Armey: Tom Tancredo Is A 'Destructive' Force On The GOP

For the second time in as many weeks, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey -- who has become the corporate personification of the Tea Party movement -- verbally smacked down former Rep. Tom Tancredo, another Tea Party fixture, for his unsympathetic views on immigration reform.

Speaking at the National Press Club on Monday, Armey called the Colorado Republican a "destructive" force on the Republican Party and claimed that, as Majority Leader, he made sure that Tancredo "didn't get on a stage" to profess his hard-line views on immigration.

"The Republicans -- when I was a Majority Leader -- I saw to it that Tom Tancredo did not get on a stage because I saw how destructive he was... Handle it with some sense of compassion and some sense of civility. The Hispanic-American is the most natural-born constituency for the Republican Party since the Black American was in 1965. And these guys are trying to blow it. Just do it right... There is room in America. If you love America, if you love freedom, love work, are willing to pay your way, pay your taxes and obey the law, you should be welcome in America."

"Republicans need to get it right, and get off this goofiness that they have," Armey added. "Ronald Reagan said, 'Tear down that wall.' Tom Tancredo said, 'Build that wall.' Who's right? America's not a nation that builds walls. America's a nation that opens doors, and we should be there."

Armey noted earlier that the GOP had "frustrated [him] to tears on immigration" noting that leadership was alienating the "fastest-growing voting demographic in America."

"We have serious issues," he concluded.

Armey's solution to the problem is to fix the Immigration and Nationalization Service so that it can do its job "in a human fashion." Then you control the borders, he added.

This is one of the glaring fissures within the Tea Party movement and one over which Armey has expressed discomfort in the past. In an appearance on the "Charlie Rose Show" last Monday, he whacked Tancredo for a "harsh and uncharitable and mean-spirited attitude on the immigration issue."

Comments

[F13ND]

08:36 PM on 03/17/2010

It's a sad state in the Republican Party when Dick Armey is the voice of reason. Being a classic Machiavellian politician, Armey sees the huge demographic potential in the Hispanic vote. However, I think his plan to bring Hispanics into the big tent will fail for two reasons: 1) GW already screwed them with lofty promises and then proceeded to fulfill none of them; 2) They remember it.
I have the misfortune of working in a restaurant. There are four Hispanics that work there who have the misfortune of listening to my bad attempts to communicate with them in Spanish. These men are what I would call typical conservative "up by the bootstraps" types, yet they have no love for Bush or his party. When asked why, to a man, they say "because he lied to us." Porque nos mintio.

[Denver John]

03:52 PM on 03/17/2010

Isn't that great! Old sour Tom is not even liked among his own Republicans!
Divide and conquer sound like a good thing to me - the Republican party could self destruct this mid term election cycle
PLUS being the party of NO and the party of ATTACK and the party of FEAR, and the party of HEALTH care for only the RICH... may just backfire -

We can hope!

[Gaylord P Farqua]

09:09 AM on 03/17/2010

Dick is afraid that Trancredo will siphon off all the real nut cases from the Republican party who will join up with the crazies in the Tea Party and turn whatever legitimate arguments the Baggers had into facist rantings that will cost the GOP votes and do no good whatsoever for the Baggers.

[jonmonbuckeye]

10:10 PM on 03/16/2010

What is funny is Tom's family came here illegally. Hope he digs them up and sends them back.

[Professorofdesire]

09:17 PM on 03/16/2010

You would think that these tea party types would like Tom's Tan credo.

[morphyous]

06:55 PM on 03/16/2010

Put a white sheet and a hood on Tancredo, at least he wouldn't be able to hide behind another label . He's not the only one in the Republican Party that shares these type of views. They seem to think they are the only morally upstanding, and the REAL Americans. They must have attended that same Wasilla school as Palin.

[Gasparilla]

06:48 PM on 03/16/2010

There is no "reform". It's amnesty. Been there, done that in 1986. All it did was bring us five times the number of illegals.

[iconoclast6]

04:22 PM on 03/16/2010

"I just wish to repeat that there is NO can.ni.bal.ism in the Republic Party. And by that, I mean there is a certain amount. But we have the problem well under control, and casualties are now acceptable."

[joetherealist]

03:59 PM on 03/16/2010

Tancredo, Gohmert, King, Hayworth, they are coming out of the woodwork today. It's because of the looming health care vote, but it is also the desperate squeals of a dying breed.

[Nardwilly]

03:58 PM on 03/16/2010

The Black Community of 1965 was absolutely in love with the Kennedy family. There is no way thatcommunity had any interest in the GOP. Even Blacks in the South tried to be part of the Democratic Part y due to the Roosevelts and the Kennedys.

Armey demonstrates his complete misunderstanding of ethnic groups in the US. when he says, Black Americans in 1965 were a "natural-born constituency for the Republican Party" perhaps he meant 1865.

[Petey131]

02:12 PM on 03/16/2010

Sorry Dick. I am Latino and the Latino community I live in knows that teabaggers and rethugs are the same hateful bunch.

[Puller58]

02:04 PM on 03/16/2010

Armey is simply a corporate shill, and Corporate America wants cheap labor. Armey wants to pretend that he supports immigration reform in order to appeal to Hispanics, while he winks at "border control" which means only lip service. Tancredo is hardly a threat since he correctly identifies the problems that we have with uncontrolled borders. Since Lou Dobbs rolled up his immigrant rants, that leaves only Tancredo in the debate over "immigration."

[max hp]

02:48 PM on 03/16/2010

HP is stooping sensationalism - one sure way to not be taken seriously.

Just look at the 4 or 5 of the top stories on the first page - words in the headlines like outrageous, demons, evolution, tea party, etc.

A shame.

[joetherealist]

03:44 PM on 03/16/2010

Only Tancredo left in the debate? Some debate...

[nana-anne]

01:56 PM on 03/16/2010

Do you realize that most of the mindless zombies that believe the junk that Tancredo spews would never be able to pass the literacy test he thinks we need to be a voter. And as far as the Armey vs. Tancredo, just sit back and watch them eat their own.

[Hoosierbrad]

01:53 PM on 03/16/2010

My G0D, I agree with Dick Armey about something! Where is Chicken Little?

[Darwinia Amazonia]

12:18 PM on 03/16/2010

ARMY SERVES THE INTERESTS OF THE BUSINESS AND ILLEGAL ALIEN LOBBIES; TANCREDO SERVES THE INTERESTS OF THE AMERICAN CITIZEN VOTERS. ARMY IS TRAITOR; TANCREDO IS PATRIOT. Agricultural guest workers, benefit every American citizen; since it not possible for agricultural producers to compete with the cheap laborer Mexico. All other employers can make a living, by creating profitable niches and hiring American citizens; and those who cannot afford to hire citizens to do their house and garden chores are living beyond their means. Army knows that he is betraying his countrymen; and imagines that he is going to get away with it.

[Gasparilla]

06:46 PM on 03/16/2010

I always love the argument "who is going to mow your lawn". When I was a kid I mowed ours and those of a couple older ladies in the neighborhood for a couple bucks. It worked out fine all around.