Scarborough: Arizona immigration law is "un-American"

Tom Tancredo AND Joe Scarborough? Wow.

Tom Tancredo to Tea Baggers: Send Obama back to Kenya

By GottaLaff

A few days ago, we got a closer look at a much younger Tom Tancredo, thanks to a reader who, sadly, witnessed his racism first hand. As I said in that post, we have covered this Palin and McCain-dissing, literacy test-endorsing, immigrant/Obama bashing, Ed Show-quitting cretin for some time.

Another day, another toxic story, this time via The Grio.

Tancredo was at a Tea Bagger rally in Greenville, South Carolina, hosted by the Upcountry Conservative Coalition, a local South Carolina conservative group. Tancredo was a keynote speaker:

From Jillian Rayfield, Talking Points Memo [...]

[Tancredo] said that Americans are "going to have to pray that we can hold on to this country."

He added, referring to President Obama: "If his wife says Kenya is his homeland, why don't we just send him back?"

I'm not sure why Ed Schultz continues to have this hate monger as a guest on his show, but hopefully it's to expose him for what he is. His obvious disdain for Not White People is despicable. This so-called "anger at the government" is no such thing. Well, maybe a little.

But let's call it what it really is: Anger at non-whites. Racism. The fact that an African American resides in the White House is driving these people crazy... literally. So crazy, in fact, that something tragic could very well occur, as in the Dr. Tiller scenario, or the Matthew Shepard scenario, or the James Byrd, Jr. scenario, and we'll know exactly who to blame.

H/t: Lensman23

Exclusive to TPC: "One of the things I learned quickly about Tancredo is that he hated Mexicans"

By GottaLaff

I got a fascinating e-mail today. I've redacted parts of it to keep the sender anonymous, but I had to share.

Previous posts about Tom Tancredo have shown Rep. Tom (How'd He Get Elected-Colo.) to be a Palin and McCain-dissing, literacy test-endorsing, immigrant/Obama bashing, Ed Show-quitting racist.

Now we see that this mindset goes back, way back, which is not at all surprising. But it is eye-opening. Here is a first hand account of one young man's observations of Then Tancredo. He said others could, but were unwilling or unavailable to, corroborate his story.

With that in mind:

So here's the deal with my history with Tancredo. [...] Tancredo is a petty, mean bastard [...]

Tancredo grew up in North Denver in the 50s and 60s. It had been, for many years, an enclave of Italian and Irish immigrants and their descendants. Tom identified strongly with his Italian community and attended Holy Family High School in North Denver.

During the 60s, Mexicans began moving into North Denver in large numbers and they were seen as interlopers by the Italians. I had lived in cities with large black populations growing up. I had a keen interest in the civil rights movement. When my family settled in Denver I noticed right away that Mexicans were an underclass with white Denverites.

I got a job at Elitch Gardens, an old amusement park in North Denver, the summer [of] 1968 [...]. This is where I met the great Tom Tancredo.

He was kind of the Assistant Manager of the park reporting to a spooky old guy named Bud Brechman. He ran the crew of 15 - 18 year old kids like he was a mob boss. [...] He wore Coke-bottle thick glasses and had thick five o'clock shadow at all times. He was downright swarthy.

One of the things I learned quickly about Tancredo is that he hated Mexicans. Or as he might say it at the time, he hated "spics, beaners, taco benders, and greasers". He had a crew of dull witted, mean spirited lackeys who enforced his every whim.

When the park was crowded, he would tell them, "Let's get rid of some spics, this place is staring to stink." He would routinely seek out Mexicans to harass and eject from the park. He particularly liked having his henchmen humiliate Mexican boys in front of their dates. [...]

There was another amusement park nearby called "Lakeside" that was owned by a woman named Rhoda. It was considered much lower class, Elitch's had beautiful formal gardens and a more white clientèle. Most Mexicans went to Lakeside because they wouldn't be hassled and it was less expensive.

Tancredo would often tell anyone who would listen that all the Mexicans belonged over at "Rhoda's Park" because she didn't mind "wallowing" with them.

Unrelated to his racism but representative of his character -- Tancredo liked to bet on the dog races and he had a big scam going. He would prey on weak, vulnerable, awkward adolescents to participate in his "dog track pool". He preyed on other weak, vulnerable, awkward adolescents with this scam too.

Here was the deal: His henchmen would come around on pay day and ask for your contribution to the pool. Exactly how the pool worked was never really disclosed and no one seemed to win except Tancredo and his buddies. But if you didn't participate, you could find yourself assigned to a ride in kiddie land that repeated that awful friendly dragon song all day long.

So all of this may not be that interesting, but I watched in horror over the years as Tancredo ascended the political ladder.

I moved [...] in the early 70s and watched him build momentum from afar. When he ran for President in 2008 it was almost comical, knowing what a deeply racist jackass he was and how he had morphed into this "legitimate" politician with a concern over immigration issues. Not, racism mind you, just protecting Americans. [...]

I'm sure there are many people who saw him in action at Elitch's, but racism was so prevalent in North Denver in that era that it may not have been remarkable to the average kid who wasn't trying to understand the larger world of race and class.

Here is Tom giving us a personal tour of his old stomping grounds, talking about his days at Elitch's.

Maybe the powers that be over at Discovery will give him his own reality show.

Tancredo rips Palin: Not 'presidential,' just selling books

By GottaLaff

Paddy linked to this earlier in her post about Tancredo slamming John McCain.

I thought I'd follow up on his entertaining rip-itude, this time of Bumpits McGhostWriter:

Former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) ripped into fellow Tea Party favorite Sarah Palin [...]

Presenting another episode of "Tea Tantrumers Eating Their Own":

"I really don’t have this feeling about her as being presidential," he said. "I don’t know what it is exactly. I don’t know if the issues really are that difficult for her or not.”

We do. They are. Next:

Tancredo said Palin doesn't seem to be attempting to improve as a candidate and suggested that her goal seems to be to "make a lot of money and stay in the mix."

While you're right about raking in the cash, Tom, she may very well have tried to improve and hit a wall. Think: Peter Principle.

As for that bad taste in his mouth he gets when he starts to let his mind wander to Bumpits' campaigning for Gramm-pa McCain, Tommy feels it's self-serving, a way to score a few personal points:

So she is just as much an unprincipled politician as all the rest of them?

“To a large extent.’’

And you still love her?

“I didn’t say that!’’

Wowzers!

Well now, if you're going to get insulted, why not by a fellow crackpot, I always say.

More fun here.

Quote of the Day

Whoa, too bad Cliff didn't know about this when he wrote his book... Via Taegan-

"I don't like him. He is not a very pleasant person. He is nasty, mean; the skin of an onion would look deep compared to his. He has a short fuse, he is almost peculiarly unstable."

-- Former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R), in an interview with a Dutch newspaper, about Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).

As Ben Smith notes, Tancredo is also quite negative on Sarah Palin.

Tancredo’s Literacy Test Idea Endorsed By Right-Wing Immigration Activist

By GottaLaff



Keith Olbermann put this issue into perspective so clearly that even this guy could understand it.

Okay, maybe not:

Yeh Ling-Ling, an ethnically Chinese, Vietnam-born, Cambodian-raised, France and Taiwan educated, naturalized U.S. citizen has publicly endorsed Tancredo’s proposal. In an email exchange with reporter Michael Roberts, Ling-Ling wrote:

I believe that in order to be granted U.S. citizenship, immigrants must have a good knowledge of spoken and written English, without any exception. Literacy tests should be given to all U.S. voters — native-born and naturalized citizens alike, so that their votes can accurately reflect their will.

I head a national tax-exempt non-profit organization whose leaders and supporters are racially and politically diverse, including minority immigrants. We do not and may not endorse or oppose political candidates or parties. We believe that some sort of immigration moratorium will be needed so that we can put American job seekers, welfare recipients and non-violent prison inmates to work.

Now back to the Bill Clinton TV marathon already in progress.

VIDEOS- Tea Party Racism: What The Media Won't Show You

By GottaLaff

We keep hearing wounded Tea Tantrumers whine about how misunderstood they are. They're not racists! They're just grassrootsers who care about their country. Real Americans!

Keith Olbermann put that to rest when he exposed Tom Tancredo for who he is, and who he represents:



Now, in that context, and coupled up with the corporate media propaganda that I posted about earlier (a must read), here's another video. If this is "real America", we're in a heap-o'-trouble:

America's corporate media has been covering up the fact that the Tea Party is based on bigotry, hatred and especially racism toward African-Americans. The Tea Party and "teabaggers" blow away the myth of a "post racial" America. Watch this video and see for yourself the well documented history of Tea Party racism that America's corporate media has been hiding from the world.

I'm not sure the media has completely hidden the racism, but they don't seem to emphasize it, expose a good part of it, or put the Tea Tantrumers' overall message in that context. The more quickly we can expose the worst of the worst and marginalize them, the better.

And while we're at it, let's call out the media when necessary, too. As in daily. As in hourly.

H/t: Gr8RDH

"I am an immigrant; I voted for Obama; and I know how to spell that word: v-o-t-e."

By GottaLaff

Via L.A. Times letters to the editor (bolding mine):

Re “ ‘Tea party’ convention a forum for woes, worries,” Feb. 6

Hey, Tom Tancredo! Giving the opening speech of the National Tea Party Convention, you told an audience that "people who could not spell the word 'vote' or say it in English put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House -- name is Barack Hussein Obama."

I am an immigrant; I voted for Obama; and I know how to spell that word: v-o-t-e.

I brought my children with me and raised them in this country. I am sure that they know how to spell too: They attended Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA and Harvard. (By the way, they also voted for Obama.)

Reading about your past and present activities, I learned how to spell some other words: h-a-t-e, o-b-s-e-s-s-e-d, b-i-g-o-t-r-y.

It is your turn to learn some English words such as "democracy" and "civil rights." You might also listen to a popular Spanish-English phrase: "Hasta la vista, baby!"

********

Re “ ‘Put your faith in ideas,’ Palin tells convention,” Feb. 7 The Republican Party, starting with Ronald Reagan, has systematically thrashed the economy and the federal government.
After each Republican administration, the Democrats were left to clean up the mess, which under George W. Bush had grown into an unbelievable catastrophe.

Now Sarah Palin is rallying her troops by ridiculing President Obama for not cleaning up the Republican mess fast enough, and Republican candidates are lining up to dog-pile Democrats across the country. What is wrong with this picture?

There were no letters to the contrary, which tells me that nearly 100% of the letters were like this, if not all of them. And for good reason.

VIDEO- Meghan McCain: Tea Party represents ‘innate racism’

By GottaLaff



Broadcast on ABC's The View, Feb. 8, 2010:

The daughter of former presidential candidate John McCain has sharply criticized the Tea Party movement, accusing it of "innate racism."

In an appearance on ABC's The View, Meghan McCain also took issue with a number of recent statements from Sarah Palin, criticizing the former Alaska governor for defending Rush Limbaugh's use of the word "retard" and for suggesting that President Obama launch a war against Iran in order to win a second term.

Plus Meghan and Mommy J Sid are for gay rights. Imagine that.

I applaud Meghan for her remarks on The View. The more often despicable people like Tancredo and many Tea Tantrumers are called out, especially by fellow Republicans, the better. They need to be exposed and eventually, shunned.

This country is headed in a dangerous direction if hate speech continues to be expressed so vehemently and frequently, and then given an enormous microphone via the No Longer News media.

So, to Meghan McCain:

We previously posted about the Tom Tancredo comments here. All our Tea Tantrumer posts can be found here.

The Silence Of Our Political Leadership: Special Comment by my 72-year-old friend

By GottaLaff

My very caring, impassioned 72-year-old Twitter pal, who goes by the name 42bkdodgr, would like to share his feelings about the deafening silence of our elected officials to Tom Tancredo's Tea Party hate speech and blatant racism. I am more than happy to oblige.

But first, a personal note from 42bkdodgr:

Many of you may wonder why I chose to use the “ 72 year old friend” as the introduction to my Special Comments. I selected the moniker so readers could see that from my age and life experiences I give a different perspective to the issues of today.

Now for his Special Comment:

The Silence Of Our Political Leadership

On Thursday, Feb. 4, 2010, Tom Tancredo was the opening speaker at the Tea Party convention. He made the one of most outrageous and racist remarks I’ve have heard in years.

Mr. Tancredo said “ Obama was elected because we do not have a civics, literacy test before people can vote in this country” and, “people who could not even spell the word 'vote' or say it in English put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House, His name is Barack Hussein Obama."

To me, his remarks and the warm reception they received (applause, laughter and cheers) from the convention attendees has clearly defined the kind of people who are members of the Tea Party. They would like to see this country return to the America of the 1950s, that of the Jim Crow laws, the era of McCarthyism and if they could revoke the civil rights amendments.

Mr. Tancredo's remarks maligned all Americans regardless of party affiliation, but especially immigrant Americans who came to this country and worked hard to become American citizens.

While some in the media have attacked Mr. Tancredo for making those remarks, what really has me upset and disgusted is the lack of response to those remarks from our political leadership.

Where is the outrage to Mr. Tancredo’s remarks from Senator Reid, Senator McConnell, Speaker Pelosi, Congressmen Boehner, and Cantor plus all the other members of both parties? Their silence is deafening.

When the leadership of this country lets such racists remarks go unanswered, they only embolden Mr. Tancredo and others of his ilk to continue to make such statements, which will only increase the hatred we are seeing, and further divide our country.

I’m afraid unless we the electorate make our dissatisfaction known to our elected officials, on their silence of these racists remarks, they will let this issue die a slow death.

Many thanks again for another thoughtful, relevant piece, 42bkdodgr. You often say what many of us are thinking and feeling, and we thank you for your unique perspective.

Tom Tancredo opens Tea Party Convention bashing immigrants, President Obama

What a class act.

Nashville, Tennessee (CNN) – Tom Tancredo opened what's being billed as the first Tea Party Convention with a bang.

The former congressman from Colorado and 2008 Republican presidential candidate blasted President Obama, saying "people who could not even spell the word 'vote', or say it in English, put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House. His name is Barack Hussein Obama."

(snip)

"So the race for America is on right now. The president and his left-wing allies in Congress are going to look at every opportunity to destroy the Constitution before we have a chance to save it. So put your running shoes on. Because I'll tell you, I've heard we need a revolution. My friends, we already had it. We lost. I mean, what happened to us in that last election was a revolution," said Tancredo, discussing the 2008 presidential contest.

Tancredo also slammed that election's Republican presidential nominee, saying "thank God John McCain lost the election."

The former congressman known for his strong opposition to illegal immigration also attacked "the cult of multiculturalism, aided by leftists, liberals all over who don't have the same idea about America as we do."

Tom Tancredo uses Haiti to accuse Dems of exploiting Haiti

By GottaLaff

Look what Shannyn Moore found:


Of course, the saints of the Rushpublic party would never exploit the Haiti tragedy. Not ever.

Oh, and Tom? It's spelled "Rahm Emanuel".

VIDEO: Tom Tancredo storms off The Ed Show

By GottaLaff



A sight to behold. As Emptywheel tweeted, "He can't stand up to a Latino blogger?!?!"

Way to go, Markos!

VIDEO- Tancredo: ‘Sonia May-eer’ appointment could mean Obama is racist

By GottaLaff

At the end of the segment last night, Tancredo claimed that Schultz could be accused of hate speech for his attacks on Beck and that he would be “affronted” by the mere suggestion that he might have a “deep-seeded hatred for the Latino community.”

As I've said previously, Tancredo's mouth opens, racism falls out.

Tancredo Staffer Pleads Guilty to Karate-Chopping Black Woman, called her "nigger"

By GottaLaff

(to see enlarged image, go here)

Here is my original post about this whack job and his little antics. Now this open-minded, loving, sweetheart of a--- oh, sorry. I meant to say, this repulsive, sicko, violent racist has entered plea of guilty:

Epstein has been targeted for years by civil rights groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the One People’s Project, who have obtained Epstein’s guilty plea to a hate crime he committed two years ago.

From the U.S. Attorney’s factual proffer:

On July 7, 2007, at approximately 7:15 p.m. at Jefferson and M Street, Northwest, in Washington, D.C., defendant was walking down the street making offensive remarks when he encountered the complainant, Ms. [REDACTED], who is African-American. The defendant uttered, “Nigger,” as he delivered a karate chop to Ms. [REDACTED]’s head.

Epstein has pled guilty and will be sentenced on July 8, although he changed his plea to water down an admission of guilt into the belief that “the government could prove me guilty.” [...]

Tancredo has taken a large public role in criticizing Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, telling MSNBC that the judge “appears to be a racist.”

Exec. Director Of Tancredo's PAC Guilty Of "Karate Chop" Assault On African-American Woman

By GottaLaff

(to see enlarged image, go here)

Earlier I treated you to a video of the Racist of Racists with a capital R, Tom Tancredo. But wait! What's that? Look up in the sky! It's a bird, it's a plane, it's...Racist Man and his sidekick, Wonder Marcus!

Tancredo's outlandish cries of racism are difficult to take seriously considering his own well-documented bigotry. However, the conservative blog Little Green Footballs has flagged a lesser known story demonstrating Tancredo's embrace of intolerance. Apparently, the executive director of Tancredo's anti-immigrant Team America PAC (also executive director of Pat Buchanan's group, The American Cause) pled guilty to "verbally and physically assaulting a black woman" and will be sentenced in July. According to the Factual Proffer from the case:

[...]

On July 7, 2007 at approximately 7:15 p.m., at Jefferson and M Street, Northwest, in Washington, D.C., defendant was walking down the street when he encountered the complainant, Ms. [Redacted], who is African-American. The defendant uttered, "[N*****]," as he delivered a karate chop to [complainant's] head. Ms. [Redacted]'s [redacted] attempted to detain defendant, but defendant was able to escape. Ultimately, the defendant was stopped and arrested by Secret Service officers.

The defendant, Marcus Epstein, is still featured prominently on Team America's website nearly two years after the crime. So, it's evident Tancredo is only "concerned" about racism when it furthers his bigoted agenda.

For official documents from the case, go here.

Quite the Rushpublic superheroes, huh?

VIDEO: Tom Tancredo, would you like to apologize for your KKK remarks? "No."

By GottaLaff

Tancredo's mouth opens, racism falls out. He couldn't bring himself to answer when Ed asked him if the ObamAdministration hates white people. Read that again.

Now watch him, if you think can do that and still manage to hold your lunch down:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Quickie: Tancredo the Flounder edition

By GottaLaff

Today's Quickie:

Keith Olbermann just now on Countdown:

"Tom Tancredo has the credibility of a flounder."

That was today's Quickie. Was it good for you?

Tom Tancredo calls Sonia Sotomayor a racist

Why anyone pays any attention to Tancredo is beyond me.

Tom Tancredo: 'Obama is a cult leader'

On a very basic level they're going crazy trying to get something, any bit of their crazy to stick. Now he's a cult leader? Puhleeze. Over immigration no less, not even that really culty universal healthcare.

The immigration debate continues to heat up as the nation's leaders get personal and answer tough questions about whether illegal immigrants should be given a chance to remain in the country legally.

Former U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo, a Republican from Colorado, called President Barack Obama a “cult leader” when talking about his immigration plan. Speaking on the conservative news radio program “Dateline: Washington,” Tancredo said Obama is trying to dress up a plan that amounts to "amnesty" for illegal immigrants. Here is an excerpt.

He is — you have to admit — he is a cult leader. And the cult will go with him wherever he wants to go. You just don't know about the size of the cult; how big it is — if it's shrinking or growing.