Posted on 11/30/2006 8:30:21 AM PST by Dane
Tancredo fires back at Fla. guv Colo. congressman accuses Jeb Bush of 'happy talk'
By Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News November 30, 2006 U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo on Wednesday accused Florida Gov. Jeb Bush of spouting "politically correct happy talk" in a war of words touched off by the congressman's swipe at the city of Miami as resembling a "Third World country."
In a letter responding to a blast from Bush, Tancredo said the governor did not recognize illegal immigration as a problem in Miami.
"I certainly understand and appreciate your need and desire to create the illusion of Miami as a multiethnic 'All American' city," Tancredo said. "I can also appreciate that Miami's schools graduate many outstanding students and that the cultural and ethnic diversity of the city offers many advantages to its residents.
"However, it is neither naive nor insulting to call attention to a real problem that cannot be easily dismissed through politically correct happy talk."
The letter was in response to one sent by Bush on Tuesday, after the governor learned of Tancredo's comments during a weekend summit of conservative activists in Palm Beach.
Tancredo reportedly said that unchecked immigration, both legal and illegal, was behind many of Miami's problems, including its high crime rate and poverty.
Bush described Tancredo's comments as "disappointing" and "naive" and defended Miami's diversity, citing the contributions made by people of all ethnicities. He also noted declining crime rates and improving test scores posted by minority students.
But Tancredo said it was Bush who is being naive.
"The tolerance of cultural diversity in a city or a nation is admirable up to a point, but when diversity is worshipped to the detriment of assimilation, it becomes a serious problem that undermines the civic culture that forms the basis for our democratic institutions and the rule of law," he wrote.
Besides the president's brother, civic boosters also have come to Miami's defense.
Frank Nero, president and CEO of The Beacon Council, Miami-Dade County's economic development partnership, called Tancredo's statements "insulting, divisive and intellectually reprehensible."
"Perhaps (Tancredo's) next junket should be to read the inscription on the Statue of Liberty, along with a stop at Ellis Island," he said
JMO of what Tom Tancredo is saying, Miami, hispanic spanish speaking cesspool, Detroit, they be speaking an English dialect, Ebonics. Detroit are good, especially since there be no Spanish speakers and they be represented by John Conyers.
Intresting is it not how Tancreado always attacks fellow Republicans. Never attacks the Democrats on anything. Maybe he should switch partys.
I've always been interested in that form of pathology. Rep. Tancredo is not the only one.
Intresting is it not how Tancreado always attacks fellow Republicans. Never attacks the Democrats on anything. Maybe he should switch partys.
care to rephrase that?
I've spent time in Miami and Atlanta in the last year.
I'll take Miami anyday.
Kinda' makes you wonder, doesn't it? Why Miami? Shouldn't he be looking more closely to home? Like his own district, perhaps?
Somebody grab this guy's shovel before he digs the ground out from under the whole party.
I don't see him attacking a Republican here. There's a difference of opinion but it hardly qualifies as an attack. I happen to agree with Tancredo by the way. I've spent enough time in Miami to understand what he's talking about.
He never did know when to shut up...and besides, he looks too much like Dick Durbin.
Somebody grab this guy's shovel before he digs the ground out from under the whole party.
Exactly, it is one thing to be in favor of enforcing law and protecting our borders, it is quite another to attack fellow Republicans for one's own reasons.
INOW, Why anger everyone in Miami and S. Florida?
Intresting is it not how Tancreado always attacks fellow Republicans. Never attacks the Democrats on anything. Maybe he should switch partys.
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TT is not attacking a Republican per se. He is attacking an illegal immigration apologist and rationalizer of the impact of the flooding of schools, let alone the country. And he is right about Jeb putting a "happy face" on the situation. Given the federal government's position of deliberate ineffective border control, what else can Jeb do but pander to the tide?
"Intresting is it not how Tancreado always attacks fellow Republicans. Never attacks the Democrats on anything. Maybe he should switch parties."
These attackers are often the real RINOS.
Miami is two counties, eighty miles, and three major airports south of the balmy West Palm Beach conference location too.
Tancredo is a blowhard. Talks like he lves in
San Diego instead of Colorado. Maybe he listens to
Savage too much...what is his solution for illegals
that are not all Mexican citizens..probably a few
roaming the mile higjh streets from the North...or
don't they count? Jeb Bush is probably the most
empathetic and conservative Governor on the planet..
I'll take his asssessment of this problem over the
T man...today, tomorow, and forever. Jake
"The 6th District of Colorado resembles a Third World Country."
--Rep. Tom Tancredo [running for election]
What he says is true....sorry..but it is....
Illegals are killing this country...fact...
My hospital here is in the red...
spanish is the major language in my grocery store..
my ballot is in spanish....
Cinco De mayo is a big holiday here...
where is my America?
He's the best thing the Republicans have going in regards to illegal immigration which is why he blasts fellow Republicans on turning a blind eye to this serious problem. Everyone knows where the Dems stand on it and they'll never be swayed until Al Queda walks a bomb across the Mexican border and blows up half their constituency in California.
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