Saturday, December 1, 2007

Tancredo´s Maniacal Puppeteering

Max Blumenthal Reports:

When Republican Representative Tom Tancredo isn’t railing against the “scourge” of illegal immigration on the presidential campaign trail, he relaxes in the 1053 square foot basement recreation room of his Littleton, Colorado McMansion. There, he and his family can rack up a game of billiards on their tournament size pool table, play pinball, or enjoy their favorite movies in the terraced seating area of a home theater system. Tancredo, who dodged the draft during the Vietnam War by producing evidence that he suffered from mentally illnesses, especially likes entertaining his buddies with classic war movies.

Anti-immigration zealot and GOP presidential candidate Tom Tancredo hired what he often refers to as "criminal aliens" to renovate his Colorado house.

During the renovation process, two illegal workers hired by Tancredo were alerted to his reputation for immigrant bashing. They went straight to the Denver Post to complain….Tancredo side stepped the issue.. and his hiring of illegal labor fell below the radar of the national media, allowing his anti-immigrant crusade to proceed unabated.

Tancredo proceeded to organize over 90 anti-immigration House members into an informal but powerful caucus that has effectively prevented any non-enforcement related immigration legislation from reaching the President’s desk. His Team America PAC, which is chaired by right-wing pundit Bay Buchanan (Pat Buchanan´s sister and god-daughter of John Tanton), has donated tens of thousands of dollars this election cycle to nativist candidates who hope to fill Tancredo’s caucus with new blood when he retires next year.

Down on the border, Tancredo announced his support for the Minutemen (Simcox, Gilchrist, Schwilk), providing the anti-immigrant militia with a veneer of respectability while its pistol-packing members hunt for brown-skinned evildoers.

Tancredo has also played an instrumental role in shaping the way immigration is discussed in the media. Despite his third tier status in the presidential campaign, as of November 19 the congressman has appeared on Fox News more times during 2007 than any other presidential candidate. A former Tancredo staffer speaking on condition of anonymity told me recently that the congressman spends extensive time on the phone with top-rated CNN anchor Lou Dobbs, offering him tips and ideas for his daily “Broken Borders” segments.

Dobbs, in turn, has produced an unending string of specious “reports” painting undocumented immigrants from Latin America as disease-ridden criminals. In May, for example, Dobbs falsely claimed that illegal migrants from Mexico were responsible for 7000 new cases of leprosy in the United States. A wave of negative publicity forced Dobbs to acknowledge his source for the bogus story as Madeleine Cosman, a deceased white supremacist activist who often appeared at anti-immigrant rallies beside her pal Tancredo.

The success of Tancredo’s efforts to project his nativist politics onto the national stage were apparent during CNN’s November 26 Republican Youtube debate. In a heated exchange that highlighted press coverage of the debate, presidential frontrunners Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney competed with one another over who could appear the most draconian towards “illegals.” When Romney accused Giuliani of running a “sanctuary city” for undocumented immigrants while serving as mayor of New York, Giuliani shot back that Romney had run a “sanctuary mansion” when he was governor of Massachusetts. Giuliani pointed to a lengthy Boston Globe report revealing that Romney paid a gardening service that employed illegal workers to tend the lawns of his mansion. Suddenly, the candidates with the most tolerant records on immigration issues sounded like Tancredo.

While the two rivals clashed, Tancredo stood at the far end of the stage smiling contentedly. The cause he championed for years with a band of ornery border vigilantes, white supremacists, and assorted dregs by his side had become a central theme in the race for the White House. Of all the major GOP candidates, only Sen. John McCain has countered Tancredo with big tent appeals to socially conservative Latinos. The other candidates have reliably parroted his talking points, parrying accusations of ideological impurity by accusing one another of being soft on illegal immigration. “All I've heard is people trying to out-Tancredo Tancredo,” Tancredo observed during the debate. “It is great.”

But there is one way the Republican candidates can never out-Tancredo Tancredo. The congressman lives in a “sanctuary mansion” built by the kind of people he has made a career out of demonizing. Tom Tancredo may have no hope of winning the Republican nomination, but in the cause of hypocrisy, he is the frontrunner.

36 comments:

ultima said...

Whew! You're really on a tirade here. Maybe Lupita was right when she called you "superficial, cheesy and bourgeois" in a comment on my blog. However, I don't necessarily share that view of you or of Hansen. If you haven't read Hansen's book cover to cover, I recommend it to you. You may not like the title of the book but you will find that Hansen is more sympathetic to the situation of illegal aliens from Mexico than you might think. He has worked with them in the fields and orchards and knows what 30 years of that kind of work can do to you. He also exhibits a good understanding of the young Mexicans who can do quite well up until they start to have a family and then they find out that it's not easy to feed a family of six, even with all the government handouts. This is a book worth reading. You need one for your library. Amazon has it.

ultima said...

I have been tempted from time to time to say to a roofing or painting contractor that I don't want any Mexicans working on my house. How do you think that would be received? Also I could demand to see something to prove immigration status but without ssn/name or ssn duplicate info that would be meaningless because of the ease of obtaining false papers. What would you have us do? I could make sure I hire only Anglo contractors and tell them -- "No Mexicans". I could hire a Mexican American contract but insult him by insisting that all of his workers be fully documented. Perhaps he himself is operating on a cash basis with his own false papers. Romny ask Giuliani if he expected him to go out and demand the papers of all the workers when in New York City a sanctuary has been created for ilegals. This business of illegal workers is not so easy as you suggest. You seem to be opposed to asking anyone for their papers because we can't tell a legal from an illegal. Have you changed your mind, again?

Tancredo deserves high praise for mobilizing the opposition to illegal aliens. Whatever his other faults might be, he's right about this. I notice that you have no comment about the Hispanic Caucus threatening to hold up legislation unless a minor provision regarding English in the workplace (the Alexander provision) is not removed from some pending bill. Why is that? I thought you had just about come around to the point of view that the Official English bill in the congress was okay. Have you changed your mind again?

Anonymous said...

This topic isn't even worth discussing. The author makes a lot of claims, just like you, yet never backs any of it up with URL's to verify his assumptions. Nothing but your propaganda and ignorance showing through again if you believe this author and article.

Dee said...

Poor Liquid. Max Blumenthal is a credible journalist.

He article contains facts that are easily verifiable.

I did not see you complain when your hero Dobbs lied about the leprosy cases. He is the one that needs to be removed from the air.

The best thing about this article is it is clear the mainstream media is investigating Tancredo as he should have been investigated years ago. He needs to be taken off of his maniacal pulpit. It appears his own are turning against him.

I can hardly wait to see what is exposed next!

Dee said...

Actually I have seen rumblings about a Tancredo and Gilchrist scandal by various bloggers, one being a former girlfriend of an MM leader.

I wonder what that is all about.

If anyone knows, please email me. I am very curious.

Anonymous said...

Blumenthal is a bloomong MORON!!

From the original article:

Illegal labor aided Tancredo

Workers say they redid basement for immigration critic

By Michael Riley, Denver Post Staff Writer



Undocumented immigrants helped remodel U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo's
Littleton basement, two of the workers told The Denver Post.
The workers said they were among a crew of five or six people who
labored for contractor Creative Drywall Design of Denver, creating a home theater with terraced seating, a billiards table and game area, and a bedroom for Tancredo, a Republican and one of the nation's most vocal immigration critics.

All but one of the crew were undocumented immigrants from Latin
America, according to two of the workers. The Denver Post is not
naming the employees because of the possibility that identification
might lead to legal proceedings against them.

Tancredo didn't break any laws, according to immigration lawyers
briefed on the case. He never asked whether the workers - only two of
whom spoke English - were in the country legally, said Eric Givan,
project manager for the company.

The company's president said he believed all of his workers were in
the country legally and that he had documentation from them on file.
The two workers said their documentation was false.

When first informed of the workers' allegations Tuesday, Tancredo
issued a brief statement.

"I hired a reputable company, I did not hire the labor," Tancredo
said. "It is the government's responsibility to enforce our
immigration laws, and if the INS were doing its job, no illegal
immigrant would be available to violate our labor laws."

In a fiery speech on the House floor late Wednesday, Tancredo said he didn't know whether the drywallers were legal immigrants.

"We know there are between 9 and 13 million people who are here
illegally. I haven't the foggiest idea how many people I may have
hired in the past as taxi drivers, as waiters, waitresses, home
improvement people. I haven't the foggiest idea how many of those
people may have been here illegally, and it is not my job to ask them."

As the contractor's client, Tancredo had no legal obligation to ask if
all the workers were documented. In his floor speech Wednesday night,
he said he couldn't legally ask that question.
...
"You can be sued under the Civil Rights Act if you go out and ask
people who have been hired by someone else if they are here illegally or not," he said.
...
Creative Drywall owner J.J. Fukunaga said he has documents on file
showing that each of the company's 15 employees is legally entitled to
work in the U.S. The documents vary by employee but in some cases
include copies of Social Security cards and driver's licenses, he
said. When asked to show copies of those documents, he declined.

The workers are paid by check and taxes withheld, Fukunaga said. "We
are more organized and more in compliance than any other construction
company out there," he said.

Fukunaga said the company pays competitive wages, and the two workers agreed, saying they were satisfied with conditions at Creative Drywall.
...
"Tom Tancredo is no more breaking the law by having his basement
refinished by a company that employs undocumented workers than anybody who goes into a McDonald's and gets served a Big Mac" by an
undocumented immigrant, said Laura Lichter, a Boulder immigration
attorney.
...
Experts say laws meant to keep undocumented laborers out of the
workforce - such as those governing the relationship between Tancredo,
Creative Drywall and its employees - make that easier.

The 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act required employees to
provide certain documents as proof of their work status. Those can
include a passport or green card, but the most common is a combination of Social Security card and driver's license. In cities around the country, including Denver, immigrants can buy forged Social Security cards for $100 to $150.

Efforts to toughen those restrictions have repeatedly been opposed by employers, immigrant advocates and ordinary citizens who fear that the quest for more reliable documents could evolve into a requirement for a national identification card.

Anonymous said...

The very last paragraph sounds just like your desires, Dee. And you think you are holier than thou with your perceived perception of what you believe to be truth!!??

If you understood anything, you would agree with Ultima, myself, Pat, Dianne, and others, instead you choose to fall for the ol'bleeding heart guise.

Dee said...

Ultima,
Lupita is just jealous cuz she wants your bod.

I just want your mind!


Ultima´s comment about Lupita:
Maybe Lupita was right when she called you "superficial, cheesy and bourgeois" in a comment on my blog.

Anonymous said...

dee, Dobbs admitted that his source for the leprosy claim was proven wrong so Dobbs apologized later on the air. I give him lots of credit for that. Must be nice to be perfect like you and never make a mistake and never have to apologize for anything. Has the Catholic Church annointed you a saint yet?

I see you are still on a smear and slander campaign against any notable anti's that speak out against illegal immigration. Who's next dee? First it was an accusation of arson by someone "rumored" to be a MM, then the whole MM organization, ALIPAC (Mr. Gheen), Dobbs, Tancredo all demonized by you....did I leave anyone out?

Dee said...

Pat,
Welcome back!
I see you came on ready and on attack mode.
Good for you!

As I said to Liquid, Max Blumenthal, a reputable journalist, wrote this article and I am posting it.

No attacks from me. Merely printing the facts sir.

Tancredo, the Maniacal Puppeteer!

Anonymous said...

Blumenthal may or may not be reputable journalist, that is not the point. Liquid explained to you how Tancredo came to have some illegals working for him without his knowledge. Now why don't you address Liquid's remarks?

As far as Tancredo having some past depressions or anxiety, if that is the reason the military wouldn't accept him, why slam him for that? He couldn't help it. Where is the humanitarian dee in this? People can't help it if they have mental or physical incapacities. It was a long time ago anyway and I haven't heard of Tancredo having any mental problems in any recent years.

Dee said...

You are right Pat.

Tancredo can not help it if he has mental incapacities.

Neither could Leeland Eisenberg!

Anonymous said...

Dee..I have difficulty (as with this piece) figuring out how much you are quoting and how much are your own words. In the future, could you indent or something, please?

One thing that bothers me about this post is common to Tancredo and Romney. If either of them had questioned any of the workers, they would have been accused of racial profiling and you can bet on it. It would have been front page headlines of every liberal newspaper in the country. Furthermore, it is assumed that they must have heard these guys speak spanish or something and therefore somehow magically knew they were illegal immigrants.

How did the author know that Trancredo dodged the draft by producing evidence he suffered from mental illness? First time I've heard that and why isn't that all over the news?

And, regarding Dobbs, I heard him myself issue the apology for his error but I do have to say I question just how smart he is to even think there could be that many leprosy cases in the United States,

Dee said...

Diane,
The whole piece was a direct quote from Blumenthal. I tried to make that evident when I said "Max Blumental reports" but I will try to make it more obvious going forward.

Dee said...

Regarding Blumenthal´s Tancredo Draft comments, you can bet all these items were researched, as was the comment he made about his Tancredo source.

Blumenthal is a national, mainstream media type journalist who posts on many well known sites. He is only going to post credible data plus, based on what he said, you can bet there is more to come.

Anonymous said...

Just checked out Blumenthal. He does have credentials with Media Matters supported by George Soros. Well, each to his own, but they're a far left org that I have no respect for and I believe George Soros is one of the worst people in America.

That notwithstanding, I did see several other blog references to Tancredo getting a deferment for depression so there is apparently something to that, and I have to say I really didn't like the way college boys got deferments during Viet Nam but those poor guys who couldn't afford to be in college at the time (like my husband) got drafted. As usual, money talks.

But, Dee, you have to admit that had Romney or Tancredo questioned the legal status of the workers, they would have been accused of racial profiling.

Dee said...

Dianne,
My husband is an Irish American. He has a friend he bowls with who is a European American. He is a retiree and also is a contractor, owning his own small one man business.

During the summer, he does landscaping. Winters, they put up Christmas Tree lights and landscaping. He charges a very reasonable price and has many customers.

When he gets a new job, he goes down to the day labor site and lines up behind hundreds of other trucks and picks up day laborerers.

He charges a low price.
Customers like and pay the low price.
The workers like working and getting paid.

We all know what is going on.

I don´t find this vile. What I do find vile is all the hundreds, thousands of large employers that take these same workers, put them in unsafe conditions, don´t pay them overtime and exploit them, sometimes chaining them to their work areas, threatening them with deportation.

Dianne, we all know this is going on. I don´t hire them. My son and husband do our yard work, but we all know this is happening every day.

Anonymous said...

You don't find it vile because he hires and exploits the day laborers, has no Workers comp on the day laborer, subjects him to the potential to fall from the roof, yet you condemn big business for doing the same. My how misguided you are Dee. Your husbands friend is doing the same as what you are accusing big business of doing, but to you thats OK because it is just one day laborer, not a few or more.

Where is his I-9 for this employee?? Where are the work documents the employer must have on hand for his employee?? Is he withholding and paying taxes on the day laborer or is he paying cash??

Anonymous said...

Your husbands friend is also opening himself to a lawsuit due to unfair business practices.

Dee said...

Liquid,
You are the one who will not ask for status of the contractor´s workers.

I don´t hire them at all.

I am just an observer.
My statement: We all know what is going on.

I just find it the lesser of two evils that these guys don´t chain them to their workstations, make them work on the unsafe meat cutters and stop them from going to the bathroom, like the meat packers do.

Dee said...

Liquid,
As do countless others.
My husband and I are just observers, just like you and millions of others.


Liquidmicro said...
Your husbands friend is also opening himself to a lawsuit due to unfair business practices.

Anonymous said...

If i could ask for status without fear of being sued, I would do it in a heart beat, however due to our 'Civil Rights' laws that you so endearingly preach about, I can not legally ask them their status. If they were to volunteer their status, that would be different and then they could be possibly jailed, fined, and repatriated.

My comments an question to you is: You don't find it vile because he hires and exploits the day laborers, has no Workers comp on the day laborers, subjects them to the potential to fall from the roof, get hurt with equipment, fall from a ladder, cut off a finger with pipe cutters, etc., yet you condemn big business for doing the same. My how misguided you are Dee. Your husbands friend is doing the same as what you are accusing big business of doing, but to you thats OK because it is just day laborers, that you observe and know whats going on (wink, wink).

Anonymous said...

I read the whole Tancredo article and thread and found nothing noteworthy to comment upon, except perhaps that Ultima snitched on me for calling you superficial, cheesy and bourgeois which I find superficial, cheesy and bourgeois.

Why do you not post something concerning the collapse of the global financial system? Surely you could find an interesting article on the tanking dollar, US navy ships stranded in the Bay of Hong Kong with nowhere to go for Thanksgiving dinner, Chinese submarines popping up in the middle of a US navy exercise (that was hilarious), or the Arab states decoupling from the dollar.

We are living fascinating times and Tancredo and his illegals are anything but.

Anonymous said...

Tancredo may have HAD some mental problems long ago. It has nothing to do with today or his ability to be a good congressman. He has served Colorado well. How humanitarian of you to ridicule someone who may have had a problem at one time. Do you get a thrill out of tormenting those with mental or physical disabilities even if they have overcome them?

Dee said...

Lupita, Mijita,
For you, tomorrow I will post an a blog on the Global Financial System.

Welcome to my blog.
Yes, Ultima snitched on you but I am very glad he did.

If you ever want to write me, email me on dee_perezscott@yahoo.com. All communications to your email will be private and I will never give out your email id. Promise.

Lupitas Comment:
Why do you not post something concerning the collapse of the global financial system?

Dee said...

Liquid,
As I said, I am just an observer. That´s it.

All I said was, we all know what is going on.

I just find it the lesser of two evils that these guys don´t chain them to their workstations, make them work on the unsafe meat cutters and stop them from going to the bathroom, like the meat packers do.

But I do get your point. I don´t think it is a good thing that this is happening and so many employers and small business people violate the law.

Dee said...

Pat,
This is a national article. I did not write it and I was very upfront in saying so. Yes, Tancredo has mental issues or at least had them.

The national media is publishing information about it and someone from his camp is giving out new information. From other blogs, I am hearing we will hear more.

Anonymous said...

Chaining people to their work stations and not permitting bathroom breaks? Where is the proof of that one? Or is this what some illegal alien worker said who got busted?

Where is the link to that story with the FACTS to back it up?

Dee said...

From the New Bedford Raid:
"If you arrived one minute after 7 a.m., they did take $15 out of our pay," Mr. Mancia said. "They take $20 out of pay if you used toilet paper to dry your hands."

Mr. Mancia also recounted an incident when he cut his finger on the job. He said Mr. Insolia wanted to fire him because he said he was "playing Russian roulette" with his finger and the sewing machine.

Eli Alonzo, a married Honduran woman, said the company had "a lot of rules" and said money was taken out of her check for returning to work one minute after the lunch bell rang.

Mrs. Alonzo said Mr. Insolia would sometimes say hello to her and introduce himself as "the guy who signs the paychecks." But she said Mr. Insolia would open the door of the women's bathroom and threaten to suspend the women for two weeks with no pay if they were in the bathroom too long.

"There was no water to wash hands. No heat, it was shut off," she said. "Workers worked with sweaters and jackets. If they complained, the bosses would get mad and not pay you."

Anonymous said...

No, I want a link to an "investigative" source that shows that this accusation was proven. Not some probable illegal alien's complaint without proof. You should know better than this, dee. It is all hearsay.

ultima said...

"Why do you not post something concerning the collapse of the global financial system? Surely you could find an interesting article on the tanking dollar, US navy ships stranded in the Bay of Hong Kong with nowhere to go for Thanksgiving dinner, Chinese submarines popping up in the middle of a US navy exercise (that was hilarious), or the Arab states decoupling from the dollar."

Good question but why aren't you writing an OpEd on one or more of these topics? See the Der Spiegel article below re: the tanking of the dollar. This is a serious concern for the worldwide economy.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,520700,00.html

ultima said...

Blumenthal may be a credible journalist but the hyperbole used in the title of his article seems to suggest otherwise.

We really would like an answer from him and from Dee regarding what is the proper procedure for weeding out the illegals in a contractor's workforce. Waiting!

ultima said...

"Ultima snitched on me for calling you superficial, cheesy and bourgeois which I find superficial, cheesy and bourgeois."

Guilty as charged --- except that Dee reads my blog and would have seen your quote in any event. Nice try, Lupita, but no cigar. I admit to being bourgeois and consider it a badge of honor rather than a disparaging term. Out here where the buffalo roam, we rarely hear a discouraging or disparaging word!

ultima said...

"Yes, Tancredo has mental issues or at least had them."

Yes, and so have millions of other Americans including a guy who once ran for president or vice president (Eagleston?)and a Nobel Prize winner,John Nash. Surely, you are not criticizing this other minority!

Dee said...

If they were Legal (via a path to legalization, out of the shadows) there would be no need to "weed them out."

The Solution: Pass CIR

Anonymous said...

In effect, Dee, doesn't want anything done to employers at all, she seems to be all talk. By 'Legalizing' the 'Illegal Immigrants' all problems are solved and there is no need to go further other than status quo, which is what the CIR would have left us with. She is for world globalization at the expense of Sovereignty. She wants all non-elites to be equal, however the elites become even more powerful. All of these blog posts are just smoke and mirrors for her.

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