Posted on 07/25/2005 3:22:39 PM PDT by Alex Marko
It is probably not a good idea in terms of job security to publicly call your boss a horse's ass. So have some sympathy for Will Adams, spokesman for Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo. He was asked by reporters to explain the asinine thing the congressman said last week. Adams told them Tancredo is just a "free thinker." By which standard Michael Jackson is just a tad eccentric. Or haven't you heard? Tancredo thinks maybe the United States should bomb Mecca. You know Mecca. City in Saudi Arabia. Birthplace of the prophet Muhammad. Holiest shrine of Islam, a religion practiced by one of every six people on Earth. That's the place a U.S. congressman thinks maybe we should lob some ordnance at.
Tancredo made this contribution to the national dialogue last week during a talk show on WFLA, a TV station in Orlando, Fla. Host Pat Campbell had asked how we should respond if U.S. cities are ever struck by terrorists using nuclear devices. "Well," said Tancredo, "what if you said something like, if this happens in the United States, and we determine that it is the result of extremist, fundamentalist Muslims, you know, you could take out their holy sites."
"You're talking about bombing Mecca," said Campbell.
"Yeah," said Tancredo.
Predictably, Tancredo's suggestion has been a little controversial. That is, if you can call statements of condemnation stretching from Moscow to the State Department to Ankara, Turkey, "a little controversial."
Tancredo has refused to apologize, but he did issue a written "clarification," which said in part, "I do not advocate this. Much more thought would need to be given to the potential ramifications of such a horrific response."
Actually, you don't need to give any thought to the ramifications of such an action, because they should be self-evident to anyone smarter than the average hamster. We would become an international pariah. Muslims would hate us with renewed fervor, and Osama bin Laden would thank us for writing his recruitment material.
In other words, the same situation we have now, except worse. Much, much, much worse.
And I wonder: Am I the only who feels that lately - lately being defined as since Sept. 11, 2001 - the nation seems overrun by yahoos?
Granted, the presence of yahoos in daily life is not a new torment. They have always been among us, the simplemindedness of their thinking exceeded only by the volume at which they express it. Think Cliff Clavin, the cogs of his brain lubricated by beer, holding forth from his stool at the end of the bar. Of course, the only thing you had to do to avoid Cliff was to stay out of Cheers.
But the 9/11 attacks have unleashed yahooism on an unprecedented scale. Cliff is no longer confined to his bar stool. Under the name Mona Charen, he once wrote a newspaper column advocating the expulsion of Muslims from America. Under the name Rush Limbaugh, he has a radio talk show on which he compared the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib to a fraternity prank. Under the name Ann Coulter, he calls for the racial profiling of travelers from the Middle East. And under the name Tom Tancredo, he is apparently a member of Congress.
What he doesn't get - what yahoos usually don't get - is that things that seem to make sense while you're hoisting a few rarely hold up in the sober light of day.
Tancredo has cast his refusal to apologize as a blow against political correctness. Which is silly. One can be plain-spoken without being reckless, blunt without being stupid, straight-forward without sounding like a fool.
Assuming, that is, you have something worthwhile to say. Tancredo evidently does not. Somebody tell him his beer is getting warm.
you think that the open borders lobby wont use tancredo's words against those of us who want the border sealed?
I have an excellent idea.
We see the same phenomenon every election. A small, battered and dedicated group of "others" pick themselves up and select yet another idealistic candidate that they will follow up the doomed campaign path...then gleefully hurl themselves over the edge of the election cliff to the rocks below.
This is prime entertainment.
you think that the open borders lobby wont use tancredo's words against those of us who want the border sealed?
Nope. Tancredo did nothing but take the PC gloves off and tell it like it is. If you for one second think there aren't thousands of contingencies already plotted in the event of further attacks, you are sadly mistaken.
This statement by Tancredo will NOT weaken the illegal immigration process. Read my tagline and you will know what will force our leadership to take real action on the illegal immigration and border issues.
Blast Tancredo all you want, but it is a breath of fresh air to hear a politician that doesn't constrain himself/herself due to PC BS.
Like lemmings...
Ssshhhh! Here comes another one now.
You are wrong ... no country will support the US if it is nuked and responds by nuking Mecca.
I predict oil embargo. US attempts to occupy Middle East. Total quagmire. Conscription of all US citizens betweem 18 and 60 announced. Presideant Tancredo ends hanging upside-down from a lampost.
You hit the nail on the head.
What makes you think that?
Interesting, why do you think that? Serious question.
No sentient human being can doubt that, given the opportunity, Al Qaeda and Company would torch every Jew, every Christian, and every American in the world...along with any person, Muslim or not, who they perceive as standing in the way of their demonic dream of world domination for their death cult.
They have the will to do it.
All they have lacked to date is the power to do so.
Hard to imagine any possible deterrent that could possibly impact these rabid dogs.
Except, possibly, the loss of the black rock they worship in the desert...
Call it the only alternative to MAD...which worked so well on the Soviets for half a century.
IMO, the best thing the President of the United States could do to protect the American people is to unequivacally state pretty much what the Congressman stated.
While securing our borders, of course.
Hah. Am I dreaming, or what...?
How does it feel to be in such harmony with the marxist Leonard Pitts?
How does it feel to be in such harmony with the marxist Leonard Pitts?
How does it feel to be in such harmony with the marxist Leonard Pitts?
How does it feel to be in such harmony with the marxist Leonard Pitts?
Policy advocated by liberals and conservatives alike for five decades was to hit every major city in the Soviet Union with nuclear weapons in retaliation for a nuclear strike from them. What's the difference between that policy, and the policy to hit Mecca with a nuclear weapon in retaliation for one here?
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