Tom Tancredo knows how to create heat. His quotes, everything from seeing President Obama as the number one threat to America to the desire to see Mecca bombed, have defined a man that is now running for governor in Colorado as the candidate for the American Constitution Party.
The Interview
When I asked him what platform he's running on, he stumbled a bit and answered: "Freedom. Freedom in everything."
In regards to his choice to run as an American Constitution Party candidate, he simply said that they are able to put him on the ballot and that the current race was a mess, but failed to elaborate on any details of the party's ideals that might have appealed to him.
I couldn't help but bring up the controversial statement Tancredo had made several times that President Obama is the "biggest threat to America, even more than Al-Qaeda." In an interview with Megyn Kelly of Fox News, Tancredo based the above claim on Obama's inability to keep our borders protected and safe. Here is a transcript of our conversation about immigration from this afternoon:
Q: If President Obama asked you to be an advisor to him on immigration, would you accept?
A: No, I would never work for him or that administration. I wouldn't say yes even if he went to my house and asked me personally, I don't want to be part of his administration. He's a threat to the security of the United States.
Q: So, I mean, he still has two years in the office, you can make a huge difference if you go into the White House and become his advisor, why not decide to compromise, to discuss and learn instead of wanting to just be on your own, and not work with him, because he is, after all, the president, and having an influential person like you in there would make a huge impact, and reverse the fact that you think he's a threat.
A: It would never work - he would never ask me to work with him or be his advisor and I would never agree.
Q: We're talking in hypothetical terms here.
A: He's a threat to America, I would not want to work for him, and it'll never happen - he'll never ask me to be his advisor. You see, I was in Congress when Bill Clinton was president. Me and my colleagues were invited to have dinner in the White House with Clinton. Everyone went except for one attendant, me. I didn't want to go, I didn't want to shake my hand with him, I didn't want to be around him and all that he did. I didn't want to meet him.
I proceeded to ask him about how he defines the United States of America, since I personally have found that Tancredo's statements seem to advocate separation and hate in this nation. What about the united part of United States of America?
This is where it got personal.
"I think your view on the country is skewed," Tancredo said. "Have you heard of Jeremiah Wright? ACORN? The news on the Black Panthers?"
According to Tancredo, these forces were the ones separating and destroying the country, and he and other conservatives were simply reacting and working to keep this country alive. Tancredo implied that I was coming from an ideological bias.
As my time with Tancredo was running out, I ended by asking why he had attacked New Era Colorado in a video for the American Legacy Alliance. The video showed Tancredo talking negatively about conspiratorial Democrats in Colorado, while video footage in the background was shown of New Era Colorado and its famous bus. I informed Tancredo that I'm part of New Era, and he surprisingly laughed, saying that he did not know that New Era was featured in the background and he didn't even know of New Era. Since he rehearsed his part in front of a green screen, he claimed that he had no idea that pieces of New Era's documentary were taken to illustrate his point.
Here is the ad New Era made in response:
Many are assuming Tancredo's run dooms the GOP's chances for electing a governor. To Tancredo, however, it's not about electing a Republican. He's shifting the debate - and that's all that matters.
