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November 06, 2010 12:19 AM UTC

The GOP's "Tom Tancredo Problem"

  • 40 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

That’s not the title of Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson’s article today, which is actually titled “The GOP’s Sarah Palin problem.” Read down a little, though, and you’ll see what we mean:

In the past, Palin embodied the populist style of the Tea Party movement while espousing a fairly mainstream Republican ideology. On economic, social and foreign policy, Palin seldom strayed from a simplified, popularized Reaganism. The Mama Grizzly may have been ferocious, but her talking points came from the Heritage Foundation instead of from shadier corners of the right.

This election season called that perception into question. Palin’s support for O’Donnell showed poor political judgment. But Palin went further, also endorsing Constitution Party gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo in Colorado, one of the most divisive figures in American politics. [Pols emphasis]

Tancredo has made a career of fanning anti-immigrant resentment and lobbing ideological grenades. The people who voted Barack Obama into office, in his view, “could not even spell the word ‘vote’ or even say it in English.” The National Council of La Raza is “a Latino KKK without the hoods or the nooses.” Miami is a “Third World country.” Pope Benedict’s embrace of immigrants is all about “recruiting new members,” in an attempt at “faith-based marketing.” “The guy sitting in the White House,” says Tancredo, is a greater threat to the Constitution than al-Qaeda. “If his wife says Kenya is his homeland, why don’t we just send him back?”

It was one of the best outcomes of Election 2010 that Tancredo was exiled from any position of public trust. But it is disturbing that Palin found Tancredo to be the “right man for the job.” Her endorsement raises the question of whether Palin has any standards for her support other than anti-government rhetoric…

Gerson was President George W. Bush’s head speechwriter and a Heritage Foundation senior policy analyst, so we accept him as authoritative when talking about “simplified Reaganism.” And we’re not at all surprised that, like many Republicans in Colorado nursing their post-Tancredo hangovers, Gerson rightly wonders what the hell Palin (and the rest of you) were thinking.

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40 thoughts on “The GOP’s “Tom Tancredo Problem””

  1. All the lib hand-wringing about ‘what’s wrong with the poor GOP’ the same week as a monstrous demolition of the Dems in a national election.

    It’s really sweet!

    2. Gerson was President George W. Bush’s head speechwriter and a Heritage Foundation senior policy analyst

      You’re completely full of shit. Oh sorry, that’s actually a major problem, not a small one.

    3. How fucking stupid are you really?

      The establishment Republicans are going to go full out to marginalize Palin who would surely lose to Obama.  This is all an established meme which actually makes sense.

      Would you really vote for this air head?

      1. But thanks for being so civil and mature.

        Palin will never ever get the nomination for President. She’s a great Fundraiser, and might be in the Senate, but she will never be President.

        This is a lib attempt to try to pull something-anything positive out of the biggest ass-kicking in the House since 1948.  

        2. Hey, congratulations on the way you all took back the Senate!  That was impressive.  You’ll sure be able to push through your agenda now!  And Congress is veto-proof, too!  Yessirree, that was one hell of an ass-kicking there.

          We’ll see how the American citizens feel about you in 2 years, after you’ve had to actually, you know, do things, instead of just saying “NO NO NO HELL NO WE CAN’T!!” like you’ve done for the last 2 years.

          1. The Republicans have had the House now for some 96 hours! Why in the Hell hasn’t the unwmployment figures improved?

            Hat tip to the smartass who got this way before me. 🙂

          2. Because it’s a positive that the Dems had a supermajority and did so well with it that they gave back 63 House seats the next time the public had a crack at them.

            2. We saved the country from the financial abyss caused by Republican mismanagement.  We used one time representatives like Betsy Markey to push through historic health care reform that your pussy outfit isn’t going to reverse.  We set a new tone of cooperation that your side has shown to be incapable of matching.  Our president is in the Oval Office working to help rebuild our country which is in stark contrast to the brush cutter.

              Democrats got punished for the bank bailout bonuses period.  President Obama has governed as a centrist which upsets the radicals in his party but he has been a rock steady guy through this period of intense and racist propaganda against him.  He is just going to get better as things go along.

              State wide we control the governors mansion and the senate.  There will be no midnight redistricting this time.  Republicans turned bat shit crazy and nominated dirtbags in a redistricting cycle.  Our GOTV networking systems worked as expected and VAN will be even better in 2012.

              And we kicked your culture warrior asshole Ken Buck to the curb along with his culture war baggage.  I’m feeling pretty good about being a Democrat tonight.  It gets tougher for Republicans from here on out because they share power and will be expected to contribute.  The one thing that Republicans are really poor at is governing so the country will see their childish behavior and nasty propaganda for the next two years.

              You never did answer whether you are such a dumb shit that you would actually consider voting for Palin.  Afraid to answer?

              1. Tone it down a little, though.  

                Nah.

                But thanks for being so civil and mature.

                Palin will never ever get the nomination for President. She’s a great Fundraiser, and might be in the Senate, but she will never be President.

                1. I didn’t connect Nah with No.

                  It is hard for me to tone things down when my nick name is Juvenile and I do so enjoy twisting your tail when you are in full boasting mode.  History nails you all the time.

                  Democrats took Republicans best shot and we still control the Senate and the executive branch at both the state and national level.  Democrats also worked to defeat the anti-government amendments and the personhood amendment has become a frivolous joke.  Not bad results in a Republican wave year.

                  It would be nice if your side started acting like adults too but there is no chance of that.  I get real tired of the lying about our president.

                  This email hoax just one example of the out right lies Republicans like to tell  

                  1. It’s not “twisting my tail”  to say things like this:

                    You never did answer whether you are such a dumb shit that you would actually consider voting for Palin.  Afraid to answer?

                    It’s just rude.  I also find that so curious that some of the more shrill folks here immediately go to the “you disagree with me therefore must be stupid” line of defense during any kind of debate.

                    R’s took their best shot and took more seats in the House than had been turned over since 1948.  We took over 600 State legislative seats, and numerous Gubernatorial races, after being proclaimed dead 24 months ago.  

                    BTW, I agree on personhood and the Dr. Evil amendments, and I voted against them.  As did many R’s, obviously.

                    Anyway, I’m off with the kiddos for a nearly 80-degree day.  Have a good one.

                    1. Objectively anyone who votes for her for anything is a dumb shit.  You have indicated that you won’t vote for her therefore you can’t be a dumb shit.  She will continue to inflict grieve on your party for years to come regardless of whether she is the 2012 nominee or not.  John McCain did a lot of dumb things but none dumber than making her his VP pick.

                      Republicans rang up big victories all over the country by doing nothing so don’t count out Democrats who actually care about governing and getting things done.  I doubt we’ll see CD 3 or 4 in play anytime soon but it was damn satisfying to see Bennet win.

                      I apologize again for being rude to you but like Sarah Palin I can’t change.  It is in my nature to be mean when you go off on some bloated orgy of self-congratulations.  Your team didn’t improve during your time out and the results this time around won’t be any better than last.  Republicans will continue to push corporate rule and culture wars and generally try to divide our nation for political gain.  No new ideas.  No come to Jesus over protecting the environment or dealing with climate change.  Your representatives offer nothing today that is different from your disastrous policies of the past.  Democrats have put together some highly effective GOTV networks and we’ll continue to fight for a inclusive and prosperous nation ruled by the people instead of the corporations.  It’s not over by any means.

                    2. Good reasoning: All dumb shits will vote for Palin. You’re not going to vote for Palin. Therefore, you’re not a dumb shit.

                      There are plenty of dumb shits. It’s just that some of them won’t vote for Palin. 🙂

                    3. but you have to admit that anyone who votes for Palin and her crass, money grubbing, manipulative ways is a dumb shit.  It is kind of a litmus test of dumb shitness.  The other test is over evolution.  When we were GOTV phone banking this fall, the joke was to first ask if the individual believed in evolution.  If they didn’t then you would just terminate the call because there wasn’t any point in trying to have a conversation with them.  Those two questions (Would you ever vote for Palin and Do you believe evolution is scientific fact) can pretty much identify a dumb shit a 100% of the time.

                      Now that the Republican Party has been infected with the Palin virus, they are going to have to live with it for the rest of their lives.  She will be a constant irritation into the foreseeable future.

                    5. We can’t conclusively prove that LB is a dumb shit because he has answered in the affirmative that he would not consider voting for Sarah Palin if she was the Republican presidential nominee and he has never publicly acknowledged that he ever believed that Death Panels were a real possibility based on Sarah Palin’s shtick so we have to give him the benefit of the doubt.

                      Although these facts don’t confirm that he is a dumb shit, they also doesn’t preclude the possibility that he still is one because he is giddy at the possibility of allowing the health insurance corporations to resume denying American citizens coverage because of a pre-existing condition and jacking their rates and cherry picking customers for the fattest profits.  Not confirmed but not reassuring either.

                      If he protests that he wants to keep parts of the health care reform bill then only a dumb shit would have supported a boycott of the process and shrieked in angst without any effort to make it better.  Only a dumb shit would seriously consider that they can roll back these health insurance regulations.  Never gonna happen and only a dumb shit would fantasize that they would.

                      Was that an adequate summation of the argument for a definition of dumb shits?  

                    6. Took a hike on The Old Spanish Trail today, and actually thought of your high country hiking and photographs.

            3. Liberals are now poised to elect Nancy Pelosi as the House Minority Leader.  Great news for progressives!

              Pelosi presided over some of the most importatnt historic legislation in the history of the country that are now the law of the land!

              We’ll see how effective the pubs will be.

        1. If Obama wants to replay the 1946 “Do Nothing” Congress, he wins.

          *Clinton-era tax rates come back

          *Health Care Law stays

          *Wall Street Reform and Regulation stays.

          Repubs have the Olympian Rock to push up the mountaintop, not the Dems. If the Repubs want to shut down the Gov’t, Obama hits ONE on speed dial and calls up Bill for advice.

          Hooting and screeching about the win is fine, but don’t delude yourself into thinking it’s all over…

    5. The GOP is becoming the Oldsmobile of political parties.  Demographics (much less demagoguery) are not your friend.

      The more the Tea Party pulls the GOP to the fringe, the more likely a new party will emerge.  And yes, it would pull some Dems over as well.  Overall not a bad thing.

      With all the challenges we have — aging population, decimated middle class, increasing competition in the global market, stressed educational infrastructure, debt overhang, etc., we need to have a real adult conversation about what our options and priorities should be.

      I actually think Hick’s going to be a role model for the rest of us and potentially could provide a road map for the nation.

    6. The R’s won big in 2010. But, about 60% of their “win” was not real.  It was voters looking around, concluding the economy sux, and blaming the party in power.

      We have done the same thing to R’s, and will again some day.

      So assuming the economy continues to improve for the next 7 quarters, we’ll vote to preserve whatever is seen as sq then.

      And in 2014 we’ll do the same thing.  Except by then we’ll have forgotten how bad* this has all been.  

      *My still living grandmother got married and started having kids in 1933. She lived on a farm in Illinois where her dad was fond of saying “On this farm you work or your’e food.” She tells depression stories that will make you weep. Or laugh cause you just can’t believe it’s true.

      Her reaction to “Cinderella Man”:  “He shouldda kept that job on the docks. But at least he paid back the gov’t handout.”

      Sort of like the “with a stick guy”

      l

    1. . . . the witch and the (hmmm).

      But lots of possibilities with Palin/Tancredo — the grizzly and the crazy . . . the half-governor and the too-many-times Congressman . . . “I can see Russia from my house” and “I can bomb Mecca any time I want.”

  3. Palin is great! Keep supporting her at every turn! She’s got nowhere to go but the White House. She really needs to run against Obama in 2012. She could get Tancredo to campaign as a surrogate here in between trips to Grand Junction and the Springs.

  4. I think if he changes his registration back, it’ll be a very quiet affair. And the Colorado GOP is praying he doesn’t. I’m hoping he does.

    What if he stays in the ACP? Tries to go the third party route through them again? He’d rather be the big fish ego in a little pond, no? Would he take any big name Repubs over to the ACP with him next time? Anybody here at Pols still in the ACP? I’d like to know how you felt having Tanc dogpaddling in your punchbowl the last couple of months.

    @Jason, David, et al. Have you journalist types talked with Goss since the election? I’d like to know how magnanimous he’s feeling now. Looking back, I’m not sure he was such a classy politician after all; class means sticking to your principles, not stepping off the sidewalk when a bully comes along.

    That said, either way, Tancredo is a problem for the GOP. And he makes me very, very happy this beautiful November morning.

        1. You said this a short while back.  The Baroon had a sing-song disjointed poetic style in many of his posts.

          So, if he’s been a frequent poster, I guess he changed his style.  And, frankly, I’ve not seen his historical substance and concerns.  

        2. But that “new guy” hasn’t been around lately either, so I haven’t had a chance to see more posts and thus see if I could detect Barron’s voice in them.

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