Bush Tone Deaf - Tancredo

The Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus Members held a press conference yesterday to respond to President Bush on the immigration issue.

Tom Tancredo said that “The President certainly got his wish when he campaigned this past cycle, and did everything he could to guarantee a Congress sympathetic to his ‘amnesty for all’ plan."

Tancredo also called President Bush "Tone Deaf", in not recognising what he considers to be the strong anti immigration feeling in the American community.

Read the press release here.

Tancredo - Bush Wrong on Immigration

Responding to the State of the Union Address last night, Tom Tancredo has attacked the President Bush plans saying that he has launched his "comprehensive immigration plan."

Tancredo also called the plan an "amnesty for all" and said that he was disappointed but not surprised.

Going further though, Tancredo said that the President and his "new Democrat allies in Congress seem hell bent on cramming this mass amnesty down the throats of the American people..."

There will be a press conference this morning of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus.

Tancredo continues to rail on this one issue - and doesn't seem to mind being the only single issue candidate in the race for the GOP nomination.

While President Bush has Hagel and other Republicans coming at him from the center, he has Tancredo coming at him from the right.

Will Tancredo move on to other topics like health care or perhaps Iraq? Maybe not for a while. And definitely not while he continues to attract the media attention just by talking about immigration.

Tancredo sets up Exploratory Committee

Tom Tancredo yesterday set up an exploratory committee to consider running for the GOP nomination for President.

Tancredo had spent the weekend in Iowa meeting with key Republicans, and while there yesterday, made his announcement. Tancredo also announced that he has employed prominent Iowan Republican Bill Salier to work on his campaign.

As an strong advocate for curbs of immigration, expect Tancredo to use this as his platform to attempt to secure GOP support in Iowa.

A formal announcement saying that Tancredo is running for President may only be weeks away.

Tancredo considers a run for President

Tom Tancredo, Representative from the 6th District of Colorado, is reported to be considering a run for the Republican Nomination for President of the United States.

Tancredo is best known for his campaign, some call crusade, to protect the American borders from illegal immigrants. Tancredo believes that he speaks for the silent majority of Americans on immigration matters. Much of his criticism is leveled at the amount of illegal immigrants who have crossed the border from Mexico.

If Tancredo does run, it appears that he will be doing it primarily to highlight the immigration issue. Tancredo's spokesperson has said that he would be running for third place, which would be very respectable for an outsider.

Tancredo is spending this weekend in Iowa before making up his mind on setting up an exploratory committee. He will be meeting with Republican leaders during his visit. It is likely that if Tancredo does announce, he will be spending a good deal of time in Iowa over the coming months. McCain is not popular in Iowa - his previous stance in not supporting the ethanol industry didn't go down so well in a major ethanol state. That leaves an opportunity for someone like Tancredo, even if he is virtually a single issue candidate.

Controversial is one of the words that springs to mind when Tancredo's name is mentioned. He has had many run ins with the Bush Administration in the past, and was once reportedly told by Karl Rove that he was a traitor to the President.

Last September, Tancredo addressed a gathering where the 'League of the South', a Southern Nationalist organisation were in attendance. Reports were that the Confederate Flag was prominently displayed and the evening ended with a rendition of "Dixie".

And in November, Tancredo referred to Miami as a third world nation, which led to the cancelling of a Miami Rotary planned function in December with Tancredo as guest speaker. Workers had planned to boycott the event, and possible protests were planned for the evening.

Tancredo was equivocal in a very brief press release issued in response to the President Bush decision to send more troops to Iraq, saying that he was encouraged by the November deadline but was not convinced that an increased military presence would aid in winning the war against radical Islam.