I like Tancredo for his stance on illegal immigratio. Namely, his willingness to skip the PC crap and tell it like it is. I have further warmed to him with his latest statement. Diplomacy is one thing, but our Ilamofacist enemy does not have anything to fear when diplomacy is so PC. If they thought that we might be willing to blow their holy site off the map, they MIGHT actually consider changing their strategy. You can be sure that there is a contingency already planned if XY or Z event were to happen.
Another major attack on the US will galvenize our moderates and change the attitude of many of our lefty friends. This FReeper thinks that AQ has not struck us again for that very reason. There will come a point where they won't care though and will hit with ferocity.
I think you're right. They don't dare - quite yet.
It's also possible they don't have the means to do so - at the moment. But I'm sure they're working on that.
A conservative is a liberal who's been mugged, and I think you're going to see a lot of people suddenly turning conservative.