Sheriff Arpaio Gets A Dose of Reality

Sheriff Joe Arpaio is a sad excuse for a law enforcement officer. Arpaio went on Univision to talk about his bogus investigation into President Barack Obama's birth certificate. Arpaio sad he is investigation Obama's birth certificate because members of the tea party asked him to. That is a rather silly excuse. Just because someone comes to the sheriff with a conspiracy theory doesn't mean he should investigate it. However, if you are a racist and love being in front of the camera, like Arpaio, then that is another story.

Arpaio tells Univision host Jorge Ramos that the good sheriff is popular with the Hispanic community. Ramos challenges Arpaio on this claim. Ramos informs the sheriff that several poll show that the Hispanic community does not love Arpaio. Hilarity ensues.

Quote of the Day

"I’m telling you she appears to be a racist. She said things that are racist in any other context. That’s exactly how we would portray it and there’s no one who would get on the Supreme Court saying a thing like that except for a Hispanic woman and you’re going to say it doesn’t matter!"

Tom Tancredo, on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

It is amazing how racists are accusing the racism against Sotomayor.

Tancredo has a history of hostility towards the Hispanic community. The Hispanic television network Univision held a presidential debate. Unsurprisingly, Tancredo boycotted the event. This was a candidate whom needed the exposure. Tancredo sent out this press release.

Tancredo released this statement: “It is the law that to become a naturalized citizen of this country you must have knowledge and understanding of English, including a basic ability to read, write, and speak the language,” Tancredo said. “So what may I ask are our presidential candidates doing participating in a Spanish speaking debate? Pandering comes to mind...America has been a melting pot of people from all over the world but it can not survive as a nation if our immigrants do not assimilate. A common language is essential to that goal. Bilingualism is a great asset for any individual but it has perilous consequences for a nation. As such, a Spanish debate has no place in a presidential campaign.”

The Spanish language poses "perilous consequences" for the United States? What a crock of shit. That might explain why he called Miami a third world country.

"Look at what has happened to Miami. It has become a Third World country. You just pick it up and take it and move it someplace. You would never know you're in the United States of America. You would certainly say you're in a Third World country," Tancredo said.

The anti-immigration the Minutemen has white supremists in their ranks. Minutemen leader Chris Simcox and Tancredo are longtime political allies. Listen to Tancredo on Minutemen radio. (It is a hate fest.)

Ask yourself if Tancredo has earned the right to call anyone a racist?

Tom Tancredo Boycotts Univision Debate (Snore)

Tom Tancredo is insanely hateful towards Hispanics. He refered to Miami as a third world country. Tancredo is boycotting the Univision debate. He released a silly press release.

Tancredo released this statement: “It is the law that to become a naturalized citizen of this country you must have knowledge and understanding of English, including a basic ability to read, write, and speak the language,” Tancredo said. “So what may I ask are our presidential candidates doing participating in a Spanish speaking debate? Pandering comes to mind...America has been a melting pot of people from all over the world but it can not survive as a nation if our immigrants do not assimilate. A common language is essential to that goal. Bilingualism is a great asset for any individual but it has perilous consequences for a nation. As such, a Spanish debate has no place in a presidential campaign.”

Neither does hatemongering, Congressman. Check out Tancredo's Congressional website. It reads like a white supremist site. The photo of Tancredo with John Bolton is my favorite touch.



Personally, I think Tancredo is wussing out because he knows the Hispanic crowd will boo him off stage.

Update: Tancredo's latest campaign ad is out. To call the ad fearmongering would be kind. It's racist and factually bogus. In Tancredo's world, every illegal immigrant is a gang member.



Pam Spaulding has a good post about the Democratic presidential candidates discussing immigration like grown adults. Something Tancredo is unwilling to do.

Republicans United Against Univision

The Democratic presidential debate on the Spanish-language Univision was a success. Republicans are still avoiding the debate. Only John McCain has agreed to appear. The candidates are using scheduling conflicts as an excuses. We have heard these excuses from GOP candidates before.

Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, has turned down the invitation because of a heavy fund-raising schedule, Kevin Madden, his spokesman, said yesterday.

Aides to Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, said he had potential scheduling conflicts.

Republican candidates won't come out and say that they are afraid of being asked unscripted questions from Youtube members. They also won't say they rather stick pins in their collective faces then appear on a Hispanic network. The GOP wins elections by running wedge issues. Playing to the xenophobic portion of their base is their bread and butter. Running on Bush's mandate isn't going to get them elected.

Richard Nixon's Southern Strategy is alive and well in American politics. The problem is it is no longer working. Hispanics are the largest growing voting block. The shrill tone of the immigration debate is driving Hispanics to the Democratic Party. Not that Republicans will change course.

GOP Pollster Frank Luntz has been ostricised for telling the party how the American people view them.

Like those of Cassandra of ancient Troy, Luntz's prophecies of impending disaster have been both accurate and disregarded. Republicans have never been very comfortable hearing critics in closed conferences. He is not invited to such meetings today. "They do not want to hear the truth," Luntz told me. While truth-telling is celebrated by Republican reformers such as presidential front-runner John McCain, it is a decidedly minority view in the GOP.

The GOP truly lives in the fantasy-based community.

Quote of the Day

"I was hoping that there would be good participation in the Univision forum. It's a very busy primary calendar, and their schedules are such that this forum didn't fit in. Now is this a rejection of Hispanic voters? Of course not. And I hope it's not seen that way."

Mel Martinez, on Republican presidential candidates turning down the opportunity to debate on the hispanic television network Univision.

Hispanics are going to see this as a diss. This is calculated by the candidates. The Republican Party is not a big tent. Making immigration a wedge issue has been a huge tactical error on the Republican Party's part. Hispanics swung towards Democratic candidates in 2006. John Hostettler's campaign appearance with the racist Minutemen killed his campaign.

Republicans Brush Off Hispanics

Further proof that the GOP plays up to xenophobia. Only John McCain accepted the invitation to debate on the Spanish language Univisión. The other Republican presidential candidates turned down the offer. The September debate has been cancelled.

Jose Cancela does not understand the political party he is affiliated with.

That would be significant enough for most historians. But the debate is also offering overwhelming evidence that the Republicans -- with the notable exception of John McCain -- are willing to squander a quarter-century of concerted GOP efforts to attract Hispanics. Ronald Reagan must be spinning in his grave.

Reagan was against the civil rights movement and supported apartheid in South Africa. The Gipper's first 1980 campaign stop was Philadelphia, Mississippi. Reagan openly declared his support for "states' rights." The symbolism was impossible to miss. Civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were murdered in the town in 1964. The Gipper also enjoyed sharing racist jokes with Trent Lott.

The Republican Party is not a big tent. They get the table scraps of intolerant idiots the Democrats don't want. Their bread and butter is condeming people that are already marginized by society. It can hardly be considered courageous to go after gay people and Hispanic migrant workers. Wiilliam F. Buckley used to wax poetic about the (imaginary) evils of segregation.

Reagan is sleeping like a baby.