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Tancredo: No Apologies
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ShareMarch 02, 2007 3:00 PM
ABC News' Paul Fidalgo Reports: Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., excoriated his top-tier rivals Friday for being what he called "hyphenated conservatives," proclaiming, "The only adjective I will accept on the word 'conservative,' for me, is the word 'unapologetic.'"
Addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, Tancredo railed against the various suffix-laden terms for conservatives such as "neo-," "paleo-," and "compassionate conservatives," and diagnosed the Republican Party's ills after the "debacle" of the 2006 midterm elections, in which the GOP lost both houses of Congress.
"A simple-yet-inconvenient truth has emerged," said Tancredo to snickers from the audience, "when conservatives run on principle, we win. When conservatives run from their principles, we lose."
Casting doubt on the conservative credentials of fellow GOP presidential candidates such as former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, R-N.Y., Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.., and former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., Tancredo told the crowd that the conservative movement "doesn't need an adjective, it needs a leader. . .who opposes abortion not because Iowa caucus-goers oppose abortion," and a leader who understands that "the first part of 'illegal immigration' is 'illegal.'"
"There's nothing compassionate about giving amnesty to millions of people who have broken into our country," he said.
Tancredo told the audience they "shouldn’t be surprised at the host of conservative converts," but asserted that "conversion happens on the road to Damascus, not the road to Des Moines."
Tancredo acknowledged the uphill climb he had before him in the presidential race, but implored the conference attendees to support a candidate they can "vote for" and that the conservative movement must "not choose, but produce a candidate."
March 2, 2007 in Thompson, Fred | Permalink | User Comments (7)
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The only principle that a Conservative has is to win ... and it is only enjoyable if it is at the expense of others...and if they can gloat about their moral superiority while doing it ...
Posted by: Dirik Lolkus | Mar 2, 2007 3:22:52 PM
Tom's got my vote!
His campaign motto should be, "Truth, Justice and the American Way"!
Posted by: MattV123 | Mar 2, 2007 4:04:32 PM
It's also not compassionate to enrich and entrench Mexico's corrupt government by allowing them to send us the people they can't take care of. The amnesty that everyone except for Tancredo, Paul, and Hunter (and perhaps Romney) supports would encourage even more illegal immigration and help Mexico avoid the reforms they need to make to their system.
Regarding those other candidates, is anyone (bloggers or supposed journalists) going to try to ask Giuliani about his immigration stance? His position - and that of McCain - should be indefensible, but they're able to get away with it because no one is willing or able to ask them tough questions.
Posted by: Lonewacko | Mar 2, 2007 4:20:02 PM
tom tancredo is the best and only candiate for the gop.
Posted by: phil frantz | Mar 2, 2007 5:04:22 PM
How is it that all these guys tell us the same thing?
And how is it that they think we buy into all that crap?
Oh yeah, because we let them. My bad.
A vote for this idiot is a vote for another rubber stamp.
Posted by: GeorgeMBush | Mar 2, 2007 7:58:58 PM
There should be a nonpartisan group against 'illegal immigration' -- otherwise called the American Middle class. They're the ones getting screwed royaly by the social programs that illegals are taking advantage of at their expense.
Posted by: Katie | Mar 3, 2007 6:36:02 PM
Like the "War on Drugs" and the "War in Iraq", the more the immigration issue gets politicized and oversimplified, the further we are from any sort of real solution. It is so easy to demonize a people and play on fear to get political support. However, I would argue that it is unAmerican. Instead of letting politicians like this use the issue for their own purposes, how about we begin a real dialog in this country about the problem. Building fences and having local police forces make immigration sweeps may make us feel better, but all it does is waste money and resources. This is not a simple problem and there are no easy solutions...anybody who argues otherwise is doing so out of bad faith and for their own purposes.
Posted by: Dirik Lolkus | Mar 3, 2007 8:33:39 PM
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