Posted on 07/30/2005 3:35:55 AM PDT by Happy2BMe
Mehlman says Republican Party backs Tancredo
The Associated Press
COLORADO SPRINGS — The chairman of the Republican Party said Friday the party backs Rep. Tom Tancredo, despite rifts the Colorado congressman has created with some Hispanic groups.
“The fact is, we’re a big-tent party. I’m proud that we have debate in our party. I think debating the way to protect our borders and protect our national security is a good thing. I believe in a big public debate,” Ken Mehlman said.
Mehlman said if Tancredo is nominated for a fifth term, the party will back him. That’s a sharp change from 2002, when a spokeswoman for the party said Tancredo did not speak for mainstream Republican values.
Mehlman said the Hispanic vote is important to both parties because it represents the fastest growing population in the country. He said Hispanics support a number of Republican standards, including a strong military and support for religious values.
Tancredo has come under fire recently from some Hispanic groups for his calls for tougher immigration enforcement and a proposal to tax some of the money immigrants send outside U.S. borders.
Hispanic and Islamic groups called for his resignation in a Denver protest earlier this week, citing Tancredo’s suggestion to target Islamic holy sites if terrorists launch a nuclear attack on the U.S.
Spokesman Will Adams said Tancredo has no intention of apologizing or resigning.
Tancredo has visited Iowa and New Hampshire to study the possibility of a presidential bid and said he has found a lot of support for his views. He has said he is working to make sure a tough immigration policy is made part of the GOP’s platform.
Mehlman said he planned to visit the headquarters of the evangelical Christian ministry Focus on the Family during his stay and praised its chairman, Jim Dobson, for supporting President Bush’s nomination of Judge John Roberts of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to the U.S. Supreme Court.
He said the group’s support has been good for the Republican Party, even though the party does not agree with all of the positions taken by Focus on the Family. He declined to be specific.
Luis Miranda, spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, said Republicans including Tancredo are using wedge issues like immigration to pump up their constituents and said Mehlman is trying to repair some of the damage.
“All over the country, they seem to be fanning the flames on immigration issues,” Miranda said.
“Their record is atrocious. They seem to be trying to divide America,” he said.
Luis Miranda, spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, said Republicans including Tancredo are using wedge issues like immigration to pump up their constituents and said Mehlman is trying to repair some of the damage.
Spokesman Will Adams said Tancredo has no intention of apologizing or resigning.Tancredo has visited Iowa and New Hampshire to study the possibility of a presidential bid and said he has found a lot of support for his views. He has said he is working to make sure a tough immigration policy is made part of the GOP’s platform.
If Tancredo ran, he would be a one issue vanity candidate.
He should stay in the House and get his work done there.
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Q: Karl Rove, the White House strategist, got so mad over your immigration stance that you were told not to darken the White House door. What's your relationship like with the president these days?
A: My wife and I went to the holiday ball at the White House. No one dances at this ball, because there's no room, and you get stuck waiting in this line... Luckily, we were by the cocktails and the canapes. Finally we got into the room with the Christmas tree, and the president comes up to me and says, "Tommy, I tell you, buddy, thanks for all the help out there." And I'm thinking, "Help out there?" And I say, "Thanks -- anytime." And I realize later that he's talking about the fact that I was the Bush co-chair in Colorado, an honor I did not seek. That was the sum total of my communion with him.
That's nice...
Still doesn't change the fact that he would be a vanity candidate in the 2008 primary...
Tancredo for Prez '08!
He'd be the Pat Buchanan of 2008. And look what that got us in '92.
No, he'd be a sideshow.
Not much different than Alan Keyes in 2000.
There; that's better.
If there are any terror attacks in ther U.S.A. before the 2008 election and it turns out that the southern border was a factor in allowing terrorists and/or weapons to enter the country... Tancredo becomes the front runner.
Tancredo becomes the frontrunner when pigs fly.
I'm really not trying to bash Tancredo here, I think he is a decent congressman, but I just don't see him as presidential material.
I suspect it ain't much.
Regardless of what happens between now and 2008, Tancredo will just help elect a Democrat.
So, after a (hypothetical) attack in which the open border policy was the enabler, American voters will elect another open border candidate? If so, they deserve what they will get.
How's that go?In politics talk is cheap-follow the money.
IMO the Republicans will finger the air and voice support for Mr.Tancredo until they think they have someone more
appealing to the Muslims and mexican-Americans.Then their money will be with anybody but Mr.Tancredo.
Tancredo could not get elected assistant butt wipe at a diarrhea convention.
Although he would be eminently qualified for the job.
the LIBERALS hate anyone who tells it like it is. They live in a fantasy world. We need MORE Tancredos in American politics!
I think that Tancredo could use a couple of friends right about now. I don't have a problem with anything that he said recently, but his comments about Delay stepping aside during that time when Delay was under attack REALLY upset me. He may wind up really regretting those comments, especially if he needs more support from the House GOP members.
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