The "New" Tom Tancredo is not the one Colorado sent to Congress ten years ago...

Once upon a time, Tom Tancredo was a hard-working Congressman speaking out on an unpopular issue. Tancredo was vocal on getting the Republican Party to address the issue of border security and he eventually accomplished his goal. After the rest of Republican Party came around on the issue of border security, Tancredo felt that he had to go even further than everyone else to keep getting attention.

Tancredo let himself be hijacked by out-of-state interests and abandoned his congressional district to run for president. As it became clear that virtually every Republican presidential candidate had endorsed a pro-border security and anti-amnesty position, Tancredo started veering off into more and more extreme rhetoric in an attempt to stay relevant.

The truth is that Tancredo's view on the immigration debate has become so twisted that he thinks any attempt to speak to hispanics about issues important to them or convince them to vote Republican is a tacit support of illegal immigration.

Take for example this charming web ad from Tom Tancredo's presidential campaign that singles out Rep. Duncan Hunter, Rep. Ron Paul and Gov. Mitt Romney among others as pandering to illegal immigrants. Tancredo was apparently so offended that any Republican would attempt any outreach to the hispanic community that he was willing to brand even border security advocate Duncan Hunter as un-pure on the issue.

Just let that sink in. Tom Tancredo thought that Duncan Hunter and Ron Paul were pandering to illegal immigrants because they tried to talking to hispanic voters. Duncan Hunter and Ron Paul.

In 2007, former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore addressed the Iowa Republican Party. In his speech he said that an amnesty program must be opposed and framed controlling the borders as a national security issue. This would all seem like it would be fine by Tom Tancredo, until Gov. Gilmore made the fatal mistake of saying that even though he supported border security he wasn't advocating hatred towards hispanics:

"We simply cannot have an amnesty program.  We should control our borders, make sure that they are secure, use all resources at our disposal to do that, of technology and personnels and people everywhere on the northern and southern borders.  We cannot be a sovereign nation unless we control our borders.  We should be harsh with people who break the law and hire people illegally.  Now I have no interest in sending a message of hatred or anger to anyone..."

In Tancredo's mind, that statement evolved into this:

"Less than a year ago, while campaigning for the presidency in Iowa, I witnessed Gilmore give a speech supporting a policy that sounded like amnesty to me."

Tom Tancredo would spell the end of the Republican Party in Colorado if he were given any leadership role or, even worse, became a candidate for Governor. Giving Tancredo a platform of any sort will only drive even more hispanics away and make it completely impossible for any conservative to win.

Economic issues will resonate with hispanic voters and will give conservatives a path to victory in Colorado. That will not happen if Tom Tancredo is around to accuse anyone who tries to make that case of "supporting amnesty."