Posted on 03/16/2006 1:12:11 PM PST by dennisw
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Tom Tancredo and an Illinois congressman traded charges of racism during a heated confrontation following a televised appearance Wednesday on immigration reform, both their congressional offices confirmed today. Tancredo and Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., are frequent sparring partners on the talk show circuit as Congress works to pass some version of immigration reform. Tancredo is a leading advocate of tougher enforcement against illegal immigrants and people who hire them. Gutierrez, the son of Mexican immigrants, calls Tancredo's approach "ugly policy" motivated by racism.
On Wednesday, they appeared together on CNBC, and when the cameras stopped rolling the debate continued with a spat first reported by the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call.
Gutierrez's office claims that Tancredo aggressively continued the discussion off camera and tried to slow Gutierrez as he was trying to reach the elevator.
Tancredo spokesman Will Adams, who was present, said it was Gutierrez who was the aggressor, hurling comments and, before it was over, saying he thought about hitting Tancredo.
The words exchanged are in little dispute, based on this account in Roll Call:
At one point, Gutierrez reportedly asked Tancredo if he had ever eaten in a restaurant.
"How could you eat from the plates touched by those nasty illegal immigrants?" Gutierrez said.
He then asked Tancredo: "Have you ever eaten an orange? A grape," an apparent reference to illegal farm workers. He then repeated the phrase several times as Tancredo tried to answer. "An orange, a grape, an orange, a grape, an orange a grape."
Gutierrez, who has a cast on a foot, reportedly tried to walk to the elevator, but Tancredo tried to stop him by putting his hand on his shoulder. Gutierrez reportedly demanded: "Get your hand off me!"
Adams said Tancredo had done little more than tap him on the shoulder.
Gutierrez said to Tancredo: "You racist! You bigot!"
Tancredo told Gutierrez: "You look in the mirror if you want to see a racist."
Gutierrez and staff members finally got on the elevator, while Tancredo and his team took the stairs.
When they met again on the first floor, Gutierrez told his staff, "Better hurry up -- the KKK is coming," according to Roll Call. He accused Tancredo of following him, although Adams said they simply needed to use the same exit because Tancredo's office is across the street.
Just outside, Gutierrez said to aides within Tancredo's earshot: "I thought about hitting him, but then I thought, 'What if I (expletive) kicked his ass,'" the newspaper reported.
"To say this is unbecoming of a Congressman doesn't go far enough," Adams said. "This is unbecoming of an adult." Asked if Tancredo wanted an apology, Adams said, "It would be nice if he apologized. We're not expecting that from somebody who threatens to beat people up."
Asked if Gutierrez wanted an apology, spokesman Scott Frotman said, "He's not going to ask Mr. Tancredo for an apology, but Mr. Tancredo may think about apologizing to all the immigrants that he scapegoats and ridicules."
"Why? Because he's a loudmouth and nobody wants to work with him."
When he first got to Congress there was hardly any reform caucas, now there are 100. It seems they are willing to work with him.
I doubt it, didn't Tancredo say he doesn't expect an apology from someone who threatens to beat people up?
You don't need to be black, or as you put it real white to dance certain music - music is colorless, thus, being able to perform a well executed dance is an art. Salsa for your information, isn't an African dance per se, though some of its roots come from African rumbas. And by the way the term Salsa was created in New York.
Some info on the subject:
A look at the origin of Salsa
By: Jaime Andrés Pretell
Excerpt:
It is not only Cuban; nevertheless we must give credit to Cuba for the origin and ancestry of creation. It is here where Contra-Danze (Country Dance) of England/France, later called Danzón, which was brought by the French who fled from Haiti, begins to mix itself with Rhumbas of African origin (Guaguanco, Colombia, Yambú). Add Són of the Cuban people, which was a mixture of the Spanish troubadour (sonero) and the African drumbeats and flavora and a partner dance flowered to the beat of the clave.
This syncretism also occurred in smaller degrees and with variations in other countries like the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Puerto Rico, among others. Bands of these countries took their music to Mexico City in the era of the famous films of that country (Perez Prado, most famous...). Shortly after, a similar movement to New York occurred. In these two cities, more promotion and syncretism occurred and more commercial music was generated because there was more investment.
New York created the term "Salsa", but it did not create the dance. The term became popular as nickname to refer to a variety of different music, from several countries of Hispanic influence: Rhumba, Són Montuno, Guaracha, Mambo, Cha cha cha, Danzón, Són, Guguanco, Cubop, Guajira, Charanga, Cumbia, Plena, Bomba, Festejo, Merengue, among others. Many of these have maintained their individuality and many were mixed creating "Salsa".
Salsa varies from site to site. In New York, for example, new instrumentalization and extra percussion were added to some Colombian songs so that New Yorkers - that dance mambo "on the two" - can feel comfortable dancing to the rhythm and beat of the song, because the original arrangement is not one they easily recognize. This is called "finishing," to enter the local market. This "finish" does not occur because the Colombian does not play Salsa, but it does not play to the rhythm of the Puerto Rican/Post-Cuban Salsa. I say Post-Cuban, because the music of Cuba has evolved towards another new and equally flavorful sound.
Then, as a tree, Salsa has many roots and many branches, but one trunk that unites us all. The important thing is that Salsa is played throughout the Hispanic world and has received influences of many places within it. It is of all of us and it is a sample of our flexibility and evolution. If you think that a single place can take the credit for the existence of Salsa, you are wrong. link
Recipient of the American Conservative Union's "Best & Brightest" award on May 3, 2005
American Conservative Union score of "100" for 2004
American Conservative Union lifetime rating of "98"
Recipient of Family Research Councils True Blue Award in 2004, 2003, 2002 & 2001 for having achieved a 100% voting record on issues of importance to the American family
Ranked as third most fiscally conservative member of the US House of Representatives for 2005 by the National Taxpayers Union (NTU)
Earned a Taxpayers' Friend Award for 2005 and 2004 from the NTU
Earned a score of "100" from the National Right to Life Committee for votes cast during the ongoing 109th Congress
Consistently received a score of "100" from the National Right to Life Committee since his arrival in Congress in 1999
Received the US Chamber of Commerce's "Spirit of Enterprise" award for pro-business support for the first session of the 109th Congress, as well as for the 108th, 107th and 106th Congresses
Awarded a grade of "A" by the National Rifle Association (NRA) for the 2004 election cycle
Praised by Tony Blankley on "The McLaughlin Group" as being the most honest person of 2005 "for saying what the polls indicate about illegal immigrants and soft borders"
I should have specified at the beginning of Post No. 104 in this thread that all of the information contained in it pertained to Cong. Tancredo.
"Tancredo didnt start this ahole"
I think you meant this vitriol for somebody else...
I'm a solid supporter of both Tancredo and Pence.
"I think you meant this vitriol for somebody else...
I'm a solid supporter of both Tancredo and Pence."
Your right - please see post 67. You and I are of like minds GO Tom Tancredo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From what I've been reading, the State of WA is begging for 1,000 immigrant workers to pick fruit. How is it, that in this country where we have 12 million illegals, they have become too good to pick fruit?
I thought that's why they were here? LOL.
sw
Most of us abandoned that "debate tactic" somewhere around the Second Grade. This Gutierez fellow is a jerk.
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