The American Spectator

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p> PATRIOT GAMES br> Re: The Washington Prowler's Tancredo's Dubious Allies : /p>

Although he is well known for his inimitable speech in the state legislature conjoining the concepts of life and liberty, my fellow Virginian, Patrick Henry, is lesser recognized for a different remark at another time, the gist of which summarizes my feelings about the article, "Tancredo's Dubious Allies." When informed that plans were afoot to call for a Constitutional Convention, whose goal was to centralize governmental power, Henry is supposed to have said: "I smell a rat." If not a rodent, then, I detect in this tract the noxious odor of sulphur, emanating from the White House and/or the Wall Street Journal, for neither institution, for its own reasons, has anything good to say about Representative Tom Tancredo.

By taking the tact that to damn Tancredo, he must begin with faint praise, The Prowler claims that Tancredo does, indeed, have conservative principles that go beyond enforcement of current law. Well, that is more than we can say about the current incumbent in the White House, who five years after 9/11, still believes that the millions of workers who have illegally entered this country since that day of infamy do so because they "do the work that Americans won't do." As for those 150,000 or more (Rep. Duncan Hunter's estimates) Middle Easterners illegally present, well, that's an acceptable risk. Congressman Tancredo doesn't think so; neither should you.

But what is diabolically disturbing is the unfounded assertion that Tancredo's association with FAIR and John Tanton suggests that the congressman has, or will, embark upon a course that is different from the one he has to date: a robust pro-life stance. All one need do is visit Tancredo's website, where the Colorado congressman specifically mentions his unblemished record in voting for pro-life causes ("the sanctity of life"), and his steadfast refusal to support Planned Parenthood. Or one might wish to check Tancredo's voting record in the Congress on these issues. They look "conservative" to me.

I conclude by noting that President George W. Bush accepted money for his presidential campaigns from various Christian religious organizations. The fact that he accepted funds from such groups did not, it appears, change the situation: his efforts to introduce legislation to restrict and/or curtail the unlimited abortion license are non-existent, despite the group's largesse. A bill, written by a noted jurist for the specific purpose of restricting partial birth abortion, and stay within current Supreme Court guidelines, remained gathering dust while the GOP controlled both houses of Congress. It is now a lost cause. But I forgot: George W. Bush is a conservative; Tom Tancredo is not.

p>Pax tecum, br> -- Vincent Chiarello br> Reston, Virginia /p>

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