Tancredo's 2nd TV Ad

I thought Tancredo's first ad was pretty scary, but his second one takes up another notch. I post this because someone needs to say it.



I can only imagine Tancredo's next ad featuring Tancredo holding a machete and talking about moving the White House to the Mexican border, so he can personally go on night patrol.

Before it's too Late

Tom Tancredo's new TV ad on the air in Iowa is just plain scary.



Before it's too late, I take back everything nice I said back in April. This guy is a wackjob.

Giuliani: Illegal Immigration is Not a Crime

Rudy Giuliani had some interesting remarks about illegal immigration yesterday on Glen Beck's show on CNN Headline News.

It's not a crime. I know that's very hard for people to understand, but it's not a federal crime. I was U.S. attorney in the Southern district of New York. So believe me, I know this. In fact, when you throw an immigrant out of the country, it's not a criminal proceeding. It's a civil proceeding.

Rudy later added...

We couldn't prosecute 12 million people. We have only 2 million people in jail right now for all the crimes that are committed in the country, 2.5 million. My solution is close the border to illegal immigration.

Rudy has some good points, but these comments sure will make a lot of Republicans angry. It would be interesting to lock Rudy and Tom Tancredo in the same room and see who will come out alive.

WHO Channel 13's Cast Your Kernel Results

Throughout the Iowa State Fair people could cast their kernel for their candidate for choice at the WHO Channel 13 booth. A total of 35,448 kernels were cast in the poll.

The fair ended yesterday and the results are in...

Democrats
Hillary Clinton 33%
John Edwards 28%
Barack Obama 22%
Bill Richardson 13%
Joe Biden 2%
Chris Doddd 1%
Dennis Kucinich 1%
Mike Gravel 0%

Republicans
Romney 36%
Huckabee 17%
Giuliani 14%
Fred Thompson 13%
Tancredo 5%
Brownback 4%
Paul 4%
McCain 3%

The results pretty much fall in line with recent polls. Huckabee got the bounce from the straw poll to be a legit contender. McCain is shockingly low.

Taking the Moral Stance on Immigration

On Sunday there was a great letter in the Des Moines Register by Dave Leach about how conservatives have lost their moral compass on the issue of immigration. The letter debunks arguments used to dehumanize illegal immigrants and concludes...

Tom Tancredo has spun our unofficial moral compass around like a Wheel of Fortune, with enough success that the other candidates are afraid to define amnesty correctly or to oppose Tancredo's National ID agenda. The National ID is more big-brotherish than the one in Hillary Clinton's 1993 health-care plan, at which moral conservatives professed to be aghast.

Moral conservatives used to be against the drawing of lines around the rights of others where God has not drawn them, whether it was skin color, not yet being born, or being born on the other side of a line.

Who hijacked my category? I feel like an illegal alien in my own category!

Why Ron Paul Won't Do Well At the Ames Straw Poll

Last month, Republican Strategist Patrick Ruffini predicted Ron Paul would get second place in the Ames Straw Poll. I am here to tell you that Ron Paul won't do well at the Ames Straw Poll based on the fact that before this week Paul has only had 2 visits and spent 3 days in Iowa campaigning. Paul is spending this week campaigning, however it will be too little too late.

To do well in Iowa you need to shake hands, lots of hands. Iowans don't decide on who to support by what they hear on TV and fewer rely on the internet, which is Paul's strength. The strength of internet support in Iowa is especially weak in rural areas, which are largely Republican. Iowans that live in rural counties value the opinions of their local paper and their neighbors and many of these people have never visited a blog. To create buzz with the local paper and with neighbors, a candidate must campaign in these towns and let the people ask them questions.

The number of days Rep. Paul has campaigned dwarfs in comparision to every Republican candidate. As of August 3rd, Tommy Thompson has been in Iowa 60 days, Sam Brownback has been in Iowa 51 days, Tom Tancredo has been in Iowa 47 days, Mitt Romney has been in Iowa 44 days, and Mike Huckabee has been in Iowa 39 days. Even Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, who have been criticized for blowing Iowa off, have been here 16 and 17 days, respectively.

Even though Ron Paul is in Iowa this week, I highly doubt he will be able to sweep them off their feet. The die-hards that will be attending the Ames Straw Poll have had the chance to meet these candidates probably more than once during the past few months. This is why Ron Paul won't do well at the Ames Straw Poll.

Summarizing the Republcian Field

I noticed last night that most of my posts over the weekend were about Republicans. So after this post, I will try to lay off the Republican for awhile.

Rolling Stone posted this last week that summarizes the downside of the candidates in the Republican field. Tim Dickinson writes...

Rudy’s top advisers are into coke, hookers, race baiting and flattening Persia.

John McCain has less money than Ron Paul and just fired (as in axed) his campaign’s top guns, leaving him essentially dead in the water.

Fred Thompson, the supposed Christianist savior, was by all indications a lobbyist for an abortion group in the ’90s, and a mole for Nixon during Watergate.

And Mitt Romney has become such a poster child for inconstancy, that he gets ribbed for it on SportsCenter.

I just don’t see it: How does any of these jokers get nominated?

My money’s on Mitt right now. Especially now that McCain’s search-and-destroy oppo-research master Terry Nelson has left the building.

Am I wrong?

Dickinson forgot this quote from Fred "Hollywood" Thompson that won't play well among Evangelicals...

I was single for a long time, and, yep, I chased a lot of women. And a lot of women chased me. And those that chased me tended to catch me.

No wonder Republicans aren't happy with their candidates. It seems the second tier of Huckabee, Brownback, and Tancredo haven't made huge splashes nationally and haven't been able to move up.

My prediction is that by October McCain will drop out, the dirt on Fred Thompson will come out and his hype will have diminished, and Newt Gingrich will enter the race. Conservatives will coalesce around Gingrich because he is conservative and there is no one else.

GOP and Civil Rights

The NAACP held two presidential forums on Thursday, one for the Democratic candidates and one for the Republican candidates. All of the Democratic candidates attended the forum, but Tom Tancredo was the only Republican to show up.

From Jeffery Feldman...

The NAACP invited all 9 Republican candidates to the forum, but only one showed up: Tom Tancredo. All the Democratic Presidential hopefuls showed up for their forum.

The excuses given by the Republican campaigns mostly had to do with scheduling conflicts--just too busy to make it.

The resulting photo of Tancredo--standing on a stage of empty podiums--sums up the Republican party's commitment to civil rights in America: the only Republican interested is the guy running to deny immigrant workers their rights.

Democrat Bill Richardson had this to say about the lack of participation in the Republican forum...

I want to thank the NAACP for inviting me here. It's a great honor. But I have a little beef to pick with you. You just invited Congressman Tancredo, who I think said he wants to send me back to Mexico.

This pretty much tells you what Republicans think about civil rights.

The Candidates are Coming, The Candidate are Coming!

The candidates are coming, the candidates are coming!

Iowa is getting invaded by candidates from both sides of the aisle this week. Clinton (both of them), Obama, Dodd, Biden, Romney, Huckabee, and Tancredo are all in Iowa this next week.

Here is information from the Des Moines Register...

SUNDAY
REPUBLICAN MIKE HUCKABEE
WEST DES MOINES: 9 a.m., speaks to congregation at Crossroads Fellowship Church, 1200 60th St.

REPUBLICAN TOM TANCREDO

AMES: 2 p.m., Ames Headquarters Opening & Lunch, 217 Welch Ave., Suite 102

ELDORA: 6:30 p.m., Hardin County Republican Town Hall Meeting & Supper, Dorothy’s Senior Center, 1306 17th Ave.

MONDAY

DEMOCRAT JOE BIDEN

IOWA CITY: 5 p.m., house party, Home of Bob aand Maggie Elliott, 1108 Dover Street

IOWA CITY: 7 p.m., conversation with gay community, Givanni’s Restaurant, 109 East College Street

DEMOCRAT HILLARY CLINTON

DES MOINES: 7:30 p.m., Clintons to attend rally at Iowa State Fairgrounds, East 30th Street and East University Ave. For Public tickets visit www.HillaryClinton.com/Iowa, or call 515-558-9630

REPUBLICAN MIKE HUCKABEE

CEDAR RAPIDS: 9:30 a.m., Huckabee to speak at St. Luke’s Hospital, Nassif Heart Center, 1026 A Ave. NE

REPUBLICAN MITT ROMNEY

JEFFERSON: 11:45 a.m., “Ask Mitt Anything” luncheon, Raccoon Bend Golf Club, 501 W Greenwood Road

CARROLL: 1:45 p.m., “Ask Mitt Anything” coffee, The Carrollton Inn, 1730 N. U.S. Highway 71

COUNCIL BLUFFS: 6:30 p.m., Romney addresses Iowa Christian Alliance House Party, The Home of David and Jody Edwards, 21276 McPherson Ave.

TUESDAY

DEMOCRAT JOE BIDEN

CEDAR RAPIDS: 8 a.m., breakfast with Linn County Democrats, Blue Strawberry Coffee Company, 118 Second St. SE

GRINNELL: 12 p.m., Luncheon with Poweshiek County Democrats hosted by state Rep. Eric Palmer, Phoenix Café, 834 Park St.

CRESTON: 4:30 p.m., house party and barbeque with Union County Democrats hosted by state Rep. Mike Reasoner, Home of Karl and Jan Knock, 906 W. Montgomery St.

AMES: 7:15 p.m., fundraiser for state Rep. Lisa Heddens, Home of Robert and Donna Cipolloni, 807 Douglas Avenue

DEMOCRAT HILLARY CLINTON

IOWA CITY: 1 p.m., Clintons to attend Ready for Change Event, University of Iowa Student Center, River Terrace. For public tickets visit www.HillaryClinton.com/Iowa, or call 319-358-5837.

DAVENPORT: 4:30 p.m., Clintons to attend Ready for Change Event, 2nd Avenue and Main Street. For public tickets visit www.HillaryClinton.com/Iowa, or call 319-358-5837.

DEMOCRAT CHRIS DODD

DAVENPORT: 7:30 a.m., Davenport pancake breakfast, The Golden Leaf, 2902 East Kimberly Road

BURLINGTON: 10:30 a.m., Burlington community gathering, VFW Post 10102, 215 Washington St.

OTTUMWA: 2 p.m., Ottumwa community kitchen table, Canteen Lunch in the Alley, 112 1/2 East 2nd St.

WEST DES MOINES: 6:30 p.m., West Des Moines Independence Day Parade, start at Valley High School, 3650 Woodland Ave.

WEST DES MOINES: 7:30 p.m., Valley Junction Independence Day Street Celebration, Fifth Street and Maple Ave.

REPUBLICAN MIKE HUCKABEE

DE WITT: 11 a.m., Huckabee to speak at Genesis Medical Center, 118 11th St.

DEMOCRAT BARACK OBAMA

KEOKUK: 12:45 p.m., meet Obama, Hawthorne Elementary School, 2940 Decatur St.

MT. PLEASANT: 3:45 p.m., house party, Home of Lois and Frederick Crane, 601 N. White St.

FAIRFIELD: 7:45 p.m., evening in the park with Obama, Fairfield Town Square, Between Main St. & Court St. on Burlington Ave.

REPUBLICAN MITT ROMNEY

COUNCIL BLUFFS: 7:15 a.m., “Ask Mitt Anything” breakfast, Bayliss Park Hall, 530 First Ave.

RED OAK: 9:30 a.m., “Ask Mitt Anything” coffee, Chatauqua Park Pavillion, 2700 North Fourth St.

ATLANTIC: 11:45 a.m., “Ask Mitt Anything” luncheon, Cass County Community Center, 805 W. 10th St.

CRESTON: 2:15 p.m., Union County Meet-and-Greet, The Pizza Ranch, 520 Livingston Ave.

WEST DES MOINES: 6 p.m., Romney marches in the West Des Moines Independence Day Parade

WEDNESDAY
DEMOCRAT JOE BIDEN

URBANDALE: 10 a.m., Biden to walk in Independence Day Parade, Old City Hall (starting location), 3315 70th St.

MARSHALLTOWN: 12:15 p.m., Biden addresses 4th of July picnic, Marshalltown Veterans Home, 1301 Summit St.

DES MOINES: 2 p.m., 4th of July house party and barbeque with Polk County Democrats, Home of Nate and Meg Boulton, 2670 Wisconsin Ave.

SIOUX CITY: 5:30 p.m., Biden to be featured Speaker at Woodbury County Democrats’ Truman Club Fundraiser, Home of Carl and Ann James, 1309 35th St.

DEMOCRAT CHRIS DODD

NORWALK: 10 a.m., Norwalk Fourth of July Parade, start at Norwalk High School, 1201 North Ave.

PLEASANTVILLE: 11:45 a.m., Pleasantville Post-Parade Luncheon, Pleasantville Elementary School, 415 West Jones St.

WELLMAN: 3:15 p.m., Wellman Fourth of July Celebration, North Park, 125th St. and First Ave.

CORALVILLE: 5 p.m., Coralville Independence Day Fest, St. Morrison Park, 1551 Seventh St.

CEDAR RAPIDS: 6:30 p.m., Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival, First St. SW and First Ave.

REPUBLICAN MITT ROMNEY

CLEAR LAKE: 10 a.m., Romney marches in the Clear Lake Fourth of July Parade

AMES:11 a.m., Romney marches in the Ames Fourth of July Parade

WAUKEE: 1 p.m., Romney holds a Dallas County Ice Cream Social, The Ice Cream Shoppe, 530 Locust St.,

WAUKEE: 2 p.m., Romney marches in the Waukee Fourth of July Parade

DEMOCRAT BARACK OBAMA

OSKALOOSA: 9:45 a.m., Independence Day Celebration with Obama family, Smokey Row Coffee House, 109 S. Market St.

PELLA: 11:30 a.m., Independence Day celebration with Obama family, Home of Dan and Heather Vroom, 909 W. 3rd

DES MOINES: 4:45 p.m., Independence Day celebration with Obama family, Beaverdale Park, Intersection of 34th & Adams streets

Chris Dodd will also be in Iowa on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. On Friday and Saturday Dodd will be joined by singer Paul Simon, where they will be making stops in Mason City, Ft. Dodge, Sioux City, Carroll, and Council Bluffs.

Latest Des Moines Register Iowa Poll: A Look at the Republicans

Yesterday, I took a look at the latest poll in Iowa from Des Moines Register on the Democratic side. Today, it is the Republicans turn.

After looking at the poll numbers, there are 3 surprises. First, is Mitt Romney's jump in the polls to 1st place with 30%. Romney has failed to get above 20% in any other polls.

The second surprise was brought to my attention by Chris at MyDD. It seems that McCain and Rudy are stuck around 17-18% in the polls. Some of these polls have Gingrich and Fred Thompson, or just one of those, or neither of them and McCain and Rudy still get about 17-18%.

The differing results for Romney seem to be entirely based on the varying options presented to the apparently large Anyone But McCain and Giuliani vote among Iowa Republicans. Without Gingrich and F. Thompson, and thus fewer options to split that vote, Romney pulls in an impressive 30%.

As for the second tier candidates, Tommy Thompson, Mike Huckabee, Sam Brownback, and Tom Tancredo all polled between 7% and 4%. Thompson has put the most effort out of that group and he has the slight lead. I fully expect one of these 4 to make a move to the top tier, unless another candidate jumps in the race and steals their thunder. Tancredo might make a jump if their is strong opposition to the Immigration Bill not being strict enough.

Finally, the Register asked what candidates caucus goers would like to see enter the race. Three Republicans received more than 45% on this question, which shows that the Republicans aren't satisfied with their candidates. Condileeza Rice got 50%, Newt Gingrich got 48%, and Fred Thompson got 45%. I don't think these are perfect candidates for Republicans either.

Thoughts on the Republican Debate

Tonights Republican debate was a lot better than the last one. The questions were better and the crowd was more involved.

Here are some thoughts I jotted down during the debate...

• Everytime I see Mike Huckabee, I wonder why he isn't gaining any traction. His counter to Rudy on abortion was clear and a lot better than Brownback's simplistic attempt.
  
• I think Rudy Giuliani won because of him interjecting on Paul's comment, even though I think Paul had an important point.
• Tancredo did pretty well. His line about people should have conversions on the road to Damascus and not on the road to Des Moines got a loud ovation and was a clear shot at McCain, Rudy, and multiple choice Mitt.
• I think Gilmore, Brownback, Tommy Thompson, and Hunter should drop out. Hunter might have some credibility on immigration, but is overshadowed by Tancredo.

I am getting just as much info from the interviews afterwards than I did from the debate. Here some interesting things from the interviews afterwards with Hannity and Colmes.

• Minutes after the debate, Carl Cameron says some South Carolina Republicans think some of the 2nd tier candidates should drop out. He then mentions Huckabee, Paul, and someone else that I don't remember.
• In the 20 minutes following the debate the Fox News reporters attack Paul for being anti-war 3 times.
• McCain did horrible in the interview when he said they will follow us here because they are evil and do evil things. I know 3 year old that show better reasoning. McCain finishes by saying he will be the last man standing in Iraq.
  
• Tancredo was interviewed and he seems to have a very similar stance on Iraq as many Democrats. Tancredo wants to disengage our military (i.e. redeploy our troops, but still go after al Queda).
• When asked how he will move out of the 2nd tier, Tancredo says he needs to do well in the Iowa Straw Poll by getting in the top 5.
• Sean Hannity and Ron Paul are tearing each other a part about being anti-war in the interview afterward. Hannity's being his usually self and not letting Paul respond. Colmes steps in and makes the point that Paul was trying to make and then Colmes cuts to the commercial.
• I think Gilmore, Brownback, Tommy Thompson, and Hunter should drop out. Hunter might have some credibility on immigration, but is overshadowed by Tancredo.

Tancredo Isn't As Wacky As I Thought

Last weekend I attended a campaign event in town held by Republican Tom Tancredo. This was my first Republican event I attended, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I went having a couple questions that I hoped would be answered (mainly about immigration) and hoping that Tancredo would give some crazy far right comments.

Tancredo began by telling the story of him serving in the Department of Education under Reagan and Bush in the 1980's. He said that he got the call and he was honored to serve under Reagan, but had to decline because he doesn't believe there even should be a Department of Education, so how could he work there. Tancredo's idea was to shut the Department of Education down. The Reagan administration responded by saying that is exactly what we want you to do.

The rest of Tancredo's speech was about immigration, immigration, and immigration. If he was asked about health care, he would tie the answer to immigration. If he was asked about education, he would somehow fit immigration in there. If he was asked about trade, he would fit immigration in there. He briefly mentioned that he was against abortion while touting his Conservative background and shockingly he did not even mention Iraq once.

Tancredo began discussing immigration by framing it as a security issue. He wants to first tighten security on the southern border and then the northern border. He said that we need to know who is coming in, for what reasons, and how long they are staying. Then he said we are basically importing a servant class into our nation. The ones who benefit are the employers because the cheap labor is only cheap for them. It is everyone else who must pay for it. Tancredo disagrees with people who say they can't find people to do work. He said what they really mean is they can't hire people to work for the price they are willing to pay. If you want to do something for low wage workers, then secure the borders. Tancredo laid out a simple solution that is just words long... enforce the laws.

I basically agree with every one of those points that Tancredo said about immigration. However, I felt Tancredo was emphasizing the wrong points in his speech. Here are some of the things that I didn't agree with Tancredo when it comes to immigration.

Tancredo said he would outlaw bilingual education. I worked in a bilingual school that taught everyone English and Spanish. It was amazing to see English speaking students become bilingual by the time they were in 3rd and 4th grades. It was a tremendous opportunity for these students. It helped the Spanish speaking students because to learn a new language it is important to have the basics of reading down in your native language. By learning to read and speak Spanish correctly, these students are able to learn English quicker and better.

Tancredo had a lot of stories about immigrants who receive all of the health care they need. I can't argue that a large number of immigrants do not have health insurance and receive some sort of health care. However, the quality of that care is not as good as the health care people with insurance have. Also, it is morally wrong to deny health care or education for that matter to people based on the fact their skin is a different color, they speak a different language, and they come (or their parents come) from a different country.

He stressed not redefining amnesty. He said all of the candidates are basically trying to redefine amnesty by inserting a path towards citizenship. If you don't give a path towards citizenship, then what do you do with the 12-20 million illegal immigrants in the nation? This was exactly the first question asked by the audience. Tancredo's answer was why not. He said to not let candidates tell you that it can't be done because if you believe it is the right thing to do and have the will to do it then it can be done. I agree that technically we could round up 12-20 million people. However, I only see 3 ways in accomplishing that and none of them are realistic at all. First, we could use every single law enforcement officer in the nation. Take them away from the police force, the mall security, FBI, etc and have them go looking for illegal immigrants. Second, we could bring all of our national guard out of Iraq and other countries overseas and have them round up all of the illegal immigrants. Finally, we could declare marshal law and set a curfew. Anyone out past a curfew would get tossed in a van and dumped on the other side of the border. Technically, all of these would work, but there would be a huge price to pay economically and eroding away with our civil liberties.

At the end of the speech, Tancredo did say that jobs are the magnet bringing immigrants here. If you crack down on employers and the immigrants wouldn't be able to find a job, they would go back home on their own. This is an example of how he should answer the question. This type of statement should be first point he makes, instead of talking about having the will to round up 12-20 million people.

Tancredo strongly made the point that we can't have a society based on diversity. He stressed that we need something to hold our society together. The things that hold our nation together is our border, our language, and our culture. I totally disagree with this. We are a nation of immigrants, dating back to the Pilgrims. It is like Tancredo has never read any history of the United States prior to the 1950's. The thing that holds our nation together is our freedoms. It doesn't matter what language you speak, you have the freedom of speech. It doesn't matter what culture you have, you have the freedom to practice your religion however you wish. It is our freedoms that make our country great. Trying to solve the issue of immigration and national security by taking freedoms away is not the answer.

Tancredo comes across as being mean and heartless because he says things that sound like he is attacking the immigrant and referring to them as something other than a human being. If he focused on the job markets, employers, and had an ounce of compassion when speaking about immigrants, Tancredo would come off much better.

Tancredo also spoke about No Child Left Behind and free trade agreements. I had a lot in common with him on both of these issues. Tancredo voted against NCLB because he doesn't believe the Federal Government has any right to be involved in local education. He came out strongly against free trade agreements because there is no reason you have to sacrifice sovereignty for trade. Tancredo voted against NAFTA and CAFTA and said they are part 2 of a 3 step process of making North America into a North American Union. Now my reasons for opposing NCLB and free trade a slightly different, I was pleased that Tancredo has taken such strong stands against them.

I was also surprised at how much he bashed Bush in his speech. He had comments against Bush at least 3 times. One, he jokingly said that he doesn't get invited to the White House much and that is just fine with him. The audience laughed and didn't seem to mind the Bush bashing.

After hearing Tancredo speak, I was surprised at how much I actually agreed with him on immigration. However, I am not sure how much Tancredo would be willing to compromise on the things I did disagree with him on. He seemed pretty much set in his ways. When I left, I had gotten my couple questions answered at the event. However, I left with a quite a few more questions about topics that were brought up.

Some more Crazy Comments from Congressman in Western Iowa

Over the weekend there were some more crazy comments from a Congressman in Western Iowa, but this time it wasn't Rep. Steve King saying them. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) was in Council Bluffs campaigning for President on Saturday. Tancredo's focus is on illegal immigration. Unfortanately, Tancredo fails to discuss the cause of the immigration problem, instead Tancredo, like King, focuses on hate-filled remarks.

Here are three examples from his stop in Iowa over the weekend...

"Illegal immigration has diluted the country's patriotism."

and referred to immigrants as a cult...

"We have a cult of multiculturalism. This is what permeates our society," he said. Immigrants who come to the United States but refuse to assimilate by learning the language and following the laws water down what it means to be an American.

and to top it off Tancredo had this to say...

"It's a cultural, political, linguistic tower of Babel."

Doesn't Tancredo realize that the vast majority of Americans are immigrants to this nation? Maybe he needs to read the story of the first Thanksgiving again.

If Tancredo gave up the divisive remarks and actually worked at finding common ground, we might be able to find a solution that will actually work.