, the latest is the Bilderbergers&dogs (I refuse to even link to this nonsense) are manipulating GWB into making the
Don't you just love the way the Dems are acting about the WMD announcement? Heck, we've been hearing rumors about the discoveries for ages now. I guess I like the way the Prez down played things and just kept on keeping on in the face of all those 'Bush lied' comments. To bad those who made the comments don't have sense enough to wipe the egg off their faces!
Speaking of GWB, did you hear the one about the San Andres Fault getting ready to shake, rattle, and roll? You do realize it is all his fault because he cheated algore out of the presidency and has proceeded to destroy the planet.
There was a major terror arrest today.
The other day I told you there was trouble in Minuteman Paradise. Well, it continues. Gilchrist and his Minuteman Project and Simcox have definately split. Word is Simcox could have some financial accountability problems down the line. If you check out the Gilchrist site and compare it with the Simcox site you might notice that Gilchrist has a little ego thing going on here. You know, this could be fun before it's over. We're talking egos here as big as...the planet Jupiter!
Then last week, as reported here, Casey Nethercort of Ranch Rescue has turned on the Minutemen, et. al. "
They may have begun feeding on their own - or we can hope for it. Casey Nethercott, not a stranger to shady associates now claims Jim Gilchrist has KKK and neo-nazi associates. And the FBI is investigating them. This came out in today's Sierra Vista paper. With any luck they have begun feeding on their own.""James Gilchrist is swinging the door open for every wacko, and wackos are the bad percentage of white supremacists, white power," Nethercott said. "They're racists he cannot control. Sitting in an office on about a 100-acre ranch, the southern boundary of which is 30 feet from the border, the 37-year-old militia leader said that while he supports Tombstone newspaper owner and Civil Homeland Defense founder Simcox, he believes Simcox has made a bad deal with Gilchrist.
Both Minuteman Project leaders have lost control of the people who are volunteering, Nethercott said.
White supremacists bother him.
"If I see Nazi armbands and skinheads and neo-Nazis 'sieg heiling' and marching down Puzzi Ranch Road, I'll make one call to the sheriff's department," Nethercott said.
Then he said he would arrest them for trespassing on private property because half of the road is ranch land.
And Nethercott doesn't hide the possibility he will counter armed volunteers of the Minuteman Project with his own "special forces trained soldiers."
"If I catch 10 skinheads with guns walking on my property, honestly they will probably be so afraid of what they will see they will probably surrender on the spot. They have no integrity. They're not soldiers. They're cowards," he said.
Unlike those who will be part of the Minuteman Project, Nethercott said his militia group is well-regulated, as required by the Second Amendment to the Constitution.
Saying he helps train his militia members to strict standards, Nethercott comes off as a man with a lot of military background.
However, according to records at the Cochise County Superior Court filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center, his military experience is slightly more than a month.
According to part of a 2004 filing by Kelley McNair-Bruner of the Montgomery, Ala., based organization, Nethercott enlisted in the Army on March 29, 1986 and was discharged May 1, 1986, for failing to meet training standards."
Just Monday I was telling a young cousin about the Irish and how they were hated, mis-treated, and were the 'Mexicans' of their day. I think it is a lesson we need to review. Remember, the fool (TT) who doesn't know history, is bound to repeat it. Did the Irish destroy the US as was predicted? Well, I know Kennedy opponants might say they did, but it is tongue in cheek.
More Tancredo wackiness. I though Rush had one of the world's biggest egos (and he admits it - which is healthy - and makes a huge ego fun) but TT (I think I'm going to start calling him that) has one even larger, and he takes himself seriously - demagogue? Rush is out for himself (and that doesn’t bother me a bit - he earns ever one of those many millions he makes) but when a United States Congressman, and a Republican to boot, is completely out for himself with a nefarious agenda,
A few sites are starting to expose his behavior and connections. Called As Seen did some work on him yesterday, linking to Red State where there is this nice little commentary on him." Art Rasputin recently noted that Tom Tancredo’s PAC, Team America, is now targeting a fellow conservative Republican for defeat in his presidential campaign to block any and all immigration reform proposals. What is amazing about that development is that his GOP colleagues have not yet responded with any degree of outrage over his blatant disregard for Ronald Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment in the midst of perhaps the most precarious election cycle since Republicans took control. Why not? They might just think he is nuts and worth ostracizing like the White House does. But what about the 99 other Members who are members of his Immigration Reform Caucus and who lend their names to his broadsides against colleagues? When will these good Members start distancing themselves from the Caucus—not because they disagree on the need for immigration reform but because they have lost confidence in Tancredo’s leadership capacity and his tactics?" Thank you Red State. I have been saying this for months!
I have a feeling today is a TT day. The best laugh comes from the Denver Post. "If they really wanted to, your representatives in Washington could dry up illegal immigration almost before you could say, "Tom Tancredo is a tiresome demagogue." All they would have to do is require U.S. employers to check the legal status of all employees and impose stiff sanctions - including multimillion-dollar fines and prison time - on employers who flout the law...Fringe politicians benefit from the presence of illegal workers, too. Without them, would you ever have heard of a minor-league congressman named Tancredo? A Republican from Colorado, he is now considering a run for the White House, fueled by the name recognition he's won with his nativist rants against the undocumented workers pouring in across our southern borders..."
It has dawned on me the best way to neutralize a demagogue like TT is to laugh at his hypocrisy and expose his associations to the light of day. A roach can't stand light. I suppose we could do a whole Star Wars analogy here, but I have too many other things on my mind right now. BTW: My 21 year old niece, Rachel, has been encouraged by a professor to do grad school in
And a measure to deny all but emergency services to illegals and their families (including their children who are legally born in the US) was defeated in Colorado. One comment, "Luis Sanchez, 36, who repairs refrigerators for a living, was particularly incensed that the proposed ballot measure would have prohibited illegal immigrants from accessing state-run vaccination programs. "It's not humane to the children at risk," he said. "To put the burden of sickness on them - there are more and more indiscriminate laws, thanks to Tom Tancredo.But Tancredo, a Colorado congressman who has been a national leader in the immigration reform movement, said "even many people who oppose the measure will acknowledge that the people of Colorado have a constitutional right to decide such matters." "I can only hope the court will recant its error in a rehearing and allow the citizens of Colorado to vote on this measure as required by the Colorado Constitution," he said. The ruling will encourage the Colorado Minutemen Project to become more active, though its focus is on targeting employers who hire illegal immigrants, said co-founder Bob Copley. "The anger compounds when the courts takes it out of the hands of the people," Copley said. Omar Robles 22, who came to the U.S. from Valparaiso, Mexico, when he was 8 and works at a clothing store his father started, said he doubted that the ballot measure would have been a deterrent to immigrants anyway. "They come with a goal to save money to build a house or start a business in Mexico," Robles said. "They don't come for the services - many don't even know the services are even out there."
All of this is leading to a Tancredo expose thread which will be continued on The Subway Canaries.
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