Posted on 06/30/2004 9:38:32 PM PDT by Reagan Man
Colorado Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo is in big trouble with the GOP leadership. And just what, you may be wondering, is his great sin? "Team America," a political action committee originally founded by Tancredo, worked to unseat Representative Chris Cannon, a liberal Republican from Utah, by supporting Matthew Throckmorton, his challenger in the Republican primary.
Chief among those organizations caterwauling about the actions of Tancredo is the liberal "Tuesday Group," a coalition of approximately thirty liberal Republican House members whose goal is to steer the party to the left. Hiding under the cloak of a grossly distorted rendition of Ronald Reagan's "Eleventh Commandment" ("Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican"), the Tuesday Group is now expressing concern that party conservatives are finally making efforts to strike back.
Apparently, undermining the conservative agenda by abandoning the party at key junctures during the legislative process is perfectly fine with these Republican "centrists." But any discussion of such matters by conservatives, who have tired of seeing their party abandoning its principles, is strictly taboo. By such hypocritical assertions, these liberal "Trojan Horses" hope to continue dominating party politics from within.
Of course Ronald Reagan never intended for his "Eleventh Commandment" to be arbitrarily invoked as a means of allowing liberalism to spread, unchecked, within the ranks of the GOP. Rather, it was supposed to prevent the sort of backbiting and mud slinging within party ranks, which can ultimately undermine the credibility of the entire party.
House Majority leader Tom Delay, a longtime champion of conservatism, has found himself in the middle of this row. Seeking to maintain a cohesive Republican majority, he is promoting themes of "team spirit" and "comity" among party members. Delay even referenced Reagan's "Eleventh Commandment" in a meeting with Tancredo in which the Colorado Congressman was apparently warned to change his ways and endorse a unified party, or face retribution within Republican circles.
Unfortunately, such rhetoric fails to deal with the fact that it is the Republican liberals who regularly undermine party unity by voting with Democrats at critical junctures. With such people constantly placing the philosophies of liberalism ahead of traditional Republican principle, the only manner in which even a facade of "unity" can be maintained is for the entire party to shift to the left. This, of course, is precisely the strategy of the liberal Republicans.
Tancredo's major issue of concern is unchecked illegal immigration and the resulting compromise of America's borders. Hardly a miniscule "pet issue" of a fringe constituency, the immigration problem goes to the very core of maintaining America's national integrity and heritage. Little else of GOP principles or goals can be regarded as significant in any way, as long the party remains indifferent to the invasion of the nation's borders by a flood of illegal immigrants who, as soon as they are able to do so, will vote against such things. Yet, major forces within the GOP are once again actively working to insure that at best, the Republican counterpart to Democrat plans of opening the borders will only amount to a watered-down version of the very same thing.
By supporting truly conservative Republican challengers, Tancredo's PAC hopes to specifically target key players of the open borders advocacy for defeat during their respective state primaries. While it is not entirely clear whether or not Tancredo is still officially participating with the work of the PAC, his political ideology remains consistent with that of its members. Tancredo realizes that threats to the future of the nation are no less virulent when advanced by so-called "Republicans," than when spawned by their traditional advocates, the Democrats.
Tom Delay has, in the past, shown himself to be extremely principled, with the one notable exception being his support, under severe White House pressure, for an education bill that was essentially crafted by Ted Kennedy. He knows that if his party persists in its claims to uphold both high and low standards, only the low standards will prevail. Though presently striving to remain within the boundaries of party loyalty, he is surely aware that, as a principled conservative, his own future is no less threatened by the underhanded actions of the "moderates" than is Tancredo.
For Delay and Tancredo, whose differences are far outweighed by their political common ground, the most pressing matter is to maintain the party according to conservative principle rather than allowing the "centrists" to reinvent it in the image of the Democrats.
LOL We're not talking about the Communist Party of the old USSR. This is America and the political party in question is the GOP. Party loyalty is good. Debate on the issues is good. And disagreement on the issues is healthy for any democratic process.
Tancredo is a smart guy. He seems to be asking for a showdown between his posse and the GOP. I don't think he'll win the 'real' v. 'rino' battle, especially when he's using trickery to stage it.
By the time we find the first million, another million would have already crossed the border. We need to have a grip on the border, especially to shut down the drug trade, but the idea that we're going to be able to magically track down all these people and send them back to Tijuana is insane.
It sure seems a possibility for other countries to protect their borders and keep illegals out. As the greatest and strongest nation on earth, I am SURE we could secure our borders-and quickly.
Don't sit and take this crap, Reagan Man. Call on the posse of xenophobic border-wedgies when liberal Republicans try to pound the common sense out of you.
Ditto....
All I see from you is an emotional outburst totally lacking in substance. You prove nothing by acting like a juvenile.
Three steps are critical to solving the illegal immigration problem facing America today. Seal the borders shut, enforce existing immigration law and halt govt welfare payouts to illegals by removing those incentives immediately. Most of those 12 million illegals will eventually head back home, making the management of finding and prosecuting, then incarcerating to deporting the remaining illegals an easier process, if not a perfect process.
Now there's a man with a PLAN. Let's start about November 3rd, 2004 OK?
Same goes for his leftist sidekick....
These solutions are not in the governments agenda. Wont happen.
What I'd be kind enough to do, is provide a definition of abstruse for you.
Abstruse: incomprehensible to one of ordinary understanding or knowledge
Tancredo's remarks were abstruse. Deliberately abtruse.
I did not say they were inaccurate--but even if I did, I wouldn't fetch just because you demanded it.
Hope this helps, but not really.
"The Jeopardy answer is . . . 'Liberal Republicans' . . . "
"What is 'Those who do not favor machine-gunning women and children at the border'?"
I do remember that letter and it contains nothing but the truth. Illegal immigration is a serious problem that will not be solved by offering amnesty to people who willfully break US law, ignore employers who break US law and by offering endless welfare payouts to people who aren't US citizens.
Your words speak for themselves.
First, the entire fact that there is a tiny cabal of liberal Republicans running the Congress is of no surprise. I have thought for some time that these people ran as Republicans only because they couldn't change parties before they were elected; it would have been a detriment to them in the primary. They are largely east coast elites, or in particularly liberal districts (i.e. Leach in my state). They wield their power simply by threatening not to vote for things that Conservatives want; and we don't have a leader strong enough to keep them in line (as Reagan used to...heck, he even got Dems to vote with him by effectively using his bully pulpit).
Secondly, I'm somewhat tiring of a group of "the party can do no wrong" hacks glomming onto the Conservative title. I've seen many posts here lately that say something like: "I was a liberal until about a year ago...now I'm Conservative." Right...guess what...they're still liberals (and may be Republicans), but they actually have come to believe that Conservatism means some of the nonsense that we've seen lately.
Third, and most importantly, despite the many posts to the contrary that I've seen lately, the American public is largely conservative; the liberal media spin about the "great divide" is overblown. Every poll shows that the majority is, or leans, conservative. But, since "we" don't believe polls here any longer...let's just look at the two latest examples of this phenomenon. The "Contract with America"...advertised across the country, directly to the people STUNNINGLY swept Conservatives into the House. Or, more lately, President Bush's first two years in office were marked by largely conservative ideals (tax cuts, abortion limits, etc., even that monstrosity of an education bill sounded conservative for its accountability). We were rewarded with LARGER majorities.
His poll numbers did not start slipping until he started proposing & supporting a bunch of liberal glop. I have no idea if his political advisers came up with this plan, or if it is what he really believes.
I DO know, as has been weatherproofing in the past, that Americans support people with strongly held conservative convictions...who aren't afraid to say so.
I will be voting for President Bush, because I support the war on terror...so save the juvenile "vote for Kerry" posts, please.
I know, Joe.
If the good people of Colorado hand out 'endless welfare payouts' to undocumented immigrants, how is that the fault of anyone except the good people of Colorado?
I do remember that letter and it contains nothing but the truth. Illegal immigration is a serious problem that will not be solved by offering amnesty to people who willfully break US law, ignore employers who break US law and by offering endless welfare payouts to people who aren't US citizens.
Ask the folks in Arizona, Brownsville, Texas, So California and all the other places near the border. Their treasuries are broke and in red ink because of illegal immigration. Amnesty and a continued influx of illegals will only make that situation worse.
Funny, I don't feel swamped. Thanks for the intelligent input, garandgal.
I thought this was a good article. It certainly woke up some of the FreeRepublics more centrist and moderate factions tonight.
Not likely. Republican pols can't keep the camels nose out of the "Big-Tent" anymore than the Democrats could (or Libertarians for that matter).
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.