Bush team strikes back against Tancredo

Denver Post ^

[KantianBurke]

Tuesday, April 23, 2002 - WASHINGTON - Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., renewed his fight with President Bush over immigration laws Monday, mixing his pointed criticisms of the president's policies with lavish praise for Bush's leadership. It wasn't enough, however, to win over the president's aides. Tancredo said he got a second call in four days from the White House, this one complaining about the tone of a letter he sent the president offering "some political advice."

"I want to be polite. I really like the president. I really like him a lot," the Colorado lawmaker said shortly after he was berated by Ken Mehlman, White House director of political affairs.

The president's senior political adviser, Karl Rove, upbraided the two-term conservative Friday over statements he made attacking Bush in a Washington Times interview.

"The president is not on our side," Tancredo told the paper, complaining that Bush supports an "open door" border policy that could lead to another terrorist attack. "Then the blood of the people killed will be on this administration and this Congress."

Tancredo didn't dispute any of the quotations. He was just surprised, he said, that the White House took so much offense at them.

Tancredo, who heads the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, long has been an outspoken critic of Bush's immigration policies. Earlier this year, he came within one vote of blocking House passage of a Bush-supported bill to allow individuals who are in the country illegally to become legal residents.

None of Tancredo's previous comments stirred the White House to action as much as his interview with the Times, a conservative newspaper with a strong following among the president's senior advisers. In a luncheon meeting with the paper's editors and reporters Thursday, Tancredo argued that the president's policies are a threat to national security.

Hoping he could open discussions between the president and members of his caucus over the issues, Tancredo on Monday sent the president a letter restating his "strong opposition" to open borders. It didn't mention the flap over his Times comments.

"I, like most Americans, am immensely thankful that our nation has the great fortune of having you at the helm of the ship of state to guide us through this difficult time in history," Tancredo wrote. "Your courage and determination have been inspirational, and I will do all I can to support your efforts to destroy every vestige of those organizations that pose a threat to our way of life."

That was neither a retreat nor an apology, Tancredo said. "What I hoped was we could have some sort of dialogue on this."

At the very least, Tancredo said, he hoped it would prompt Bush to issue a statement backing the reorganization of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. In the letter, Tancredo also noted that Rove had not met with him or the caucus over the issue despite repeated invitations.

Tancredo said he has never been involved in so public a dispute with someone he admires.

"This is not pleasant for me. If the issue didn't demand it, I wouldn't do it. This one happens to be enormously important."

[henderson field]

We won't regulate immigration, yet we'll suspend the rights of our citizens at airports. It makes no sense.

[Texasforever]

We won't regulate immigration, yet we'll suspend the rights of our citizens at airports. It makes no sense.

Drive then.

[henderson field]

The impact of Third World immigration on our national identity? Are you speaking of Cultural Pollution?

[MissAmericanPie]

Then how we vote shouldn't matter to him either.

[Sabertooth]

Then let's be honest and do a better job at the borders. We're not even trying to keep them out. The ones that are here though aren't going back, so what's your answer? Continue to villify them for the rest of their lives? You guys argue for fake solutions, you have no answers.

Honesty eludes you.

Illegals are criminals, and vilifying criminals is a beautiful thing. The alternative is the defining down of deviancy that the Democrats favor, and we've seen the results of that.

You lack the fortitude to deport, so step aside. Without deportation, we can never seal the border, but with deportation, we create a harsh disincentive to come here.

Deportation is the real answer, but you don't want to face it... Just as the War on Terror was the only solution to that problem. But we never had the national will to pursue it.

We are America, and we can certainly defeat the Illegal Invasion.

[henderson field]

Let us not establish a dialog. Let us simply close the doors.

[Tuor]

Glad to hear yall are going vote to get Hillary into Office.

If Hillary is voted into office, it will be because Bush screwed his own power base. The next election will be Bush's to lose, and it looks like he's got an early start to doing just that.

Tuor

[StopGlobalWhining]

I bet Rove also suggests Bush wear earth tones. What a schmuck

Is Rove the reason that Karen Hughes is resigning? There were stories last year that Rove was intent at diminishing her influence with GWB.

Looks like he won.

[harpo11]

Maybe our good President should send Rove on a long vacation and hire Tancredo. This courageous representative of the people has heart.

[FreeReign]

We won't regulate immigration, yet we'll suspend the rights of our citizens at airports.

You are half right. We don't regulate immigration and we don't suspend the rights of our citizens at airports.

What unalienable rights do people have at airports?

[Tuor]

But the terrorists come in from Canada, which is a much more open border,

What do you mean by 'more open'? Do you mean longer? That is obviously true. Do you mean fewer Border Patrol agents per mile? That is probably true, too. Do you mean number of illegals crossing into the country? Then that is false.

Illegals entering our country is a problem in its own right, not merely in relation to the ease with which terrorists can enter the country. But if you want to consider the matter in that light, then realize that we have to start somewhere, and that it is better to take care of the biggest vulnerabilities first. At least we should try to make the terrorists exert themselves a *little bit* when sneaking into the country.

Tuor

[Mo1]

If Hillary is voted into office, it will be because Bush screwed his own power base

Sorry pal it is the individual that votes and it will be the voters fault if Hillary get into office .. just like I blamed the Voters for the 8 yr. nightmare of her husband Administration

[Sabertooth]

What unalienable rights do people have at airports?

Can't seem to find an "Airport Exception" in either the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution.

Aren't we endowed with those inaleinable thingies by our Creator?

[gabby hayes]

The issue is enormously important. More important than Bush, more important than an entity called the Republican Party.

[Tuor]

He calls Bush a murderer and then says he's surprised that offense was taken.

He didn't call Bush a murderer. Go ahead, read the original post. I'll wait. Done? Didn't see it, did you. Nice job putting words in his mouth.

However, he did say that if a terrorist attack occurred and it was due to lax immigration policy, then the blood of those killed would be on the hands of the Bush administration *AND* the Congress...which he is a member of. So he himself would have to shoulder some of that blame by his own words.

Tuor

[usadave]

I don't know whether I agree 100% with Bush's policy, but Tancredo sounds rather hysterical and ignorant here.

If Tancredo does sound hysterical, it's partly because our borders are still wide open. I think we should all be very concerned about the United States' lack of border security.

[whadizit]

But, he is right. Protecting our borders is much more impt to me than "making the Prez. look bad". Desperate men do desperate things and allowing illegals to flow into our society is not something a good leader should do, and, if I recall, he campaigned on tightening borders.

[StopGlobalWhining]

I challenge anyone who has read the link you reference in your post #48 to support the Bush position on immigration over that of Tom Tancredo.

If they do, they are not patriots.

[Tuor]

These are the words of a grandstanding jerk, not anyone seriously interested in "establishing a dialogue."

He got us to talk about it, didn't he? I'd say he was provoking a dialog, rather than establishing one. Sometimes, though, you have to use phrases like that in order for anyone to take notice. Sad but true.

Tuor

[FreeReign]

Aren't we endowed with those inaleinable thingies by our Creator?

What unalienable rights do we have at airports that we can not exercise?