Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Illegal immigration foe Rep. Tom Tancredo retires
Townhall ^ | 12/8/08 | Kristen Wyatt

Posted on 12/08/2008 8:17:53 AM PST by freespirited

When Tom Tancredo, the lightning-rod Colorado conservative, went to Congress a decade ago, he promised he wouldn't disappear in Washington. He sure didn't.

Tancredo made headlines clashing with Democrats and his fellow Republicans. He could be hard to figure even by his allies. The grandson of Italian immigrants, Tancredo founded the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus and achieved national recognition with aggressive, biting rhetoric against what he called out-of-control immigration and bilingual education.

At home, Tancredo lived six doors down from Columbine High School, but he resisted calls for stronger gun control after the nation's deadliest high school shooting in 1999. He was born Catholic, but converted to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and blasted Pope Benedict XVI for defending immigrants during a papal visit to Washington.

Tancredo was called racist for presidential campaign ads that suggested Latino immigrants are rapists and drug dealers. He once said Miami was like a Third World country because of its growing non-English-speaking population. He suggested America should threaten to destroy Islam's holy city of Mecca in case of a future terrorist attack.

Tancredo's poorly funded, longshot run for president ended in 2007, and he stayed quiet the rest of the campaign.

Now he's retiring, maybe to run for Colorado governor in two years, maybe to join a right-leaning think tank, perhaps one like a suburban Denver organization he ran in the 1990s. An inflexible but at the same time gracious man, Tancredo, 62, knows he made plenty of enemies in Washington. It seems he wouldn't have it any other way.

Tancredo recalls that when he ran for Congress in 1998, he repeatedly made one promise: "I guarantee you this, if you send me there, I'm not going to just take up space. You're going to know there's someone there, and he's gonna be loud and somewhat boisterous."

Tancredo grinned.

"And I think I've lived up to that promise."

His refusal to go along with the crowd didn't win him any plum committee assignments or top billing on major legislation. But it won him a measure of respect, even from those who disagreed with him.

"When he found out he couldn't work within the system to establish what was important for the country, he kind of abandoned that process and went straight to the American people and made that case there," said Mike Coffman, Colorado's Republican secretary of state who will succeed Tancredo in a district that includes Denver's conservative southern suburbs.

Five years ago, Coffman refused to share a stage with Tancredo at an Iraq War rally in Denver, a protest by a veteran against a congressman who received a deferment from service during the Vietnam War.

Now Coffman says he's looking to Tancredo for guidance.

"It is better to be an outsider than to compromise your principles," Coffman said. "He set a course, to go beyond the Congress and to make a case directly to the American people, even if that means alienating your colleagues, which he did."

Some say Tancredo's unflagging interest in illegal immigration overshadowed his other work. Tancredo sponsored 2002's Sudan Peace Act, and he worked to improve diplomatic relations with Taiwan _ two arenas few of his constituents would identify with.

"He has great principles that I think were overshadowed by his work on the immigration issue," said Rep. Doug Lamborn, a fellow Republican from a Colorado district just south of Tancredo's.

Tancredo's sharp words will leave him with a single-tone legacy, said Princeton University congressional historian Julian Zelizer.

"When he's discussed, he'll be used I think as one of the examples of what was wrong with the Republican party," Zelizer said. "I think there'll be a lot of people who will say his kind of politics didn't sit well with a lot of Americans."

Tancredo seems a little worried he'll be remembered only for blasting illegal immigrants.

"There are a lot of issues beyond immigration that I want to deal with," he said. He mentioned energy policy, what he sees as a need for more domestic exploration for fossil fuels.

But he was sanguine about his influence if he'd stayed on in Congress.

"I just didn't feel that there was anything left I could do in the House," he said.

It's unclear what may be left for him politically, though he says he's considering a 2010 run against Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter.

Last summer, Tancredo headlined a rally of the Minutemen anti-illegal immigration group at a Denver park during the Democratic National Convention. Just a couple dozen showed up.

Tancredo's phone rings less now, and sitting in his suburban office amid empty bookshelves, he relaxes in a fleece zip-up pullover and seems to look forward most to catching more baseball games starring his grandsons.

But he promises _ again _ he won't disappear. And he takes pride in his decade in Congress.

"I've been able to move the debate in this country on a major issue. And that doesn't happen very often, that a member of the House of Representatives can do such a thing," he said. "I have been very, very lucky in that regard."


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: illegalimmigration; illegals; tancredo
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-50 next last
And he takes pride in his decade in Congress.

A lot of people there longer than was have far less to be proud about.

1 posted on 12/08/2008 8:17:53 AM PST by freespirited
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: freespirited

God bless Tom Tancredo!


2 posted on 12/08/2008 8:19:46 AM PST by Heartland Mom ("Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives." - Ronald Reagan)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: freespirited

It’s a sad day. But job well done, Congressman Tancredo!


3 posted on 12/08/2008 8:22:51 AM PST by ElayneJ
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: freespirited
His refusal to go along with the crowd didn't win him any plum committee assignments or top billing on major legislation

It also got him thrown out of the Bush WHite House, with a warning from Karl Rove "Never darken the door of this White House again".

4 posted on 12/08/2008 8:23:33 AM PST by Balding_Eagle (OVERPRODUCTION......... one of the top five worries for American farmers.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: freespirited

I’m completely ignorant of his district. If he leaves, is it a safe seat for another conservative?


5 posted on 12/08/2008 8:25:02 AM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Heartland Mom

Besides his vote for the bail out, he has been a stellar
representative!


6 posted on 12/08/2008 8:26:48 AM PST by Lesforlife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Cicero
It would help if you read the article.

"When he found out he couldn't work within the system to establish what was important for the country, he kind of abandoned that process and went straight to the American people and made that case there," said Mike Coffman, Colorado's Republican secretary of state who will succeed Tancredo in a district that includes Denver's conservative southern suburbs.

7 posted on 12/08/2008 8:29:04 AM PST by kabar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Balding_Eagle

Tom Tancredo is a wonderful man who worked tirelessly to defend the Constitution. He would have been a great President.


8 posted on 12/08/2008 8:29:17 AM PST by Frantzie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: freespirited

Way to go Tom!


9 posted on 12/08/2008 8:29:35 AM PST by CodeToad
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Balding_Eagle
It also got him thrown out of the Bush WHite House, with a warning from Karl Rove "Never darken the door of this White House again".

That just might be what he is most proud about.

10 posted on 12/08/2008 8:35:20 AM PST by freespirited (Honk to indict the MSM for treason.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: freespirited

Damn. We need more people like him in Congress. Could the news get any worse this election year?


11 posted on 12/08/2008 8:37:14 AM PST by dragonblustar (Once abolish the God, and the government becomes the God - G. K. Chesterton)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: freespirited
Tancredo did a great job opposing amnesty and pushing the conservative agenda.

Tancredo’s support for the liberal Myth Romney to be the GOP nominee undermined everything he stood for.

12 posted on 12/08/2008 8:40:44 AM PST by Reagan Man ("In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ElayneJ
"It’s a sad day. But job well done, Congressman Tancredo!"

A pity there are not many more as independent as Tancredo instead of the 500+ whose only concern is how to raise $ to get re-elected in order to retain their cushy job.

13 posted on 12/08/2008 8:41:54 AM PST by penowa
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: freespirited
An inflexible but at the same time gracious man,

I guess this is what the Stalinist press call someone with principles.

Blessings, Tom, on you and yours.

shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach Adonai
14 posted on 12/08/2008 8:42:11 AM PST by Uri’el-2012 (Psalm 78:35 And they remembered that God was their ROCK, And the Most High God their Redeemer.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kabar

And in your judgment that’s correct? Good.


15 posted on 12/08/2008 8:46:14 AM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: freespirited

Job well, done, Rep. Tancredo.

I pray that he triumphs in the governor’s race in 2010.


16 posted on 12/08/2008 8:47:04 AM PST by Joann37
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Cicero

There are no more safe seats in Colorado. It’s becoming California Lite.


17 posted on 12/08/2008 8:48:12 AM PST by demshateGod (the GOP is dead to me)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: freespirited
He was born Catholic, but converted to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and blasted Pope Benedict XVI for defending immigrants during a papal visit to Washington.

Even Townhall can't get it right. He blasted the Pope for his support of ILLEGAL immigrants.

18 posted on 12/08/2008 8:49:52 AM PST by raybbr
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Cicero

Of course it is correct. Tancredo is a lame duck. He didn’t run for reelection. He is being replaced by a conservative Rep who was elected on Nov 4.


19 posted on 12/08/2008 8:52:58 AM PST by kabar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: kabar

The article was written by an idiot. There are no safe counties in the Denver Metro.


20 posted on 12/08/2008 8:53:57 AM PST by demshateGod (the GOP is dead to me)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-50 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson