# White House Ambitions -- Rep Tom Tancredo (R-CO) **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 18, 2005, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-ambitions-rep-tom-tancredo-r-co/322275 "2005-09-18T23:18:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2005, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-ambitions-rep-tom-tancredo-r-co/322275/1 "2005-09-18T23:18:56Z")
As many of you may recognize, absent a drastic Constitutional change, George W. Bush is not going to be our President come January 2009. The want-to-be candidates to replace him are starting to line up at the fair grounds in Des Moines for the obligatory photo op with a pig. Because the Iowa caucuses are early in the game we tend to get all contenders well before they really show up on the national scene. This past weekend we had Rep Tom Tancerdo of Colorado. Apparently he is a comrade in arms of our very own nut case, Rep Steve King (very Republican, Know Nothing wing). What little I can find out about this guy suggests that he is something of a loon. Lately he has developed a phobia about crescents, they being the symbol of Islam and all. [Here is a press release his office put out being upset about the shape of the proposed 9/11 monument is Pennsylvania](http://tancredo.house.gov/press/pressers/0912TancredoRaisesQuestionsAboutPenn911Memorial.htm) and [here is an unfriendly blog’s take on the guy](http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/5287.html). Three questions: If Rep Tancerdo serious about running for TPOUSA; Is he really this irrational; Who is financing him. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2005, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-ambitions-rep-tom-tancredo-r-co/322275/2 "2005-09-19T00:35:27Z")
I believe Mr. Tancredo was the one who recently floated the idea of “taking out” Islamic holy sites in retaliation for any future terrorist attack on the US. And I am guessing that a significant minority of Americans agree with this idea and might want to see such a tough-talking hombre in the White House. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2005, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-ambitions-rep-tom-tancredo-r-co/322275/3 "2005-09-19T01:09:58Z")
Tom Tancredo is the “immigration” candidate, which enjoys a lot of support, even across political lines. The problem for him, though, is that the “money” is on the opposite side of this issue (they like the cheap labor), so he would have trouble winning in the primaries. He is also reckless in saying what he thinks (see above re: the cresent issue), so he would be suceptible to a Howard Dean style verbal meltdown. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2005, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-ambitions-rep-tom-tancredo-r-co/322275/4 "2005-09-19T14:45:52Z")
> [@Spavined Gelding](#): > > [Here is a press release his office put out being upset about the shape of the proposed 9/11 monument is Pennsylvania](http://tancredo.house.gov/press/pressers/0912TancredoRaisesQuestionsAboutPenn911Memorial.htm) and [here is an unfriendly blog’s take on the guy](http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/5287.html). > > Three questions: > If Rep Tancerdo serious about running for TPOUSA; > Is he really this irrational; > Who is financing him. I assume you are not saying that [anyone who does not wish to see a religious symbol used where it might send the wrong message](http://www.ifrc.org/who/movement.asp) is “irrational”, yes? Your blog cite is also interesting. I wonder, in what sense does the blogger think that a Congresscritter can “order” a journal to change its name, or cease publication? Don’t know anything about Tancerdo besides this. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![jebert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ec9cab/32.png) [@jebert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jebert)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2005, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-ambitions-rep-tom-tancredo-r-co/322275/5 "2005-09-19T17:27:36Z")
Just let it be known that radio commentator Michael Savage likes Tancredo. If guilt by association is any criterion, that makes Tancredo a first class nutjob. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2005, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-ambitions-rep-tom-tancredo-r-co/322275/6 "2005-09-19T19:44:28Z")
I’ve never heard of him before reading this thread, but that link above sure makes him look like a loony toon. > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) requested that the Interior Department reverse plans to create a Pennsylvania 9/11 memorial in the shape of a crescent, citing the crescent’s prominent use in Islam. The architect who designed the memorial said the crescent design is meant to be a symbolic circle broken by the path of Flight 93. Nevertheless, Tancredo expressed concern that the controversial symbol might be thought to honor inadvertently the terrorists instead of the passengers who heroically stopped them. The letter is reprinted below Can we name a single person who, looking at the monument in question, would respond by saying: “Ah hah. The United States government built this thing to honor Islamic terrorists.” Anybody? Anybody? I didn’t think so. Obviously either Mr. Tancredo is genuinely nuts, or he goes around saying things that are nuts because he believes certain constituents want to hear them. He aslo appears to have issues with redundancy. > [@](#): > > Regardless of whether or not the invocation of a Muslim symbol by the memorial designer was intentional or not, As to whether he’s running, I neither know nor care. The Republican Party being hitched to an uncompromising attitude, there will always be wingnuts who insist that the bigwig chosen as their candidate is not right wing enough, and will run in the primary as a protest. Remember Bob Dornan in '96 and Alan Keyes in 2000? They never get a noteworthy share of the vote, though. All evidence at this point is that the Republican leadership wants Frist as their candidate. If so, and if 2000 was any guide, they will not react kindly towards any other Republican opposing him. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2005, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-ambitions-rep-tom-tancredo-r-co/322275/7 "2005-09-19T19:53:21Z")
There’s value to any party having a candidate or two on the fringe during the primary season. Even though they gain the support only of fringe voters, they make the serious candidates, including the eventual nominee, look more centrist and sane. Bush benefited from Gary Bauer’s candidacy as much as Kerry benefited from Al Sharpton’s, to name a couple more. The 2008 GOP nominee (whose identity would be a much better debate topic) might similarly benefit from Tancredo’s - hell, it may even be worth subsidizing him for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2005, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-ambitions-rep-tom-tancredo-r-co/322275/8 "2005-09-19T19:53:45Z")
> [@ITR champion](#): > > Can we name a single person who, looking at the monument in question, would respond by saying: “Ah hah. The United States government built this thing to honor Islamic terrorists.” Anybody? Anybody? I didn’t think so. The memorial hasn’t been built yet. The proposed memorial is in the shape of the islamic symbol. This has been noticed by many including some family members of the dead on flight 93. The entirely predictable public outcry over the idioticly unsensitive proposal has already resulted in the designers backing down and rethinking what they are going to do. > [@](#): > > The Republican Party being hitched to an uncompromising attitude, there will always be wingnuts who insist that the bigwig chosen as their candidate is not right wing enough, and will run in the primary as a protest. Remember Bob Dornan in '96 and Alan Keyes in 2000? They never get a noteworthy share of the vote, though. I see your “uncompromising wingnuts” and raise you “absolutely fucking crazy”: Remember the democratic candidates in the last election? The right had nothing that can be fairly compared to Al Sharpton. There is a party which has been hijacked by wingnuts, but it aint the republicans. > [@](#): > > All evidence at this point is that the Republican leadership wants Frist as their candidate. This is news to me. You got a cite for this “all evidence” of which you speak? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2005, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-ambitions-rep-tom-tancredo-r-co/322275/9 "2005-09-19T21:07:26Z")
> [@Spavined Gelding](#): > > The want-to-be candidates to replace him are starting to line up at the fair grounds in Des Moines for the obligatory photo op with a pig. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which… ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-ambitions-rep-tom-tancredo-r-co/322275/10 "2005-09-20T00:16:16Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > The memorial hasn’t been built yet. The proposed memorial is in the shape of the islamic symbol. This has been noticed by many including some family members of the dead on flight 93. The entirely predictable public outcry over the idioticly unsensitive proposal has already resulted in the designers backing down and rethinking what they are going to do. Proving what, exactly? Did anybody actually mistake the plans for an attempt to praise terrorists, or not? > [@](#): > > I see your “uncompromising wingnuts” and raise you “absolutely fucking crazy”: Remember the democratic candidates in the last election? The right had nothing that can be fairly compared to Al Sharpton. So no doubt you have a cite for Sharpton assualting people in several public places including the Capitol as [Dornan](http://www.realchange.org/dornan.htm) did, or Alan Keyes declaring abortion to be worse than terrorism? If so I’d love to see them. > [@](#): > > There is a party which has been hijacked by wingnuts, but it aint the republicans. Indeed. The aforementioned Dornan and Keyes were a U.S. Representative and a Senate nominee, respectively. Are you arguing that they are not wingnuts? And can you name anyone who’s actually been a serious part of the Democratic Party ho could reasonably be considered a wingnut? > [@](#): > > This is news to me. You got a cite for this “all evidence” of which you speak? Forget it. If you’re not going to follow the news, don’t expect me to do it for you. Good day. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-ambitions-rep-tom-tancredo-r-co/322275/11 "2005-09-20T00:40:57Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > This is news to me. You got a cite for this “all evidence” of which you speak? **Debaser** , are you seriously saying you’re unaware of widespread reports and opinions that Frist is considered the leading candidate for the Republican nomination in 2008? Stuff like the following? Political analyst Larry Sabato of UVA [sez](http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/article.php?id=LJS2005030301): > [@](#): > > For the moment, the frontrunner among the conservatives is arguably Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee. He’s had a meteoric rise to the top during his two Senate terms, and despite the loads of problems on any leader’s desk, he can claim part credit for the significant legislative victories of 2003-2004. Frist is already the GOP’s [fundraising frontrunner](http://election2008.tom-hanna.org/?p=23): > [@](#): > > Of the potential Presidential contenders for 2008, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist led the Republicans […] Frist outpaced other potential 2008 presidential candidates in the first half of the year, with his political action committee raising $1.9 million. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-ambitions-rep-tom-tancredo-r-co/322275/12 "2005-09-20T01:15:05Z")
> [@ITR champion](#): > > Proving what, exactly? Did anybody actually mistake the plans for an attempt to praise terrorists, or not? > > So no doubt you have a cite for Sharpton assualting people in several public places including the Capitol as [Dornan](http://www.realchange.org/dornan.htm) did, or Alan Keyes declaring abortion to be worse than terrorism? If so I’d love to see them. > > Indeed. The aforementioned Dornan and Keyes were a U.S. Representative and a Senate nominee, respectively. Are you arguing that they are not wingnuts? And can you name anyone who’s actually been a serious part of the Democratic Party ho could reasonably be considered a wingnut? > > Forget it. If you’re not going to follow the news, don’t expect me to do it for you. > > Good day. I’m on your side here and do believe the majority of wingnuts reside on the right, but I can’t believe you have forgotten about [James Traficant](http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/usa/james-traficant/) already. He was the undisputed king of the wingnuts. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-ambitions-rep-tom-tancredo-r-co/322275/13 "2005-09-20T01:23:07Z")
Traficant consistently voted with the Republicans, perhaps just to piss off the Dem leadership but there it is. Don’t forget Duke Cunningham, now in his last term having been caught with his snout in the feed trough, and his screaming denunciation of President Clinton as a “traitor”, right there on the House floor. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-ambitions-rep-tom-tancredo-r-co/322275/14 "2005-09-20T11:12:46Z")
> [@ITR champion](#): > > So no doubt you have a cite for Sharpton assualting people in several public places including the Capitol as [Dornan](http://www.realchange.org/dornan.htm) did > > . Inciting a pogrom is a reasonable comparison. 😃 [http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/tobin030300.asp](http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/tobin030300.asp) (about 2/3 down, after article criticizes W) ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-ambitions-rep-tom-tancredo-r-co/322275/15 "2005-09-20T15:08:50Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > **Debaser** , are you seriously saying you’re unaware of widespread reports and opinions that Frist is considered the leading candidate for the Republican nomination in 2008? Stuff like the following? > > Political analyst Larry Sabato of UVA [sez](http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/article.php?id=LJS2005030301): > > Frist is already the GOP’s [fundraising frontrunner](http://election2008.tom-hanna.org/?p=23): **ITR champion** didn’t claim that Frist was doing well with fundraising, or that Larry Sabato thinks he’s a top candidate. He claimed that "All evidence at this point is that the Republican leadership wants Frist as their candidate. " I simply asked for him to provide some evidence of this assertion, which he has now refused. _shrug_ So much for backing up your claims with fact. It’s OK, though, because he’s making up for his lack of evidence with indirect insults aimed at me. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chance_the_Gardener)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-ambitions-rep-tom-tancredo-r-co/322275/16 "2005-09-20T18:22:32Z")
> [@Lamar Mundane](#): > > I’m on your side here and do believe the majority of wingnuts reside on the right, but I can’t believe you have forgotten about [James Traficant](http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/usa/james-traficant/) already. He was the undisputed king of the wingnuts. Traficant sure was a wingnut, but your post seems to imply that he was politically to the left. Sure, he was a Democrat, but that doesn’t make him a leftist. I grew up in Jim Traficant’s neck of the woods, and I can tell you that the eastern Ohio/western Pennsylvania/northern West Virginia area isn’t exactly too warm to leftists. Fiscal populists and social conservatives is what they are, and that’s what Traficant was. He was also a trip. If they ever release episodes of his half-hour Sunday morning TV rantarama in DVD format, I’d buy it. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-ambitions-rep-tom-tancredo-r-co/322275/17 "2005-09-20T18:52:33Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > The memorial hasn’t been built yet. The proposed memorial is in the shape of the islamic symbol. This has been noticed by many including some family members of the dead on flight 93. Cite please, 'cause here’s what I read: > **[Tancredo: Scrap 'Muslim symbol' at 9/11 site](https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=3027285&itype=NGPSID&rss)** > > WASHINGTON - A congressman is asking the U.S. government to reconsider the crescent-shaped design of > [@](#): > > Gordon Felt, whose brother, Edward Felt, died in the crash, invited Tancredo to contact the family members and learn more about the design. > > ‘‘We feel the jury that selected the final design did a good job,’’ he said. ‘‘It was in no way designed to memorialize the hijackers. I cannot even fathom a family member on the jury thinking that they were trying to memorialize the people who murdered our family members.’’ ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-ambitions-rep-tom-tancredo-r-co/322275/18 "2005-09-20T19:20:41Z")
> [@toadspittle](#): > > Cite please, 'cause here’s what I read: > > [http://www.sltrib.com/ci\_3027285?rss](http://www.sltrib.com/ci_3027285?rss) [From the Pittsburg Post-Gazette:](http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05259/572574.stm) > [@](#): > > Tom Burnett Sr., whose son died in the crash, said he made an impassioned speech to his fellow jurors about what he felt the crescent represented. > > “I explained this goes back centuries as an old-time Islamic symbol,” Burnett said. “I told them we’d be a laughing stock if we did this.” > > But his fellow jurors – and it turns out, many of the other family members – disagree with his interpretation. > > “I got blown off.” > > But not entirely. The jurors, in their final report, suggested the name of Murdoch’s design be changed from crescent to something with less religious significance, like an arc or circle. The jury only consisted of eight family members. At least one of them had his head screwed on straight. It’s a shame nobody listened to him. ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2005, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-ambitions-rep-tom-tancredo-r-co/322275/19 "2005-09-20T19:35:56Z")
Tancredo actually makes some valuable points about immigration and its net effects (wage delation, additional costs, social concerns). Not sure about his other positions though. If he were at least to bring the immigration issue to the forefront then his candidacy would be a good thing.