Colorado Republican Congressman Tom “I See Brown People” Tancredo got booed at a hearing in Brownsville when he suggested that the proposed border fence go to the north of Brownsville (I wish I were making this up) (h/t Crooks and Liars, who has the video):
Boos and hisses emanated from the audience for a congressional field hearing when Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado dismissed residents’ concerns that the effort to build 670 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border by year’s end would damage the environment and destroy a centuries-old bond between residents on both sides of the Rio Grande.
Late in the five-hour hearing, Tancredo returned to a comment made earlier by panelist Betty Perez, a rancher and local activist. Perez said, “It really isn’t a border to most of us who live down here.”
Tancredo dismissed Perez’s remarks as a “multiculturalist attitude toward borders.”
As jeers rose, Tancredo added, “I suggest that you build this fence around the northern part of your city.”
Brownsville sits at the southernmost tip of Texas, where the Rio Grande meets the Gulf of Mexico. The border fence as planned would cut through the campus of the University of Texas at Brownsville and Southmost Texas College, leaving its golf course on the Mexican side.
Gosh, so many possible remarks…I’ll start off with “multiculturalist attitude toward borders” being a sufficient reason to dismiss an enture argument–that makes absolutely no fricking sense…unless you are aware of some overriding “American” culture that is threatened by our proximity to a country like Mexico…so full of…Mexicans…it must have been horrible for Tom. Actually, it just lends some credence to my hypothesis that he is an insufferable fuckwad.
Another point–Congressman Tancredo is from Colorado. That cuts both ways, actually. On the one hand, he has very little to worry about: Colorado is about 800 miles north and 5,000 to 10,000 feet above Mexico. To get there, Mexicans not only have to trek across a big-ass desert, but then they have to climb. I know they’re up to it, but Colorado is a less likely place when California and Texas are sitting right there. On the other hand, the state is called Colorado…could this be a form of linguistic invasion? As a proud American and Texan (and therefore the inheritor of two helpings of whoop-ass served to Mexico), I suggest, nay, demand that “Colorado” be given its proper English name, the State of Red-Colored. Say it a few times–it gets easier. The first option is quite a bit more plausible, don’t you think?
At this point, my apologies to Mexico. My taunts were purely illustrative as part of my Tancredo-as-fuckwad exegesis. As a lifelong Texan and Salma Hayek fan, I assure you I meant no offense.
As a quick aside to those who are not too familiar with Texas, Brownsville is the southernmost city in the state, and possibly the southernmost city in the continental U.S. except for the Florida Keys (which technically aren’t on the continent anyway). It’s not a very good place to try to stir up Mexicophobia or to use the term “multicultural” in a pejorative sense. It is, however, a good place to crash if all the hotels at South Padre are booked up. Also, Kris Kristofferson was born there.
To sum up: Congressman Tom Tancredo has a serious problem with non-Americans, and very poor argumentative skills. He’s also a U.S. fucking Congressman, which makes his inability to form a coherent thought all the more good cause for sleep deprivation. Hopefully he will continue to publicly embarrass himself like he did in Brownsville, and his ideas will fade into obscurity along with his career.
In closing, then, two thoughts: 1. Piss off, Congressman. 2. ¡Viva México!
