Posted on 12/16/2006 5:09:34 AM PST by FreeManWhoCan
2nd Rotary Club offers lawmaker a forum after "Third World" remark
Washington - U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo may soon have another opportunity to give a speech in the Miami area after an earlier talk was called off.
A small Rotary Club in Miami Beach on Friday invited the Republican congressman from Littleton, saying it wanted to give him a forum for his views.
"Let the fireworks begin," said Steven Shulman, who arranges speakers for the 23-member Rotary Club of Miami Beach.
Tancredo caused an uproar in Florida last month when he said Miami resembles a "Third World country."
Miami's Rotary Club, a different chapter, had invited him to speak Thursday, but the restaurant where Tancredo was to have appeared canceled the talk, saying his controversial appearance wouldn't be a good fit with a number of holiday parties that day.
Tancredo is interested in taking the Miami Beach chapter up on its offer if a time and place can be arranged, said his spokesman, Carlos Espinosa.
Tancredo made the Third World country remark a month ago in an interview while at a conservative conference in Palm Beach, Fla. Tancredo said he was referring to Miami's crime, low high school graduation rates and abundance of people who speak mainly Spanish.
Meanwhile, Tancredo issued a statement Friday challenging Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to post the speech Tancredo had planned to give Thursday on the governor's website.
The speech already has been posted on Tancredo's website, tancredo.house.gov/.
"I would like to give him the opportunity to show everyone just how much he truly supports the free exchange of ideas," Tancredo said.
Tancredo's statement comes in response to Gov. Bush telling the Miami Herald a visit by Tancredo "would have afforded him the opportunity to enjoy the city's many attributes and ... would have started a worthwhile dialogue on Florida's rich heritage and cultures."
Shortly after Tancredo made his Third World remark last month, Bush said of him, "What a nut."
The smaller Rotary Club extending the latest invitation to Tancredo said it isn't worried about the potential circus that he might draw.
"What the congressman has to say is worthwhile, whether you disagree with it or agree with it," said Bill Coffman, Rotary Club of Miami Beach president.
Coffman's group still needs to find a location for the speech, but was considering the city's convention center. The group would sell tickets to cover the cost, Coffman said. There could also be speakers who disagree with Tancredo on the program.
Bwahahahahahaha!!
That's the fastest turnaround I've seen since Anne Heche became 'un-gay' again. :-)
I'll have to check out that speech. Has Jeb NOT visited Miami/Little Havana in awhile?
Jeb calls Tancredo a "nut" for stating the obvious in Miami, his brother George calls the Minutemen a bunch of "vigilantes" for trying to do what the Federal government refuses to do at the southern border. I'm beginning to like this Bush family less and less !!!
Deport the Legals!
I think they had to invite him before people started showing the pictures of the less attractive parts of Miami-Dade county.
Miami FL Crime Statistics (2005 Crime Data)
FWIW, boring's not necessarily a bad thing :)
If anyone in this world has a sense of humor left, they'd invite him to a Spanish, Mexican, or Cuban restaurant.
Apparently Denver leads Miami in per capita rapes. Now that's a dubious distinction.
I don't live in Denver. I live in a small little burg in Upstate NY. Like I said, sometimes boring is good :)
Comparing the data from the 1990 and 2000 Censuses, Colorado has witnessed an increase in its foreign born residents from 139,890 in 1990 to 380,841 in 2000. The Mexican born residents have increased from 32,712 to 192,427 during that ten year period. Perhaps that might explain some of the increase in crime in Colorado.
Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater.
If he wants to see "third world", he should come down to the Rio Grande Valley, Texas. South texas is San Antonio, McAllen, Harlingen, and Brownsville are Mexico!
"Meanwhile, Tancredo issued a statement Friday challenging Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to post the speech Tancredo had planned to give Thursday on the governor's website."
This is funny, Tancredo wants his poorly written, researched speech to be posted on Jeb Bush's governor website. Who is he to demand the Governor to post his speech? All the more ridiculous considering Tancredo has been rumoured to have presidential ambitions.
All the more ridiculous considering Tancredo has been rumoured to have presidential ambitions.
I just read it and I thought he made his case without being obnoxious. Gratuituous, unsubstantiated criticism like yours is meaningless and just mean.
So who the heck is he to demand the Governor to put his speech on the website? This is all the more considering that the speech that he was supposed to give and was published was poorly written and not backed up substantially by facts.
Tancredo doesn't have a prayer in any statewide or national race and he knows it.
"For me, the issue of giving one's word and promising to do something like this is more important than the rest of it... The overriding motivation for me today to adhere to the term limits pledge is that I made a pledge... I took the pledge. I will live up to the pledge. That's it. That's the overriding issue." That was Tom Tancredo on his solemn promise to serve no more than 3 terms in Congress. How many are we on now? What an ass.
There are wonderful Latinos, and wonderful Cubans. The prejudices against specific Latino ethnicities within the Latino community is much greater than any I've seen from non-Latinos. For the most part Tancredo is right, he simply has no tact for a public figure. For most civilized people, Miami is a pit to be avoided, and I know Latinos who feel the same way.
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