August 21, 2010 06:03 AM UTC

Tancredo swindles the ACP just like he did U.S. Term Limits

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• by: Half Glass Full

A charismatic guy comes into town, swears up and down that he’s your man, you choose him to be your standard-bearer… and then, when he’s used you to get what he wants, he dumps you.

Sound familiar? It’s the Tancredo Way.

In the 1990s, Tancredo became the poster boy for U.S. Term Limits, winning a Congressional seat largely on his promise to abide by term limits. That promise was what distinguished him from his competitors: in fact, he mercilessly criticized his opponents who wouldn’t take the same three-term pledge he did.

Then, of course, he broke his own pledge when it came time to make good on it.

Now Tancredo gets the Colorado gubernatorial nomination of the hapless American Constitution Party. Its original nominee, some rube named Big Ben Goss, meekly hands over the nomination to Tancredo after he waltzes into the ACP offices, promising to get them on the map. Tancredo swears repeatedly that he’s “in it to win it” if the ACP makes him their man.

Then, within weeks, Tancredo is proposing to drop out of the race altogether if Dick Wadhams can persuade Dan Maes to drop out as well in favor of some smoke-filled-room candidate anointed by … well, not anointed by the ACP, anyway! They won’t have a seat at that table!

It’s just ridiculously callous, opportunistic and insulting to his supporters. Tancredo has a lot of nerve criticizing Mexican mothers for “drop and run” tactics with anchor babies: he’s the original “drop and run” candidate. He uses a political position to get some sort of personal advantage, then he jettisons it as soon as it’s convenient for him to do so.