Congressman calls Miami a `Third World country'

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Rep. Tom Tancredo, the leader of the anti-illegal immigration faction in the U.S. House, spent a recent weekend at The Breakers in Palm Beach.

Ninety miles to the south, he found a symbol to bolster his belief that unfettered immigration is endangering the United States: Miami, he told a conservative online news site, "has become a Third World country."

In South Florida to attend Restoration Weekend, a gathering of conservative activists, the Colorado Republican, whose district includes suburbs of Denver, pointed to Miami as an example of how "the nature of America can be changed by uncontrolled immigration," the story says.

"Look at what has happened to Miami," the WorldNetDaily quotes Tancredo as saying in an interview. "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."

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/16110727.htm

[aquart]

1. What was Miami's reaction?

[Scurrilous]

5. This was just posted on the Herald website...

..and won't be in the paper until tomorrow morning. I imagine the reaction will not be favorable.

[LiberalFighter]

20. That is the GOP's voter base down there... Miami Cubans

[redqueen]

30. Hah.

Thank you, Tom. :)

[demo dutch]

33. Actually, I know several Cubans that feel that Miami has changed over the 10/15 yrs

and not for the better. It now has one of the highest poverty rates in the country.

[SoCalDem]

37. Large city, lots of poor people

Any location on earth... same problem

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

2. Tom Tancredo needs a big cup of STFU..

Where did his family/ancestors immigrate to the US from?

I truly despise him and the rest of his ilk....

[donheld]

10. Where did his family/ancestors immigrate to the US from?

A place called HELL.

[trogdor]

31. Oh no. Let him keep talking.

Give him enough rope to hang all his gooper friends.

[LeftCoast]

3. That guy is a racist asshat!

:grr:

[shanti]

11. they're coming out of the woodwork, aren't they?

:eyes: it's my opinion that the u.s. is THE most racist country in the world.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

16. Right.

There's an actual ongoing genocide in the Sudan, and the US is the most racist country in the world.

How long has it been since the end of Apartheid?

What's it like being a Korean in Japan?

Geez.

[LetsGoMurphys]

17. totally absurd statement

attend a soccer game in europe and then re formulate that opinion.

[shanti]

29. i don't agree

the u.s. has been racist since the very beginning, and still is. it's just "undercover", so people feel all warm and fuzzy. racism is still very much alive and well in the usa.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

42. Please see my post #16.

I really think you're barking up the wrong tree. Possibly even the wrong forest.

[shanti]

47. ok, live in denial

that's the ticket :eyes: i'm quite aware of what is going on in other countries, and it goes way beyond racism.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

50. Your post doesn't make any sense.

Are you seriously arguing that the way Koreans are treated in Japan is less racist than the way blacks are treated in the United States?

The US has a race problem. In large part, Japan doesn't even acknowledge that it has a problem.

This is one example. There are many others.

[LetsGoMurphys]

44. George Allen

LOST IN VIRGINIA FOR BEING RACIST! THATS RIGHT VIRGINIA! Wake up.

[Fenris]

4. It's funny how openly racist this guy is.

Where's his freaking hood?

[LynnTheDem]

6. Go visit New Orleans.

Oh wait...there isn't one anymore.

[jobycom]

7. Hm. A Republican who is also a racist piece of trash. Who knew?

[noamnety]

8. Miami HAS changed because of immigration, it's not like the US anymore.

And we should all be thankful for that. I have more faith in immigrants than in any other group to force the changes we need in this country.

It's the first time that Wal-Mart has faced a worker-led revolt of such scale, according to both employees and the company. Just as surprising, the company quickly said it would change at least one of the practices that had sparked the protest. Late in the day on Oct. 16, there was some disagreement over which of the new policies would be put on hold.

The protest wasn't led by any union group. Rather, it was instigated by two department managers, Guillermo Vasquez and Rosie Larosa. The department managers were not affected directly by the changes, but they felt that the company had gone too far with certain new policies. Among them were moves to cut the hours of full-time employees from 40 hours a week to 32 hours, along with a corresponding cut in wages, and to compel workers to be available for shifts around the clock.

... Beginning last week, the two managers began talking with other employees, one at a time, getting their signatures in support of a protest. The demonstration may not have happened if not for the tight-knit nature of this predominantly Spanish-language community near Miami. At least 15 department managers joined the workers in speaking out against the new policies. "We are a Spanish-speaking community, some from Cuba, some from Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, and if something affects my brothers and sisters, it affects me," says Yahima Morales, who has been a department manager of health and beauty aids for four years at the store.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15305178/

This also seems like a good time to mention Camilo Mejia, First Iraq War Resister - and non US citizen, living in Miami. :)

[RagingInMiami]

23. Camilo Mejia is a friend of mine, I am proud to say

[demo dutch]

34. I know several Cubans who say Miami has changed over the last 10/15

years, and not for the better. It now has one of the highest poverty rates in the country.

[Old and In the Way]

9. Tom speaks for the Republican Party.

He's one of their superstars....hope he gets the urge to run for President.

[Binka]

12. Tancredo/Allen The Men Of The Klan Ticket n/t

[krispos42]

13. no, Lott/Allen in '08

"Putting the 'Whip' in Minority Whip since 2006"

[tanyev]

14. But, but, the right wingers were so happy when the Cuban flag

was being waved in Miami to celebrate Castro's impending death.

[dogfacedboy]

15. Ah yes, the Malcontent Minority...hard at work. n/t

[Coventina]

18. Not that I want to agree with that asshat, but the Cuban exiles

wield WAY too much power there.

They've done their best to turn south Florida into their vision of Cuba: one run by the mob.

[RebelOne]

24. Well, I have to agree with that asshat.

I grew up in Miami and spent a good deal of my life there. But it changed so much because of the Cubans that I finally became disgusted and moved up here to North Georgia. At least English is the dominant language here.

[Bridget Burke]

25. Well, save your money for next year....

I'm sure the David Horwitz Freedom Center will plan another meeting of the minds. Eush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity & Ann Coulter were among the luminaries this year. Along with Tancredo....

www.horowitzfreedomcenter.org/

(Not your Confederate money, though.)

Edited to add: Tancredo might run for President in 2008!

The House Immigration Reform Caucus certainly has its share of hard-core xenophobes: One member, Rep. Steve King of Iowa, calls illegal immigration a "terrorist attack on the United States" and wants to erect an electrified fence to control Mexicans like livestock. But the founder of the caucus -- and the undisputed king of Republican bigotry -- is Tancredo, a dark-horse presidential contender for 2008. "He's got the best track record in Congress," raves Gordon Baum, head of the Council for Conservative Citizens, a "pro-white" group that lauds Tancredo for protecting America from a "full-scale invasion" of Latin immigrants.

Elected to the House in 1998, Tancredo has not only led the fight to deport every undocumented worker in America -- a proposal that would cost at least $200 billion -- but has called for halting all immigration, legal and otherwise. In one unforgettable move, Tancredo wanted to deport the family of an undocumented high school boy who was profiled in The Denver Post for his perfect grades.

www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12054520/the_10_worst_congressmen/6

[Jimbo S]

19. Didn't Michael Moore write about this?

His second book, I believe, about how the anti-Castro Cubans now in Miami have too much influence and Miami is not the most desitable place to live.

[Bridget Burke]

27. I don't know.... Did he?

No such book appears in Wikipedia's list of his works. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_moore#List_of_books

Tancredo has no problem with the politics of the anti-Castro Cubans. He's against most immigration--not just the "illegal" sort. Especially if the immigrants are not white enough for him.

[Jimbo S]

41. Downsize This!

Chapter 23 "Those Keystone Cubans"

I went back and reread the chapter. I was wrong. He didn't disparage the city of Miami, only the anti-Castro Cubans that fled to Miami.

[LiberalFighter]

21. His Bio

TANCREDO, Thomas G., a Representative from Colorado; born in Denver, Denver County, Colo., December 20, 1945; graduated from Holy Family High School, Broomfield, Colo., 1964; B.A., University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, Colo., 1968; member of the Colorado state legislature, 1976-1981; appointed by President Reagan and re-appointed by President Bush as Secretary of Education Regional Representative, 1981-1992; elected as a Republican to the One Hundred Sixth Congress and to the three succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1999-present).

[Binka]

22. What An Ugly Ass Carrot! n/t

[Hosnon]

26. So why does he get blasted here but Rangel gets a pass for his Mississippi comment? nt

[yellowcanine]

28. "But who wants to live there?" not in same league with "it's a third world country"

don't you think? The latter is not only more insulting, but carries an element of racism as well. You might ask, why aren't Republicans comdemning Tancredo with the same fervor that they condemned Rangel? Hmmmm?

[geek tragedy]

32. Miami>Mississippi. eom

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

35. Well, let's see...

this guys a racist. He thinks brown people are unamerican.

Whereas Mississippi really is a dump.

There's the difference.

[zonkers]

36. To blame Miami's problems on immigrants is absurd. R.E. developers enabled by gov. officials

have set Miami on a shortsided irresponsible course. And its common knowledge that the construction business is well served by illegal labor.

[El Supremo]

38. Tancredo For President!!!!

Then my district will be rid of him.

[rinsd]

39. Grandson of immigrants hates immigrants yet fails t see the irony. (nt)

[fujiyama]

40. I wonder what the fanatical

Cuban exile population in Miami thinks of these comments?

[judaspriestess]

43. visit certain sections of San Antonio

my hometown and I feel like I'm driving through a third world country too. Stray dogs and cats, lots of roadkill, tattered homes beat up cars etc. It pains me to see this BUT this comes from poverty,the lack of education and hopelessness not because of immigrants. :(

[UTUSN]

45. Dumbshit TANCREDO thus alienates the only segment of HIspanics

that are Rethugs (Cuban Exiles, the original generation). Bwa-hahahahahHAH!!!!1

[DuaneBidoux]

46. funny, I've always felt that way about the Panhandle

[Autobot77]

48. Translation: a lot of non-white immigrants

I heard this sentiment being expressed a couple times by anti-immigrant types about America in general. Saying the US or any state looks like a 3rd world country is repuke speak for " Gosh I wish we could get rid of all these brown immigrants, the white ones though are ok ".
On the other hand, this asshole really has the nerve to say this, because of Republican policies certain areas really do resemble thirs world countries, in terms of the level of poverty.

[DBoon]

49. Keep talking like that, Tom

You are ensuring that immigrants will become a solidly Democratic voting base for decades to come.

Keep trying to stir up your racist base. You are only making your party irrelevant.