Tancredo out - How his immigrant bashing strategy failed
Tom Tancredo's feeble run at the Republican nomination for president will come to an end today.
He thought he could ride one issue, and a wave of hate against brown people, to the Presidency.
But the funny thing is, despite all the fear and distortions about what Americans think, Tancredo was stuck at 1% in polling of Republican primary voters:
Simon is correct on this one. The numbers don't lie:There are all sorts of news reports this morning that Tom Tancredo, who has based his entire campaign on an anti-immigrant platform, is ending his bid for the Presidency. As all of us try to make sense of the current immigration debate and how Tancredo's total rejection by Republican primary voters fits in let's consider these two figures: 1% and 62%. 1% is the share of the Republican vote Tancredo has been receiving. 62% is the share of Republicans who support an earned path to citizenship, according to a new LA Times poll taken two weeks ago. There really can be no other reason for Tancredo's incredible failure than to conclude that the Tancredo approach to immigration, "Deport Those Who Don't Belong, Make Sure They Never Come Back" has been overwhelmingly rejected by even Republican voters, and is just one more example of how the GOP's investment in the immigration issue has failed time and again to produce the results they had hoped for.
Today he will probably try to argue that the reason he never got traction is that the rest of the Republican field has adopted his position. But that really isn't true.
Immigration is one of the great early political tests of the 21st century. To date the Republicans have failed their test of whether they have what it takes to solve the emerging problems of the new century. For the good of the nation I hope the Democrats do not fail theirs.Democrats shouldn't fall for the rhetoric of our noisiest, fear-filled opponents. And they shouldn't triangulate against a solid, traditional and reliable voting bloc without the facts. Tancredo tried it, and he got no where. Oh well, maybe he'll take that run at the Senate after all.
Labels: 2008 elections, immigration, Tom Tancredo
posted by Zappatero @ 7:25 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Thanks, Zap! Brilliant, as usual!
Here's a letter to Bill Ritter about the oil and gas leases being handed out in the Roan Plateau:
Dear Gov. Bill Ritter:
Please do not allow new drilling on the undeveloped public lands of the Roan Plateau. It takes millennia for land to become a beautiful and pristine wilderness, but only two short years to ruin for generations. The better, more practical path is that we find alternatives, right now. It is senseless to put it off for a few more years while we ruin the last wild places in America in our greed for a resource that must, eventually, be replaced by some other, renewable, form of energy.
The Bush administration (and this goes all the way back to Reagan, actually, with his appointment of that idiot Watt and the whole "trees pollute" thing) has presided over a massive industrialization of our public lands, with drilling in Colorado occurring at unprecedented rates. It has been one years-long inebriated party for the energy companies. Already half of the area under consideration in the Roan Plateau area has been leased for oil and gas drilling. It sickens me that there are enough people in positions of stewardship who are willing to sell our future and our grandchildren's futures for a short-term buck. You know the companies will not clean up after themselves - what extraction industry in Colorado truly has, barring successful litigation?
The Sierrans say that traditional activities such as hunting, fishing, ranching, hiking and other backcountry recreation are simply incompatible with the impacts of oil and gas drilling. But there is more to this than recreation; we are tearing the womb that nurtured us, we are pushing Colorado into looking more and more like the industrial corridor of Northern New Jersey - if you can see how sick it is when it's finally at that pit-blasted smoke-filled phase, why does it just seem like "energy security" when you are sitting in your office and there are still a few wild areas left? Please, don't let them do this. Stewardship is like being a bodyguard - you have to win, and win, and succeed every time, for if you fail only once, it can never be made wholly right again.
The Roan Plateau is truly an island in a sea of drilling. By at least restricting drilling to existing sites, we can keep the energy companies from hiring hit men... oh, did I say that? - we can "allow for continued natural gas development," while protecting what still remains - the Roan Plateau's pristine landscape and critical wildlife habitat.
Please recommend no new drilling on the undeveloped public lands within the Roan Plateau Planning Area. You are the steward. It is not a thankless job, but it is one that makes you a target of the big business interests, if you do it well and faithfully. Frankly, that would be a badge of honor. Thank you for your continued leadership on this issue.
Very sincerely,
Democra-She :-)
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