Big Tent Collapsing?
Is the GOP’s much-vaunted big tent on the verge of collapse? It’s out of power in Congress, it’s led by an unpopular chief executive, and none of the 2008 presidential candidates seem able to unify the party.
And now, consider the spectacle in Manchester, N.H. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., and his supporters, in the Granite State for Tuesday night’s Republican debate, set up camp in front of Republican Sen. Judd Gregg’s office in order to denounce the immigration compromise brokered by the White House and a majority of senators.
“I am going to use my presidential campaign as a vehicle to rally the millions of law-abiding Americans who oppose the Kennedy-McCain-Bush sellout of America,” Tancredo said in prepared remarks.
Gregg hasn’t said how he’ll vote on the final bill, but he had plenty to say about his fellow GOPer.
“There are … people who wish to bury their heads in the sand by ignoring the threat our present dysfunctional system represents to our country, and who are using a jingoistic and demagogic approach of opposition to immigrants as a way to raise their own political visibility,” Gregg said in a statement issued by his office. “Congressman Tancredo has chosen to align himself with this approach. I strongly reject this new ‘know-nothing’ wing of the political spectrum and hope the people of New Hampshire will as well.”
