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In this case, Tancredo got burned. And the in-your-face way he went about it probably made it that much easier for the folks who don't like his stand on this issue to spring it on him. Well, he's got himself in a mess, and he's gonna have to get himself out of it.

Tancredo did not get burned nor is he in any mess. The accusations that were made against him were totally unsubstantiated. This is how they used to do things back in the Soviet Union. A Soviet citizen would be hauled before a court and basically told:

"Somebody has informed the court that you are working to undermine the Soviet government, but we can't tell you who made the accusation nor provide any proof to substantiate the accusation. But we find you guilty and sentence you to 10 years in a Siberian labor camp".

Yeah, and I've seen "true conservatives" pronounce perfectly good Republicans like Bill Simon as RINOs or "sellouts" because they are not 100% "pure" on issues.

Just ask Gophack or Poohbah. They'll tell you the horror stories.

Dave, it wouldn't be difficult to actually check out. The INS is probably doing it already, because this is getting high-profile. The contractor is NOT going to admit that they hired illegals; that would allow the INS to fine them.

Tancredo's response was a nice piece of Clintonian parsing. Yes, it is illegal to inquire as to the nationality of the contract employee; no, it is not illegal to independently verify the legal status of the employees. The fact that Tancredo offered his excuse in that fashion says that he probably did not want to know in the first place.