Tancredo endorses … huh?

I’m kind of blown away. As Tom Tancredo explained in his withdrawal letter today, now that strong anti-illegal immigration candidates have emerged, due in no small part to his own advocacy on the issue, he didn’t want to take votes away from them. I figured he was going to endorse Thompson. Instead, as reported at MSNBC, he had endorsed Romney. (There’s also a video at the MSNBC site of Tancredo speaking.)

By the way, I was surprised by Tancredo’s comment in his letter that he has been crusading for the last ten years against illegal immigration. Hasn’t he also been a consistent supporter of a drastic reduction of legal immigration? How could he not mention that? Also, people have told me that during the present campaign, Tancredo has hardly mentioned legal immigration. I meant to look into this, but didn’t get around to it. Has Tancredo given up on reducing overall immigration, and joined the now emerged (and, while extremely welcome, nevertheless no-brainer) consensus that illegal immigration is, well, illegal?

If so, that would fit his endorsement of Romney, who has said he favors an expansion of legal immigration. I am concerned.

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Alex K. writes:

I think he didn’t trust Thompson’s ability to win: “[Romney] can go the distance.”

And he wanted to prioritize beating Huckabee:

In answer to another question—about whether the rise of Huckabee had something to do with his decision, Tancredo said: “You bet your life it was.”

Bill Carpenter writes:

I am very disappointed with Tom Terrific’s withdrawal. I fear the field will revert to form on immigration without him on the stage to keep them honest. The MSM will regain the upper hand in setting the Republican agenda. Immigration reformers need to deluge the Romney campaign with encouragement to carry the Tancredo banner. Romney must have given Tancredo some assurance that resulted in the endorsement. We need to persuade Romney thta it will be worth his while to buck the MSM on this issue.

Ray G. from Dearborn writes:

Like you, I’m also stymied by his endorsement of Romney. There must be some pieces of the puzzle we’re missing……..but right now, I’m disappointed by Tanc.

Just after sending the above comment, Ray sent this from The American Spectator, and asks, “Can Bay Buchanan have influenced Tancredo that much?”

Washington Prowler Why Mitt? By The Prowler Published 12/21/2007 12:08:28 AM

BAY WATCH Rep. Tom Tancredo yesterday afternoon endorsed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney after one of Tancredo’s senior advisers, Bay Buchanan, pressed him to make the endorsement.

Buchanan is a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As well, rumors were swirling in the media pool covering the press conference that Romney had made a personal commitment to assist Tancredo should he choose to run for office again in the near future.

Romney has flip-flopped on the immigration issue, the one issue that Tancredo drove during his long-shot presidential bid, and a number of advisers to Tancredo on the immigration issue had been pressing him over the past three days to endorse former Sen. Fred Thompson, whose illegal immigration policies are more in line with Tancredo’s.

In fact several months ago, according to an influential anti-immigration-reform adviser to Tancredo, as well as other conservatives, Tancredo was prepared to endorse Thompson if he came out in support of Tancredo’s specific anti-illegal-immigration policy proposals. But Thompson was not yet in the presidential race, and Tancredo instead decided to push forward with his own campaign.

“We’re all scratching our heads a little on this one,” says the immigration adviser. “It isn’t the one we would have had him made, but Bay is extremely influential with him and clearly her advice carried more sway than our opinion did.”

A member of Tancredo’s campaign says that while Buchanan’s opinion might have had greater influence than others, Tancredo’s main criterion was electability. “Romney has made the better showing thus far, and Tom wants to have a influence in the Republican Party beyond Iowa,” says the adv iser. “Romney was just the smarter pick.”

Posted by Lawrence Auster at December 20, 2007 05:04 PM | Send