So Many Republican Hypocrites, So Little Time

December 14, 2007 | SEND TO A FRIEND | GET EARLY NOTICE OF THE HOTW

Tom Tancredo

Welcome back to the BuzzFlash GOP Hypocrite of the Week.

Recently BuzzFlash wrote on how pro-war zealot Congressman Tom Tancredo was a rabid supporter of the Vietnam War during college, but then claimed that he had a mental illness to avoid being drafted. Cowardice in regards to combat appears to be a common strain among Republicans elected to high office. In fact -- with the exception of John McCain -- GOP Busheviks tend to be macho in support of wars in direct proportion to their fear of fighting in them.

In fact, the yellow-belly Tancredo is such a hypocrite that he reportedly regularly invites kindred phony war hawks over to his Colorado mansion to watch John Wayne war movies.

But we also wanted to note that, as journalist Max Blumenthal recently pointed out, Tancredo is also a mega-hypocite (in a Mitt Romney sort of way) for employing illegal immigrants to build his mansion's war-film screening room. Since Tancredo is pretty much a one issue guy -- virulently anti-Mexican workers (as in coded racism) -- that is some hypocrisy to have illegal workers renovating your house so you can save a few bucks.

As Blumenthal notes in his detailed account of Tancredo's gross hypocrisy:

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 "doesn't want us here, but he'll take advantage of our sweat and our labor," one of the workers complained to the Post on September 19, 2002. "It's just not right."

The Post report momentarily threw Tancredo on the defensive. In a fiery speech soon after the story's publication, Tancredo blamed his foibles on the INS. "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," he boomed from the House floor. "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." Then defiance gave way to vitriol as the congressman dubbed undocumented immigrants, "the face of murder."

Only days before the Post's story appeared, Tancredo had personally reported an honor student profiled in the Denver Post to the INS because the 14-year-old was not a legal resident of the United States. The stunt forced the boy's family to go into hiding. Fortunately for Tancredo, the ensuing revelations of his hiring of illegal labor fell below the radar of the national media, allowing his anti-immigrant crusade to proceed unabated.