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."
And you'd never revert to name calling yourself....
"*snicker*"
Want to explain why you post this and how that person is wrong? Or do you want to just be someone who justs throws meaningless labels and post the same boring, asinine "Buchanan works with Tancredo's PAC" (ignoring that it's not Pat Buchanan).
If Tancredo is a racist and a bigot then, I guess I am too!
Whoops I forgot to inlclude r9etb in the to section of my post. CowboyJay this was not a post to you. sorry
By this account, the only racist here was Gutierrez.
This was to be a post to you not CowboyJay
Tancredo didnt start this ahole ...if you have ever dealt with these radical racist illegal proponent bas*&ds you would know what Im talking about. If you try to discuss the issue they will alway revert to name calling.
Raul Grijalva is very much like Guiterrez - both are radical socialist white haters. Grijalva is much more open about his hate. Do not give these people a pass they are the reason we are so divided on this issue.
" And you'd never revert to name calling yourself...."
You started it so I would be happy to call you what you are...
Whats a matter you got your feelings hurt?
Its obvious you can dish it out but you cant take it.
Whoops, I missed that.
Sounds like they're both at fault to some degree. Like a couple of kindergarten boys.
It would serve the quislings right if they had to worry about being held accountable for the trouble they enable.
My congressman is better then your congressman! ;op
Does Gutierrez carry the Mexican Express card?
Ah, yes, Gutierrez, one of the snake-in-the-grass Democratic Socialists in our Congress.
http://www.restoringamerica.org/documents/socialists_in_congress.html
"The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is the largest socialist organization in the United States, and the principal U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International (also in Francais and Espanol). DSA's members are building progressive movements for social change while establishing an openly socialist presence in American communities and politics...
It's a pity that gentlemen no longer fight duels to protect their honor...
SCR - "Attention fact checkers: Gutierrez is Puerto Rican."
Clemenza - "He graduated from the University of Puerto Rico"
Let's qualify and revisit the statements above.
A Puerto Rican is someone who was born in Puerto Rico, or someone who's domiciled in Puerto Rico for the long term, regardless of where he was born, and regardless of his race. "Puerto Rican" is not a race. Actual Puerto Ricans are mostly white of Spanish heritage, followed by West African heritage, followed by a number of other points of origin, to include Ireland, Germany, France, Corsica, Italy, China, Lebanon, and almost every point in between.
Gutierrez was not born in Puerto Rico and has never been domiciled in Puerto Rico. He was born in the mainland and his parents were from Puerto Rico, purportedly. He belongs to a class of people that claim Puerto Rican heritage for race baiting purposes, something thought out in places other than Puerto Rico.
Gutierrez did not graduate from the University of Puerto Rico. He graduated from Northeastern Illinois University.
It is my opinion that Gutierrez is in favor of Hispanic immigrants, legal or otherwise, because his support among his gerry-mandered district's "Puerto Ricans" is fleeting, and he needs political support from the growing Mexican and Central American populace of Illinois.
Furthermore, Gutierrez is almost universaly aborred in the actual Puerto Rico, where he is referred to as an opportunist because of the Vieques fiasco, and is "fondly" referred to here as "Alien-Head".
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
More of the same. Seems there were no staffers that had the memo: gotta follow up with xenophobe and hegemonist. I do not agree with every plank in the Tancredo platform. I do agree with the better enforcement of what legislation is on the books. Our House of Representatives is catching on. Our Senate may be a lost cause. Perhaps the best we can hope for is a reconciled bill without the amnesty.
"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, "Nah, you know how it is, these Hispanics, they can't help being hot-heads."
I believe the biggest racists can be found in the NAACP and some of the Hispanic organizations.
Accusations of racism is one way to build power with a race of people.
I am sick of the comments that a person is a racists for standing up for America.
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