tancredo watch: eye for an eye

An excerpt from some of his recent comments:

Talk show host Pat Campbell asked the Littleton Republican how the country should respond if terrorists struck several U.S. cities with nuclear weapons.

"Well, what if you said something like — if this happens in the United States, and we determine that it is the result of extremist, fundamentalist Muslims, you know, you could take out their holy sites," Tancredo answered.

"You're talking about bombing Mecca," Campbell said.

"Yeah," Tancredo responded.

Man, I love this guy! Talk about telling it like it is--or at least like it ought to be. Of course the media will take this out of context and try to present it as some sort of controversial remark. After all, isn't that what they always do? But he's right. Should the terrorists be able to go after our cultural and religious icons and expect us to respect theirs? Heck, they already took down the twin towers. They'll likely try to come again with something similar. And if they want to play hardball then let's play. What, are we going to enrage them even more and drive them even more insane? Yeah, like that's possible. Let's see how they like their own medicine. (Minus the civilians part if we can help it, of course. No reason to throw away all shreds of decency and follow them further into depravity.)

Even better, when pressed Tom stuck to his guns and backed up his comments. Sure, he gave the obvious "hypothetical situation" clarifications that were assumed anyway, but at least he didn't do the all-too-common roll over thing and apologize profusely or take back what he said. Nice to see someone who not only says what he means but will stand by it too. Even if I didn't like what was said I'd always rather see a guy stay with his story than try to get slick and squeeze his way out of a tough spot.

The more I hear from Tancredo the more convinced I become that it would be a travesty for him to not be in the White House in four years. Just when I was about to toss my little remaining Republican Party loyalty out with the trash, someone like this comes along to make me think again. Not that the Repubs are suddenly worthy of respect as a whole, but there are a few good apples in that bunch. Perhaps I'm just getting carried away with this glimmer of hope after all the recent failures of Republicrats and RINO's. It's possible but I sure hope not. The party desperately needs a real conservative and it seems Tancredo has the boldness and backbone to be the man for the job.

UPDATE: Note the following paragraph from the linked article:

Tancredo is known in the House for his tough stand on immigration and had a 100 percent rating last year from the American Conservative Union [for] his votes and positions on issues.

Now note the same paragraph, in its entirety, from the Communist News Network version of what was obviously the same script:

Tancredo is known in the House for his tough stand on immigration.

Hmmn, what have we here, a little media bias? We wouldn't want to include anything that makes a conservative look good now would we Commies?

Surprising? Never. Cheap and pathetic? Of course.

(Admittedly the Fox News staff could be the ones changing the script by adding something. But I doubt it. Much more likely that the extra bit was in the original given that it lends support to the first clause and the article as a whole. At least that's my take.)

UPDATE II: Some of my most trusted sources are taking issue with Tancredo's comments and trying to distance themselves. Check out Malkin and Captain Ed for a taste. Several make a good point in that such rhetoric doesn't help us in the cultural part of the war which includes trying to convince Muslims we aren't just out to get them. The fanatics have more material to propagandize with now and some passive Muslims may be alarmed. But others make a better point in that fanatics and even ordinary Muslims need to believe we're willing to strike where it hurts if pressed. Lest some forget, this is a war. Maybe, just maybe, they'll be a bit more cautious with their bombing spree then.

But I agree with most that Tancredo's comments may have done him considerable harm politically. There are a lot of things he could have said to get the point across and save some collateral damage. But as I said earlier, I like a straight-up guy. And I still like his remarks.