Littwin: OK, let’s agree Tancredo is a sure thing, but maybe not in the way he thinks

If Colorado Republicans didn’t understand how much trouble they were in before Tom Tancredo jumped into the governor’s race— and they did, believe me — they definitely understand it now.

While there’s some question, it seems, whether Tancredo is the official Trump-Bannon candidate, the truth is that whether or not either officially endorses him, he is sure to be a daily reminder of Bannon’s and Trump’s influence over all things Republican. And even more chilling, there’s a chance Tancredo might actually ride that to victory.

In fact, Tancredo began his race by declaring himself a near certainty to win the GOP nomination. He said it was a “done deal, almost.” He did everything but tweet it, in ALL CAPS. The only surprise was that the didn’t throw in a “Crooked Hillary” or two and maybe a “Pocahontas” for good measure, just to show how good a Trumpian he can be.

It was, of course, a ridiculous thing for Tancredo to say, which is exactly what we’ve come to expect over the years from the well-known carnival barker. You do have to like the qualifying “almost,” as if to still allow us some level of suspense. The problem for Tancredo is that pretty much every Colorado Republican this side of Cynthia Coffman — and we’re just waiting for her to check in — has already joined the governor’s race.

And this just in: No one has any idea how it will turn out.

But the reason Tancredo made his statement was not just some mindless braggadocio — although there was some element of that —  but rather to set up his next line.

“I will tell you right now, this will be the ugliest campaign you’ll see,” he said, “because the other side has only one chance of beating me. … And that is to turn me into the biggest devil who ever lived, a racist, a white supremacist, all that junk.”

Now, here’s where he’s right, at least in part. It will be an ugly campaign. Not that anyone has to think Tancredo is the devil — what’s that line about the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist? — but voters will certainly be reminded of every dance he has done with white nationalists, anti-Muslims, alt-righters, Breitbartians and anti-immigrants (undocumented and otherwise). And he’ll remind them himself, as he threatens to defund so-called sanctuary cites while accusing those who run them of being accessories to murder, rape and every other bit of Tancredista demagoguery he tosses into the pot.

And he has already told us the founding principle upon which he has based this run: that there wasn’t a Republican in the race bold enough to defend VDARE, the white nationalist group of which Tancredo was recently a board member, when John Suthers, Colorado Springs’ very Republican mayor, made clear the group wasn’t welcome in his town after what happened in Charlottesville.

VDARE’s politics are easy to find. They post them on their website for all to peruse. One of the more often-cited articles asks whether we need more Hispanics. The answer: “…(W)e appear to have become dissatisfied with only a black underclass, and decided to establish a Hispanic underclass as well.” If that’s how Tancredo wants to run his campaign, well, he’ll certainly get his chance.

The dangerous question Tancredo poses is whether he represents the Republican Party in Colorado. It’s a near certainty that he doesn’t represent the views of a majority of voters in Colorado. Or at least he never has before.

Tancredo has been around forever, of course. He even ran for president once, as all trivia buffs know. Since retiring from the U.S. House, Tancredo will be making his third run for governor. In the previous two, Mr. Done Deal did not win the Republican nomination. In one, he didn’t even run as a Republican, but made a third party bid to stop the bizarre GOP nominee, Dan Maes, who — to cite one example — thought that Denver’s bike sharing program was part of a plot for the United Nations to take over Colorado.

You may remember Tancredo’s High Noon showdown with Maes, and his park-bench diplomacy in what was basically a Marx Brothers production of a campaign. You may also remember that Tancredo, who figured he had to destroy the Republican Party to save it, received only 37 percent of the vote despite the fact that John Hickenlooper, who did win, never once called Tancredo the devil, a racist or a white supremacist. In fact, Hick never ran a single negative ad againt him, which suggests Tancredo can be thrashed in clean campaigns as well as dirty ones.

That was 2010. In 2014, Tancredo rejoined the Republican Party, which he has quit periodically, and went all in to chalk up 27 percent of the vote in the primary, falling short of campaign whirlwind and now also two-time loser, Bob Beauprez.

So Tancredo, who recently rejoined the Republicans once again, is hardly a sure thing. But he is a sure threat — not to Democrats, who are openly rooting for him, but to Republicans, who have won the governor’s seat in Colorado only twice since 1974, both times by Bill Owens. Trump, you’ll remember, lost Colorado by five points in 2016. According to the Real Clear Politics polling average, Trump’s approval rating is just shy of 39 percent. In Colorado, I’m sure it’s even lower.

But none of that will bother Tancredo, who will never back away from being Tancredo. You don’t have to take my word. The Indy’s Corey Hutchins dropped by for a recent Tancredo showing at a Colorado Springs gun club where the candidate was seen proudly posing with an “All Rifles Matter” t-shirt. Let the campaign begin.

 

2 COMMENTS

  1. Elections have consequences.

    “Hiding news that doesn’t fit an ideological or a partisan agenda is perhaps the worst form of media bias. And it’s one more reason the public holds the press is such low esteem.” – Investor’s Business Daily

    “(Mr. Trump) won’t be president. He was sliding in the polls before the video, and the video now means that he has no way to climb back. Which independent voter, which suburban woman, which Main Street Republican on the fence is going to vote for Trump now?” – Mike Littwin

    Magical thinking: The belief that one’s own thoughts, wishes, or desires can influence the external world. It is common in very young children. – GoodTherapy.org

    }{

    “……if (President) Trump’s not nervous — really, really nervous — he has to truly believe that Mueller is off on a wild-hoax chase.”

    “…….if this is, as it looks, only an opening move by Mueller.”

    As Dandy Don Meredith used to say, “If ifs and buts were candy and nuts we’d all have a Merry Christmas.” And Mr. Littwin would have a Pulitzer. But the reality is the only thing Mr. Littwin has is a left-of-everything bi-weekly column on a website known to few and read by fewer and here is just another reason why Mr. Littwin’s Pulitzer-less status is unlikely to change.

    On October 31st an Islamic terrorist driving a rented pickup truck struck and killed 8 people and wounded 11 others in New York City. It was the deadliest terrorist attack in New York City since 9/11.

    It was the biggest story of the week and arguably the biggest story in October. Yet, amazingly, in his first column since the terrorist attack Mr. Littwin has chosen to write about….Tom Tancredo. That’s right, Tom Tancredo!! Mr. Littwin wrote an entire column on an eye-roll but yet, somehow, finds Tom Tancredo more newsworthy then the deadliest terrorist attack in New York City since 9/11.

    You can’t make this stuff up!

    But Mr. Littwin’s choice of subject matter once again provides clear and unassailable proof of his willingness to ignore events—-regardless of significance—-not conforming to his extremely narrow political narrative. Mr. Littwin is to journalism what Harvey Weinstein is to celibacy.

    But that’s not the only story the journalistically-challenged Mr. Littwin ignored so he could devote another column to Tom Tancredo. Tom Tancredo????

    Former Democratic National Committee head Donna Brazile writes in a new book that “she seriously contemplated replacing Hillary Clinton as the party’s 2016 presidential nominee with then-Vice President Biden in the aftermath of Clinton’s fainting spell, in part because Clinton’s campaign was “anemic” and had taken on “the odor of failure.”.

    Despite her position as the head of the DNC Mrs. Brazile recalls being treated like a slave. She described Mrs. Clinton’s campaign as “badly mismanaged (and) took minority constituencies for granted” and not surprisingly “lacking in passion for the candidate,”

    Mr. Littwin failed to mention any of these highly visible campaign and personal shortcomings prior to last year’s presidential election and is unlikely to do so now. Mr. Littwin wasn’t looking for her shortcomings and his only message in support of Mrs. Clinton was his tacit well-she’s-better-than-Trump. Fortunately, many voters disagreed.

    November 08, 2016

    “’Cause I don’t have no use
    For what you loosely call the truth” –
    Tina Turner

    Flags of Valor
    Folds of Honor
    Special Operations Warriors Foundation

  2. Tancredo is as toxic for Republicans in Colorado as Trump is nationwide. We can only be so lucky to think the Republicans in Colorado would show their true colors by electing him in the primary. Defeated Candidate Walking.

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