The Cafferty File Looks At Tancredo's Pre-Emptive Foreign Policy
By Nicole Belle Friday Aug 03, 2007 12:02pmJack Cafferty looks at the simply unbelievable statement of Colorado congressman and Republican presidential contender Tom Tancredo advocating the bombing of Mecca and Medina to ward off the Islamic fundamentalist threat. What frightens me more is simply how many viewers (and presumably part of those die-hard 29%ers) agree with this bonehead
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I'm just curious if Tancredo would feel a might bit... peevish if someone, say firebombed his church. Is he simply so intellectually lacking that he can't comprehend how bombing the holiest sites of Islam would instigate--not deter--violence? And what the hell is wrong with the people agreeing with him? Has this country gone so far down a dangerous (read: Godwin's) road of demonizing and dehumanizing the Others that there are some (as evidenced by this video) happily slipping on brownshirts and advocating mass genocide? Lord help us all.
By the way, the State Department officially told Tancredo to STFU. (I paraphrase, of course)
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HILLARY REFUSES TO RULE OUT NUKES AGAINST DEMOCRATIC RIVALS
The dems seem to be working on their war face lately, I found Obamas talk of attacking Pakistan was particularly frightening.
I dont want to upset the moderators but I'm going to post a link to a John Pilger talk that I think addresses the sameness of mainstream right/left politicians when it comes ot bombing the crap out of poor people in far away places:
http://www.videosift.com/video/John-Pilger-Freedom-Next-Time
Yes, he is that intellectually lacking. But he is not alone. This country is full of people who just don't get it.
The Senator from the great state of Colorado needs to gain international expertise and lessons in logic. For example, let's bomb the Vatican when the Pope disagrees with WH policy.
Threatening to destroy anyone's holy centers is NOT a position of intellectual finesse, let alone strength.
Let's see a proposal that changes the game and moves the discourse to positive ends.
Unless, of course, war-talk becomes you.
Senator...?
What frightens me more is simply how many viewers (and presumably part of those die-hard 29%ers) agree with this bonehead
Ah yes, religious tribalism. The source of all stupidity in our political discourse. It's exactly why Bush's ratings will never go much below where they are right now.
By the way, the State Department officially told Tancredo to STFU. (I paraphrase, of course)
Still... it'd be awesome if the State Department sent a memo to Tancrendo saying "STFU", and followed it up with a lolcat picture with "pwned" on it.
Fuck me gently with a chainsaw !
Jesus Christ Holy Mary. And this man is a politician?
Bomb fucking Medina & Mecca?
Again my sympathies to you in America. Makes me glad we have a Parliament where the minimum criterion to partake is a fucking BRAIN.
By Tancredo's logic, 9/11 would have made the US withdraw completely from the middle east and end all support for Israel and Saudi Arabia. It didn't happen. Why do right wingers always think their mirror right wing counterparts on the other side will behave any differently than they do?
BTW, yes, I am equating Tancredo with al Queda in this circumstance.
Has this country gone so far down the dangerous road....?
That's the understatement of the year. The people's country of the U.S. barely exists anymore outside of what holds it up via consumerism, which will disappear once everyone realizes their basic needs are disappearing down a sinkhole. This is what you could call an organized fall of a moderately civil nation. Now - there IS a small, fascist nation made of a military industrial complex, that seems to be thriving, but it is not made up of everyday people, it has few laws outside of loyalty and secrecy, and its policies are based on the kinds of things that Tancredo prescribes. The problem is, everyday people in the nation formerly known as the U.S., are the ones that fund that other nation, which barely, if at all, takes into account the needs of the everyday people.
If your politicians decide to start WW 3 I really hope some one decides to stop them first. Cause that will be what happens if you guys bomb mecca and medina
Wow...how depressing that about half of those emails seemed to take Tancredo's suggestion to heart.
What kind of backward-ass logic does it take to believe that bombing these sites will STOP Islamic terrorism? That'd only succeed in doing what apparently Tancredo and those who agree with him already believe we've done: Declare war on Islam as a whole.
"Kill 'em all and let the bodies sort out the gods"
Tancredo & McCain need to pack of their "gay sweaters" and take a vacation. Their "run" is over.
What if a Democrat advocated nuking Mecca and Medina?
[Deleted. Incoherent blogwhoring, we think]
Nothing like a good pre-emptive strike to set the world on fire......How's the last one workin out for ya Preznit.Tancredo must of lost his anti psycotic meds.
The 29%s don't surprise me......just go over to poli pundit and view all the hatred.....it's really something to see....all hate ...all the time.
I used to read comments like this from Tom Tancrapo and say to myself "I bet Canada is a nice place to live". But now I'm starting to think Canada's a bit too close...
How's Greenland this time of year?
Our country is going down the tubes. People are beginning to side with the extremists of this country. What was once conservative is now liberal, and the far reaches of the right are being allowed to take further power due to their successful mongering of fear.
Beware people! If we don't get away from our computers and actually do something the bottom is going to fall out. Dems already seem to recognize the benefits of the power that Bush is grabbing, they will seize it rather than revoke it. What happens then. We're all, er, ah, you know.
Somehow a third, fourth, fifth party needs to get into the executive, legislative, and judiciary branches to again start representing the needs of the people, not the desires of their political affiliation.
By Tancredo's logic, if a Catholic were to commit a terrorist act, we should blow up the Vatican and maybe a few cathedrals too for good measure. What's worse than this type of moron being in Congress, is that there are nitwits who actually voted him in. I'd believe it more if he were from my state, Nebraska, because we have more than our share of knuckle dragging ditto-heads, but Colorado?
The thing that was even more scary than this low IQ neanderthal, were some of the other low-brows who e-mailed in to Cafferty in support of his plan.
Nowhere in the story does anyone point out that both Mecca and Medina are in Saudi Arabia, our putative ally.
the repub death cult marches on, thinking nothing of killing millions while pretending to care about unborn babies domestically
"When the public speaks as one man, it thinks only of killing."
-Clarence Darrow, Closing Argument in The State of Illinois v. Nathan Leopold & Richard Loeb
Hound Dawg @ 15:
Confusing... you seem to say that there is no God, and that it is all fear tactics, but they you say Moses is a great guy and we should keep the faith... sounds like you are just as deluded.
God is Just... PRETEND.
Thanks Sitemonitors, you are so right! That was pretty incoherent!
Monday is the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing. In my classroom we will be making origami cranes.
If you are going to bomb one religious site bomb them all...I mean we are talking nuclear war here right?
Curious that America, who would be starting the nuclear armageddon, has no major christian, moslem, or jewish holy sites. Does that make us godless, or only more willing to start a global nuclear exchange?
Of course Tancredo (and his supporters) believe this crap. With apologies to Truman Capote, since stupidity has no geography it knows no boundaries.
On the bright side..this SHOULD show people that this guy is nuts.And make it obvious to some of the other conservatives that their party has truly been hyjacked.
Has this country gone so far down a dangerous (read: Godwin’s) road of demonizing and dehumanizing the Others that there are some (as evidenced by this video) happily slipping on brownshirts and advocating mass genocide?
Yes.
As Atrios says, "This has been another edition..."
The last time I posted that "Tancredo has the brain of a retarded sand flea" I got a pretty nasty letter from the RSFADL (Retarded Sand Flea Anti-Defamation League).
That would be the same as the Muslim fundamentalists bombing
Halliburton, Exxon's head office or the World Bank, the churches of American worship.
Do you think you just might get pissed off and retaliate further?
America's war retoric has gotten completely out of hand.
Take a fuckin' Valium.
afc26012 @ 18:
Green.
[Deleted. Off topic blogwhoring]
ok, tom, no more cookies for you...
now, you and your friends need to pack up. it's time to go to the front lines...
I just want to punch Tancredo right in the gob. This kind of rhetoric just inflames the gits that are like him on the other side. Ugh. He doesn't realize that comments like this are seized upon by the extremists as recruitung tools to impressionable young muslems as proof we ARE waging a holy war against ALL MUSLEMS! Do you know how hard it is for soldiers in Iraq ( who are trying to build culturial bridges and win hearts and minds) to explain Tancredo's comments? Damn. Try looking your Iraqi counterpart in the eye after having them hear shit like that. Tancredo please shut the fuck up.
It really shouldn't be that difficult to understand Tancredo's remarks, yet this post doesn't seem to be up to the task.
He's not suggesting a pre-emptive strike. He's only threatening that as a response in case nukes go off in U.S. cities.
If several U.S. cities are destroyed by nukes and hundreds of thousands or millions of Americans are killed, never fear: the Dems will politely ask the U.N. to issue a sharply-worded rebuke.
Tancredo does a great job of blurring the lines between the "good guys" and "bad guys". Bravo.
TLB @ 36:
If several U.S. cities are destroyed by nukes and hundreds of thousands or millions of Americans are killed, never fear: the Reich-wings will once again attack and invade the wrong country.
TLB @ 36:
Yes, and this "response" is that of a raging mad and unhinged lunatic.
TLB @ 36:
Name one muslem country with the capability to deliver nukes here. Just one.
Strawberry @ 40:
Boogeymanistan.
SCREW THIS!
Where is the 'Violence-Advocacy' site?
Dr. Matt, it's the rightwingers inability to understand the difference between testing a nuke and getting it where you want it.
TDoff @ 42:
http://www.foxnews.com/
Dr Matt....Boogiemanistan.....LOL
And Jorge Boosh waited to make a "RESPONSE" to the Attack that Iraq made on us.Right.
Seriously, much as I hate to say it, Tancredo may be on to something.
If we destroy ALL the churches (and I do mean ALL) think of the giant leap forward that would be for world peace (not to mention world sanity, reason, reality-based thinking).
We (the US) should take the lead in this, and, as an act of good faith, start by destroying Tancredo's church. We could start a Non-Religion Proliferation Organization, have a Treaty, nuke the Vatican, bulldoze the crazy-christian-fundamentalist-evangelical 'Houses of Worship' (preferably mid-Sunday morning), gas the synagogues and mosques (followed by molotov cocktails).
Of course there would be some legal questions (is Republicanism a 'religion', does the Supreme Court qualify as a 'House of Worship', is Bush insane or Born Again - and how do you tell the difference), but we can muddle through and become, once again, as our forefathers planned, 'secular humanists', honest, fair and just, caring for our brothers as we would like to be treated, peaceful, settling our disputes under laws of equality, free, ruling ourselves in a democratic republic.
We should even allow the mentally challenged, the intellectually defective, to live their lives, enjoy their delusions, even join together in shared misery, even call themselves 'people of god', but not allow them to vote or participate in or disrupt meaningful discussions. Perhaps isolating them in 'retreats' would be most compassionate, where they would not be exposed to, nor have to deal with, reality.
Imagine that, Tancredo, a visionary!
J in Omaha @ 20:
Dr. Matt @ 44:
Thanks. What was I Not-Thinking?
thx, exactly my point
glad to see some other logical points of view
Tancredo said himself, " he has no ideas how to fight terrorism ". That is because he is still looking for a country and an army to hate and destroy. Terrorism is a tactic. If he knew any history he would see how it was used in Vietnam.
This Congressman has no diplomatic skills and shouldn't take space in congress where great minds are desperately needed and required. And they wonder why Iran wants Nukes of their own. They look at Pakistan and India with nukes and see how delicate America threats them.
This is a man that has a vote and casts it in favor of Bush's Iraq policy even though he has no reasonable understanding of what he votes for.
Does Tancredo think we should bomb Florida because that is where some of the 9/11 terrorists trained to fly?
Should we bomb Los Angeles because of the gang activity that the city does not control?
This is the problem. People as Tancredo acts without thought.
--Tancredo thinks, " there should be consequence for their actions ". So let us ask Tancredo of the Consequences of his actions and Bush's actions to date. And what consequences does Tancredo feel should apply for Alberto Gonzales? We know how he feels of I Lewis (Scooter) Libby-Inmate #28301-016 and his consequence for his crime. He stood with the President's dismissing the Juries conviction.
Consequences are for others, not the elite. There is a two tiered judicial system that is more consequential to those of less affluence that Tancredo likes because as a Congressman he is in the upper portion of that judicial system for special consideration of any of his actions that require consequences.........................................................................
[Deleted. Blogwhoring]
He should sawed in half; drop one half on Mecca and the other half on Medina, OH. I did like the "right"-wing email responses; all so reassuringly righteous. "No war only works on a bumper sticker"; sounds like 26%'er to me. Lovely humans following the Tom the Terror Demon to the end of the world, yippee!! Religion is the root of all evil and the scourge of social and political discourse
I see your point of religion.
Bomb in the name of Jesus.? I mean, jesus, what is wrong with that train of thought?
I just don't think or want to think all religous folks are this way. Fundamentalists and neo extremists, Rapture religious followers perhaps. Thats not all of them, I hope!
Mr Moo @ 2:
No need to be frightened. Obama didn't say he would attack Pakistan, he said he'd attack the safe havens that Al-Queda has carved out in the mountains of Pakistan. Huge difference and frankly I support him. It's exactly what we should have done instead of taking our eyes off the ball with Iraq.
[Sarcasm]
That being said what could I do, but support Tancredo? I mean wouldn't it be totally kick ass if we could come up with a way to inflame and incite the ENTIRE Muslim world against us (which is to say nothing of the rest of the civilized world, no matter what faith, that would find that act appalling)? Surely there couldn't be any bad consequences for that, right?
[/Sarcasm]
Religion and politics go hand in hand. These political leaders worship at the feet of the Pope. Watch the current events to unfold the mysteries of the church and their evil agendas.
The church of the past created black death - bubonic plagues to terminate opposition and annihilate the population.
Biological weapons date back to the medieval age.
[Deleted. Incoherently off topic]
EZ @ 56:
This is WAYYYYY out there.......
So is there a religious bar to be President now?
I haven't see the signs at the campiagns yetstating, " vote for Tancredo is a vote for reapture ".
[Deleted. Let's get this thread back on topic]
[Deleted. We let you indulge earlier, now get back on topic. The Pope is not the topic of this thread]
It may not be the focal topic as you rightly suggest.
But how do you explain Tancredo's " bomb Mecca and Medina " blurb without understanding his consequences from such action and his reasoning to strike such sacred areas of those he does not even comprehend?
Tancredo and nukes.....now thats a scary thought....yeah lets just go and annihilate the most Holy muslim sites.........I'm sure they won't mind if we give them more parking spaces.......how some of these people get elected(please don't comment)is beyond me.I mean....who would vote for someone like this?
Tancredo is working hard to keep hard working people from coming to this country.
Rep. Tancredo is beneath the radar. End of story.
To ward off Islamic fundamentalist threat???? An action like this would turn almost all Muslims around the world towards fanatical fundamentalism. We would essentially be ending our way of life, making 9/11 look like a small firecracker compared to the inevitable response. Wow... I would really like to see the IQ scores for the 29% who actually support this.
What's scary to me is that for the last 2 elections this crazy mouth breather was elected and re elected by margins of 60% to 40%. So he must have plenty of suburbanite Denver people scared to death of anybody with brown skin.
EZ @ 56:
I applaud your attitude but your "facts" are way off.
"These political leaders worship at the feet of the Pope."
No, the pope has his own agenda. The deal is between the protestant far right pastors and the politicians, (in the US). The pastors provide the millions of guaranteed votes, and the politians provide the churches with money and the pastors with power.
“Watch the current events to unfold the mysteries of the church and their evil agendas.”
Study history as well, what the religious right are doing today is the same as the church’s actions and policies just before the fall of the roman empire. Gain power, denigrate education, attack philosophers (professors today) and their universities and colleges, replace the scientific method, undermine medicine, foster wars with the middle east, encourage sectarian violence, attack non-Christians, undermine the separation of church and state, provoke barbarians (Muslim fundies today). They want a new Dark Age.
“The church of the past created black death - bubonic plagues to terminate opposition and annihilate the population. “
No, it came from the East. They did however make it worse by blaming it on witches, killing their “familiers”, (i.e. cats) and thusly increasing the rat population who carried the flees with the desease.
As for Tancredo, does he want a billion more Bin Ladens? Someone tell him Medina and Mecca means as much to the "moderates" as the fundies. The problem is that most Muslums are good, but Islam is not. The core example of Muhammad can never be washed away till Islam ends, make the moderates see the truth of their faith, no more raw material for the fundy recruiters.
If they were bombed, the worse thing would be if they were just damaged.
But if they were utterly obliterated, wouldn't that be the end of the religion itself?
If Allah is real, they thought would go, wouldn't he have protected his holy sites...?
But on the other hand, obliterating those sites might open the door to retaliation on holy sites or other religions like the vatican and sites in Israel. Then when everyone's holy sites are destroyed, wouldn't people then finally realise the utter impotency of their gods on the affairs of earthlings and give up all the nonsense...??
...sadly, not...
...
SKdeA @ 24:
A concept, as Jesus Lennon once sang..
[Deleted. Take the bigotry elsewhere]
Just remember, Tancredo as many other republicans use religion to advance themselves and their ideology.
Republicans for example have no intention of completely banning abortion and lose their main single issue voters. They will move in the direction to appease them. I don't think Tancredo is a Haggee or Dobson convert.
But as someone mentioned above. no one that thinks so irrational should even be in the vicinity of the nuke launch codes. And Tancredo is in the GOP primary for President.
So does Mitt, Rudy, Brownback have the same tendencies of fanatic religious zealot finality?
Aub,
Islam is only as evil as the religions it came from... Christianity and Judaism. The end of these religions must also come from education. The 29% of our population who submit to the terrorist mentality are also the ones needing education.
[Consult the commenting policy if you wish to contribute. And spare us the indignant "How dare you?" crap]
Aug,
So do you plan on also eliminating Christianity and Judaism through education?
This country is full of people who are as dumb as the dog shit they pick up on their shoes while walking through the park on a Sunday afternoon.
Truly scary.
Meddi
Not Judaism, it is capable of reforming itself, only a few radicals in Israel need de-programming. As for Christianity, yes. There are facts and logic that can be used, most are really humanists in denial, unaware of the danger in their doctrines and scripture. I'd prefure to leave them alone but the bible and theology would remain, so the whole thing as be dealt with from the core outwards. A universal allegory may remain, as it was at the start, but a clean break may be easier.
.
So,
Bombing the Vatican, the Mormon Tabernacle, or the Capital is terrorism, but bombing Mecca or Medina isn't?
Happy Hiroshima day... August 6, 1947 ... 60 years ago... You would think we learned something.
Who Would Jesus Bomb?
.
If you study pre-bronze age cultures today, religion whether shaman or missionary lead Christianity is used more than anything to pray for cures to disease or injury. Religion is the result of inferior health care, hence its strength in America, weakness in “socialised medicine” Europe. Priests Know this which is why certain denominations hate medicine, which would not exist at all if it were not for Hypocrites, who rejected the supernatural.
All religion will die from the raising of the quality of life, comparative religious education, and the application of the (majority’s) moral sensitivities to all doctrine and scripture instead of letting them ignore such elements. Immorality in this instance results from either the restriction of empathy, (“them and us”) or moral blind spots, the kind most people have to crimes committed by figures in history or by our heroes. Fans of Alexander the Great who ignore the fact that he killed so many innocent people, or those theists who ignore the genocide’s in the bible, or in Islam’s case the rape, terrorism, torture, mass murder and war mongering the Hadith credit to Muhammad. Not all Muslims ignore such passages, and Bin Laden is the result. Fred Phelps is what you get if you take (ALL) the New Testament too seriously etc.
Besides Abrahamic monotheism is masochistic, bombing only makes them stronger with self pity and the rush of a good martyring. These people have a mental problem, they need TLC not TNT.
Let me see ... so Tom Tancretin thinks that by bombing Islamic Holy places terrorism would then stop???
No, the world would then ignite and no place would be safe, Vatican City, Bethlehem, your neighborhood church.
But by all means Tom ignite the world, you and your fundie friends can then claim your Armageddon ~ and the rest of the world will try not to go blind in the insuing tit for tat battle.
Scott Says:
Hear! Hear!
when it comes to mass destruction of human lives, the so called christians are at the top of the list of commiting total destruction of those who don't agree with their twisted view of god and life. when someone tells me they are christian, i am terrified. these fuckers will destroy your life, your property, just to make sure their "i speak for god" fucking bullshit is heard.
TDoff @ 42:
http://www.whitehouse.gov
http://www.newamericancentury.org/
Knock yourself out!
I really think someone ought to quiz Tancredo about nuking the Dome of the Rock.
After all, as the spot where the Prophet ascended into heaven, it is among the holiest of all sites in Islam. Surely Tancredo would not balk at bombing it, if he's willing to nuke Mecca and Medina.
Christians may have started more wars, killed more people etc than anyone else, but they have also reformed allot, many so much that they are not really "Christians" anymore, it is convincing these decent types to abandon the label that is the key to ending the threat, ditto for Muslims. Ironically Islamic history is remarkably boodless given how explicitly violent their scripture is. It may just be an accident of history, or the coherence of their theology. They may believe in fighting all non-Muslims not under their control, but at least they haven’t killed each other as much. Another irony is the one time Christians tell the truth is when pointing out all the terrible things about Islam, and visa versa. I often find right wing sites can be very accurate on Islam’s dangers, even neo-con ones, I just wish they’d realise how all these criticisms apply to their beliefs just as much.
Where is the ‘Violence-Advocacy’ site?
http://www.horowitzfreedomcenter.org/
This one leaves you troubled, its mixes truth and lies in equal measure, but its so difficult finding un-biased info on this issue.
When we nuked Japan we proved the emperor was not a God. By removing mecca and Median from the earth we would also prove God of the Islamic faith does not exist. Its simple logic.
You don't need to nuke a city to prove Islam is a fraud, and it wouldn't work anyway, theists can rationalise anything. Do you think Nuking the Vatican would disprove the Trinity to all catholics? And where is morality in all this right wingers? Does the end always justify the means?
Man, there is some real dumb people out there in the good old U.S. of A.
I think it's called "bar stool diplomacy."
Okay, so what is going on here? We are supposed to be thinking about supporting the most most violent, the most reprehensible, the most pedestrian, the most unimaginative, the least creative, the most destructive candidates this or any other country has ever regurgitated for public office. Well thanks anyway; i think i will just become a member of the Blanks and figure out some way to live in a paralell universe of my own choosing. The "Christians," the Capitalists and the NeoCons can just go ahead and Rapture themselves into the next fantasy world for all i care, but i am not going to hell with them.
Insanity is contagious. My interest in becoming infected is nill. If anybody wants to do anything constructive let's think about getting the insane out of the White House and the Congress. That includes those in the Democratic Party who have lost their minds, their morals and their wits.
Tom Tancredo's threat to specifically bomb innocent civilians is itself an act of terrorism.
Did someone say "brown shirts"?
http://www.freedomfchs.com/unwarranted_surveillance.pdf
We used to be bigger than life.
From an international point of view ,this is very scary. I can't think of any country but the U.S were a politicion could think this approach is the only idea and many agree.
No wonder the U.N is impodent if this is all your country can offer.
Catholics did bomb civilian targets in the U.K ,including a church service for war dead[enniskillian]. There was no calls to retaliate by nuking the vatican.
If we did would these same people say it would be justified and within the realms of humanity-you now that thing that separates the good from the bad guys.
You all have my best wishes,as said no matter how angry i am with our parliament in the U.K ,your lot are way off scale.
Just think of some ordinary guy or gal waking up in India, or where have you, and reading this in the morning paper. It must be very reassuring and do wonders to boost their confidence in the US.
Here is the basic information that Tancredo and other "bomb-Mecca" supporters should know. Very simple - ONE BILLION Muslim people in the world - fastest growing religion in the world, many US Muslims. We have around 300 million people. Do the math. We think our country is at risk NOW, just think how few civil liberties we would have in order to "protect" us. Stupidest. Idea. Ever.
Tancredo..."could come in the form of a mushroom cloud"...yeah yeah yeah.....take a hike you idiot
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