i used to like tom tancredo
That was before the “Bush wants to dissolve the borders in favor of a Greater North America” stuff… and this (on WND, natch):
Ninety miles to the south, he found a symbol to bolster his belief that unfettered immigration is endangering the United States: Miami, he told a conservative online news site, “has become a Third World country.”
In South Florida to attend Restoration Weekend, a gathering of conservative activists, the Colorado Republican, whose district includes suburbs of Denver, pointed to Miami as an example of how ”the nature of America can be changed by uncontrolled immigration,” the story says.
”Look at what has happened to Miami,” the WorldNetDaily quotes Tancredo as saying in an interview. “It has become a Third World country. You just pick it up and take it and move it someplace. You would never know you’re in the United States of America. You would certainly say you’re in a Third World country.”
Great — let’s slam the ideal immigrant: industrious people from a socialist toilet risking their asses (and in many cases, their childrens’ asses) to come the 90 miles over open ocean to Florida, freedom, and a chance to prosper. Many of these immigrants are (gasp) conservatives. You know, that group that Tancredo’s supposed to be part of.
Name ten cities in America you’d rather live in than where you live now. Isn’t Miami on that list?
Most righty commentators that I read dropped Tom Tancredo like a hot potato after the “Greater North America” thing; I’ll treat him like a polonium-210-laced spud from now on.
11.30.2006 @ 07:34
I wish someone had asked him the simple followup question, “Why, whatever could you mean by that, Mr. Tancredo?” As you note, immigrant populations are very often among our most fiercely-loyal people. Yet how else to consider remarks like his except xenophobia at best, poorly-disguised racism at worst.
12.05.2006 @ 10:09
“Name ten cities in America you’d rather live in than where you live now.”
If there were 10 cities I’d rather live in than in rural Kansas, I would already live in one of them…
12.05.2006 @ 21:24
I guess I should have said, “Imagine a consensus list for top 10 cities to live in, factoring in weather and party atmosphere. Maybe Miami would be on it”. The rest of us hoi polloi choose Kansas.