Tancredo Says He's Boycotting Univision Debate

[AlphaCentauri]

Give Tom Tancredo credit for one thing: When it came time to decline the invitation to attend this Sunday's Republican debate on Spansh-language channel Univision, he didn't opt for the flimsy "scheduling conflicts" excuse. Instead, he's saying that the very idea of a debate in Spanish is un-American.

“It is the law that to become a naturalized citizen of this country you must have knowledge and understanding of English, including a basic ability to read, write, and speak the language,” Tancredo said in a release. “So what may I ask are our presidential candidates doing participating in a Spanish speaking debate? Pandering comes to mind.”

Tancredo, whose campaign is centered on a hardline stance against illegal immigration, didn't go as far as saying speaking Spanish itself is a bad thing, but did say that it shouldn't be part of this race. "Bilingualism is a great asset for any individual but it has perilous consequences for a nation," he said. "As such, a Spanish debate has no place in a presidential campaign."

I just wonder how Tancredo can boycot one of his own

[MrScorpio]

1. He really is one cranky bastard, ain't he?

I wonder if he boycotts Taco Bell

[AlphaCentauri]

15. He has a good taste for Mexican food

On my way to Mami's, however, I got a call from his aide. A local Republican had tipped Tancredo off to the fact that Mami's owners marched in the Great American Boycott on May Day 2006. So Tancredo was now driving all the way to Davenport to go to Carlos O'Kelly's Mexican Cafe instead. If his campaign staff was as skilled at finding voters as Mexican restaurants in Iowa, Tancredo would win the nomination.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-stein23nov23,0,1777557.column

[orleans]

2. i hope he continues to boycott until he boycotts the entire race. good riddance. n/t

[MrScorpio]

4. Univision is an American company

http://www.univision.net/corp/en/board.jsp

If anyone ever needed further proof that he nothing more than a racist fool, all one has to do is check that out

[orleans]

5. i'm sure they all are a bunch of racists. and in that spirit--i wish they'd

all boycott then entire election

[AlphaCentauri]

8. American and a GOP supporter

At least the previous owner of Univision was a mayor GOP contributor, don't know about it's executives.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jerry_Perenchio

[blogslut]

11. Haim Saban owns it now

Can you say, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haim_Saban

[AlphaCentauri]

16. Supporting democrats and republicans alike?

So he must be very influential in both parties

:think:

[saracat]

3. OOOOOH what a loss that will be.Like Tancredo has the Hispanic vote sewn up! LOL!

and whats with the quote"Billigualism is a great asset for an idividual but has perilous consequences for a nation" Are the GOP that frightened of education? Sheesh.

[flordehinojos]

6. i am not a republican and i don't much like the republican way of thinking...but i applaud tancredo

for refusing to be part of a debate which has no reason for being. i am not a racist either. i was born in cuba. my mother was from mississippi and i am a true blood of what some people call "cuban-american" ... i had american blood running in me (in that cuban soil) long before any of the cubans came here ... but we are electing an American President ... and those Cubans and other Hispanics who have come here who became citizens of this nation are now AMERICANS ... and MARIA SALINAS and JORGE RAMOS and UNIVISION should just give it up alltogether or they should ask their questions in English and the participants answers ought to be in English.

And by the way ... much as Lou Dobbs wants you to belive that illegal immigrants are criminals, or that they have depleted our national treasury ... they have neither depleted our national treasury, nor are they criminals. they are human beings who are being abused by the corporate world (mostly american companies in their native soils and our lou dobbs mentality here in this soil). our national treasury has been depleted by the highway robbery bush and cheney have perpetrated on it.

[AlphaCentauri]

9. To exclude Tancredo from the debate will keep hispanics uninformed

Tancredo it's the hart and soul of the anti-hispanic movement why not give him and his hate agenda a change to be expose. Hispanics need to be inform of the wonderful intensions of the "religious right wing", if every day Univision is showing the progress of the Venezuelan opposition it doesn't make a difference to include Tancredo in one of their spots.

:donut:

[alarimer]

10. This is about inclusion, nothing more

There are people who are eligible to vote who may prefer to get their news or debates in Spanish because they might understand it better. Not that Republicans are about inclusion at all but this is about reaching an audience that may well vote Democratic instead. Boycotting the Spanish debate is certainly no way to win votes among Hispanics and it shows how narrow-minded Tancredo really is. But he's probably no different than the others; he just is more open about his bigotry.

[AlphaCentauri]

18. "he just is more open about his bigotry"

I agree, the guy is a bigot but he doesn't look like a hypocrite hiding his agenda.

[eShirl]

7. "Bilingualism... has perilous consequences for a nation," (-Tancredo)

Yeah? Like what?

The old Steve Martin bit:
"What happened, what happened?"
"He spoke French! Help him!"

[JustAnotherGen]

12. Can I be really direct here?

Hope everyone understands my intent.

I tried to watch the Univision Democratic Debate - ahem - However, there were no subtitles.

I get TV5 Monde and their 'live' shows have English subtitles for those of us who can't suss out the different dialects of French and/or are weak in our French Language Skills.

Why can't Univision provide subtitles for their Debates? So those of us who don't speak Spanish can hear/see for ourselves in real time for what's going on and being said. I wanted to know if the Democrats were pandering - and I'd like to know 'real time' if the Rethugs are pandering.

Look - I know Tancredo is a bigot . . . but let's face it - his supporters probably don't speak Spanish either. His participating and standing in his 'own truth' would need to be heard by 'his people'. KWIM? Strategically? It would probably be a waste of money for his campaign to send him to the debate for people who are most likely to not vote for him.

This would be like Barack Obama going to a debate being hosted by Fundamentalist Mormons. KWIM?

[AlphaCentauri]

20. Hispanics are not a religion nor fundamentalist

They are part of this great society, they are citizens who according to the FBI reports the number of hate crimes against them have increased in the past year. Many of those hate crimes may be instigated by demagogic politicians like Tancredo. Hispanics need to confront their enemy.

[Solar_Power]

13. What's the point anyway? Most candidates don't speak Spanish

How would this work?

[walldude]

23. Translators... which makes his stand that much more

stupid. The debate will still take place in English and it will be translated for the viewers. No different than if another network was carrying the debate and Univision was reporting on it.

[UTUSN]

14. "Spanish...shouldn't be part of this RACE." Double entendre!1 n/t

[AlphaCentauri]

22. hope they don't make it an issue like abortion is

[EFerrari]

17. This is the best Subject line EVER!

LOL!

[JBoy]

19. Interesting position by Tancredo, and may serve his interests

He probably had zero Hispanic support anyhow, and may attract a few more from the narrow-minded fringe.

He says that to become a citizen you have to speak English, so why pander to Spanish speakers? OK, so since there is no religious requirement associated citizenship, why do all the candidates pander to the Churchies?

[AlphaCentauri]

21. Great question

[madfloridian]

24. That's why I am upset a Democrat is featured at Tancredo's site with praise.

Heath Shuler of NC introduces an immigration bill that pleases Tancredo.

And makes his fellow Democrats upset with him. He did not discuss it with the leadership.

[treestar]

25. What perilous consequences?

Many nations have more than one language.

But Tancredo is a moran. No wonder he doesn't know that.

Spanish is one of the languages of this nation. So what? What is, is. And it is not disadvantage.