Tancredo for President -- Official Blog

Tancredo's Post-Debate Thoughts

In downtown Manchester right after the debate.

The American Contemplation

What does it mean to be an American? Tancredo had a GREAT answer.

*** post-debate transcript insertion ***

MS. VAUGHN: Erin Gardner’s here with us tonight. Erin, you live in the Gate City, Nashua, New Hampshire.

Q Yes, I do.

MS. VAUGHN: What is your question tonight?

Q With regards to illegal and legal immigration, in your opinion, what does it mean to be an American? What are the tangible and intangible attributes of an American?

MS. VAUGHN: Congressman Tancredo.

REP. TANCREDO: It means, number one, cut from the past. If you come here as an immigrant, great. Welcome. If you come here legally, welcome. It means you cut your ties with the past, familial — especially political ties with the country from which you came.

But let’s be serious about this, you guys. We talk about all the immigration reform we want, and what it’s got to get down to is this: Are we ready for a timeout? Are we actually ready to say, “Enough is enough”? We have to stop all legal immigration except for the — for people coming into this country as family members, immediate family members, and/or refugees. Are we willing to actually say that and say enough — is it — we have got to actually begin the process of assimilating people who have come in this great wave of immigration. The process of assimilation is not going on.

And how long? How long will it take us for that — for us to catch up with the millions of people who have come here, both legally and illegally, and assimilate them? I’ll tell you this. It’ll take this long: until we no longer have to press 1 for English and 2 for any other language. (Applause.)

Standing Ovation

I was about to leave... but, surprisingly, the Tanc got another response in. It was about immigration. The Tanc gets a chance, and he does well.

*** post-debate transcript insertion ***

MR. BLITZER: Thank you, Governor.

Congressman Tancredo, would you advertise for your campaign in Spanish? Specifically, I’m referring to the highly publicized comment you recently made that Miami was like a third world country.

REP. TANCREDO: Right. Yeah, exactly. No, I would not advertise in Spanish. Believe me when I tell you this, English — the preservation of the English language is important for us for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is because it is what holds us together. It is the glue that keeps a country together, any country. Bilingual countries don’t work, and we should not encourage it.

And even in the bill that Senator McCain is pushing, he says that he supports English-only — or official English. Doesn’t go on to tell you, that of course he says that we’re going to codify President Clinton’s original plan, original executive order signed that said all papers produced by the government have to be in various languages. No, it is absolutely wrong. English is the language of this country, and you know what, we should not be ashamed of that. It’s a good thing and it holds us all together regardless of where we come from —

MR. BLITZER: Thank you.

REP. TANCREDO: — regardless of our backgrounds, our histories, it doesn’t matter. We need that thing to hold us together.

MR. BLITZER: All right, thank you, Congressman. (Applause.)

The Spin Room

I'm heading from the green room to the spin room.

Finally Got One In

It was a good answer about energy conservation and conservative principles.

*** post-debate transcript insertion ***

MR. BLITZER: All right. Thank you very much, Governor.

Congressman Tancredo, do you believe true conservatives should be doing more to protect the environment?

REP. TANCREDO: Yeah. The — I think that that’s absolutely imperative, and I think so because frankly, you’ve got a conservative model to pick from. I mean, you know, Teddy Roosevelt after all put the stamp on that — the whole issue of conserving the environment, creating the national parks system. There is nothing anti- conservative about doing anything like that.

And you know what else you can do in order to foster that, you do it through conservative principles. You make it profitable for people to do exactly that — to put — to make conservation an issue that is — it hurts people in the pocketbook, or they can profit by getting involved in conservation. That’s one way the free market really works perfectly. We’ve seen it happen all over the world.

We can see and we will put conservation to work — conservation practices to work in the United States through conservative principles. We have a lock on that.

CNN = Unfair

Wolf Blitzer's clearly lost control of this debate. All these other guys are now giving speeches ... not answers to questions.

Anyway.... what more is there to say? This thing is so catered to the top three guys.

Wow

As president, The Tanc would tell Bush what Karl Rove said.

*** post-debate transcript insertion ***

REP. TANCREDO: Thank you. Some time ago, 2003 I think it was, I got a call from Karl Rove who told me that because of my criticism of the president, I should never darken the doorstep of the White House. I have been so disappointed in the president in so many ways since his — actually for the last several years, not just the immigration issue, but several other things, including the No Child Left Behind and the massive increase in government that we call prescription drug — Medicare prescription drug, that I’m afraid I would have to tell the president of the United States — I mean as president, I would have to tell George Bush exactly the same thing Karl Rove told me.

Call 'em Out

You can see the Tanc raising his hand and trying to call these other amnesty-backers out. But, Wolf Blitzer must not want a fair and balanced discussion.

Immigration Punch Out

Haha. I love this. Everyone's rebutting McCain for a better idea on immigration reform. McCain's just filibustering now.

The Consequences of Illegal Immigration

"Whether or not we survive as a nation." This is a strong response, and I like it.

You heard the Tanc. These are the final moments of the nation is illegal immigration remains unchecked.

*** post-debate transcript insertion ***

MR. SPRADLING: Thanks, Wolf.

Congressman Tancredo, let’s talk immigration.

REP. TANCREDO: Okay.

MR. SPRADLING: You opposed the immigration reform compromise calling it, quote, “the worst piece of legislation to come down the pike in a long time.” Just this morning, in Manchester, you vowed to oust any senator who supports the bill, including possibly New Hampshire’s senior senator, Judd Gregg, who’s undecided, and says to your comments that you are part of the “no nothing” wing of the political spectrum. In the meantime, the president says his plan is the “last best chance” for serious immigration reform. He’s criticized conservatives for being obstructionists.

With that tension at stake, if this becomes law, what are the consequences for the country?

REP. TANCREDO: They are incredible and they are disastrous. And that is exactly why I have said what I’ve said, and that is why I have consistently tried to impress upon the American public the seriousness of this issue. We’re not just talking about the number of jobs that we may be losing, or the number of kids that are in our schools and impacting our school system, or the number of people that are abusing our hospital system and taking advantage of the welfare system in this country — we’re not just talking about that. We’re talking about something that goes to the very heart of this nation — whether or not we will actually survive as a nation. And here’s what I mean by that.

What we’re doing here in this immigration battle is testing our willingness to actually hold together as a nation or split apart into a lot of Balkanized pieces. We are testing our willingness to actually hold on to something called the English language, something that is the glue that is supposed to hold us together as a nation. We are becoming a bilingual nation, and that is not good. And that is the fearful part of this. It has — the ramifications are much, much more significant than any that we’ve been discussing so far.

And so yes, I have said dramatic things. And yes, I am willing to do what is ever (sic) necessary to try to stop this piece of legislation, and that includes go after any Republican that votes for it, because the Republicans can stop this.