Tancredo will not seek re-election

Source: The Hill

A spokesman for Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) confirmed Monday that the congressman will not seek another term in Congress in 2008, regardless of his fate in the presidential race.

Tancredo’s exit, first reported by the Rocky Mountain News after the Colorado Rockies lost baseball’s World Series on Sunday night, adds another GOP retirement to a growing list.

Tancredo’s district is conservative, with President Bush having taken 60 percent of the vote there in 2004, but the state has trended toward Democrats in recent years.

Read more: http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/tancredo-will-not-seek-re-election-2007-10-29.html

did this really need to be said? lol

They're dropping like flies. It must not be any fun for them to be in the minority.

Bake

He is "my" congressman.

Now if we can only get a good Democrat to run and take this 1st or 2nd most Republican district in the state.

More at: http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=79906
and: http://coloradopols.com/frontPage.do

To electing the veto proof, filibuster proof majority that we need to ram through some truly progressive legislation no matter what Hillary wants...

:toast:

There's some weird shit going on south of Denver.

I haven't followed the debates at all, so don't know much about him except that he's well known for his stance on illegal immigration.

Tom is an annoyingly unpleasant and repulsive person to look at or to even listen too.

I'd say we were friends, in fact, though not close friends; but more than just political allies.

In those days he was a libertarian, small-l, and very much an idealist. There was little question in my mind that he was sincere about the issues that concerned him (largely property tax and the budget), and unusually honest, and that he cared about his constituents. In contrast to the other state representatives and senators I knew in the Colorado Legislature, he was a breath of fresh air, and a very likable person. He certainly does not fit the (probably correct) stereotype of contemporary Republicans as mostly sociopaths.

I don't know what happened to him. My guess is that he was swept up in the rise of the quasi-fascist right in the Republican Party. It was easy to get caught up in. I myself (then a liberal Republican) nearly was swept into it. I had to consciously pull myself away from it after a pretty dramatic crisis of conscience. The movement has a cult-like quality to it, and if too deeply immersed in it, it's very difficult to resist.

I wonder if working for the Reagan administration was just too much immersion in the cult for Tom, though I'm just speculating here because it's at this time we had a falling-out. It's not too hard for me to imagine that might happen: he had a kind of naivete/suggestability that came from his idealism. If enough of the wrong kind of people brought enough stories of "oppression" and "suffering" to Tom, without enough opposing influences I could easily see him deciding to champion their cause.

When I look at Tom today I still see that sincerity, honesty, and conviction (which is probably why he's not much liked by the Republican establishment, where lust for power is ordinarily the only value). For example, his willingness to show up at minority sponsored debates when other Republicans shun them is all Tom, and I believe is sincere. But his sincerity is coupled with a bizarre disconnect from reality -- almost a political psychosis. He looks like he's been listening to the wrong people for years.

I'm sure most people here would rather see him as a stick-figure villain, but I can't. The Tom I knew was a good man, and I suspect is still a good man, but one who is caught up in serving something he can't recognize is evil.

My friends in his district will be oh so thrilled.

District includes the third wealthiest county in the nation. it will be tough getting a dem in there. Winters had a good showing... Possibly he should run again.

'Bout time!

Dornan and Tancredo,two turds from the republican shit pile.

This should make many in his district happy. Maybe they can finally get a real representative.

Oh, and I guess I overlooked it: goodbye! ;-)

Not a Coloradan, but if Colorado can replace that Tancreepo with a Democrat, that'd be great!

Colorado of old return.