UPDATE: In response to claims by Tom Tancredo to CBS4 that he was being verbally harassed by "thugs" immediately prior to the video clip of him flipping off a pro-Evie Hudak cameraman, we received a longer version of the video clip in question showing the moments prior to Tancredo's gesture. As you can see, the altercation Tancredo described to reporter Shaun Boyd isn't supported by video evidence:
The only dialogue in this video appears to be a pair of pro-recall workers questioning the camera operator about a sign he's holding, which claims signatures are being "sold" for $3. The cameraman approaches the vehicle containing Tancredo without saying anything, and makes no attempt we can see to harass Tancredo. The only thing we can see that could have provoked Tancredo was the content of the sign itself.
You'd think that "tough guy" Tancredo wouldn't have to tell a lie about being accosted to justify his giving of the finger, which he certainly seems willing enough to take credit for. On the other hand, it's what most bullies say when they get caught.
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CBS 4's Shaun Boyd caught up with GOP gubernatorial candidate and former Congressman Tom Tancredo yesterday, and asked him some questions about the video clip, first seen on Colorado Pols, of him giving a supporters of embattled Sen. Evie Hudak the finger this past weekend.
Tancredo told CBS4 Political Specialist Shaun Boyd that if he becomes governor he’s not going to be giving people the middle finger at the Capitol, but he has no regrets about the incident caught on tape…
“I wasn’t speaking to him. I was walking back to the vehicle with two ladies next to me and he yells, ‘Get (expletive),’ “ Tancredo said. “And he comes over the car and leans in (motions with finger), and I flipped him off.”
Tancredo says he gave him what he deserved.
“Look, this guy is a thug, and you have to talk to thugs in a language they understand,” he said.
For the record, we posted the entire 16 seconds of video we were forwarded, which reportedly occurred at the intersection of 112th and Sheridan last Saturday. We don't know anything about the events leading up to Tancredo's "one-finger salute" of this anti-recall demonstrator to comment on that one way or the other (we do now, see update).
But regardless of what led up to this, it's just another display of the walking, talking liability that is Tom Tancredo. In our nearly a decade of covering Colorado politics, we're at a loss to recall a single instance where Tancredo has assumed a higher public profile in a political event, and not had it become a messaging disaster for the GOP. In the Bush era, Tancredo's over-the-top anti-immigrant rhetoric made him persona non grata in a Republican White House. In 2009, when Tancredo accused then-Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor of being "a racist" who "benefits" from "being a brown woman," he did as much to discredit GOP opposition to her nomination as any Democrat. And we shouldn't even need to mention Tancredo's abandonment of his party to run as a minor-party candidate against the GOP's (admittedly hapless) gubernatorial nominee in 2010. We could go on and on.
Safe to say, Tancredo is a known commodity. His lowbrow antics endear him to the Peter Boyles demographic, even as they ensure that he will never appeal to anyone beyond it. Some Republicans already understand this from experience, and they're the ones who won't be caught in the same room with Tancredo. But a great many others appear on Tancredo's 2010 gubernatorial endorsement list.
To them, we say fasten your seat belts.
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boyles is promoting the fact that the Hudak recall people will have an important announcement on his show, tomorrow, at 6am.
Hopefully it'll be an update on how many signatures they've gotten. They will only say that they're "on track", no specific numbers.
You are right. They announced "a little over half" of signatures have been collected and they are "on target" to get enough signatures for the recall election.
Here we go again. Tanc is just our cheap local Palin. He will never and has no intention of ever holding elected office again so he can give the finger, whistle Dixie with white supremacists, make bigoted remarks all he wants.
Any Republican or other type of rightie who takes him seriously deserves whatever that leads to come election time. I say go Tanc. Be the best (that would be the worst, naturally) Tanc you can be. It's a win/win. For Tanc and Dems, that is.
Tanc gets to go on making a living helping us elect Dems and we don't have to be the ones paying him for it. He gets the people he's really screwing to do that. I love it. If I were a Republican I'd be accusing him of being a secret agent plant for the Colorado Dems. Hey, if they believe Obama was born in Kenya….
What a pile of shit.
Giving the finger to the citizens of CO and this nut wants to people Governor of Colorado? These republicans have no class. They're scum of the earth
Did anyone here seriously doubt, for even a minute, that Tom Tancredo was the real victim here?????
Sheeeeesh, libtards . . . [shakes head]!!!
The video shows that Tancredo, desendent of hearty immigrant stock, understands the power of assimilation like a True American. Let's just say, he speaks our language. After all, he didn't stoop to using this offensive foreign gesture:
Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. How many days can you keep ths ado about nothing going?
An eye for an eye, a finger for a finger.
N3bbish never replies,but, speaking of fingers with regard to his av image, I'd still like to introduce him to my ex-ranger friend and see how many digits were broken as he was disarmed then taught about truly "concealed"weapons. Given the nature of Tancredo's thought processes this is probably the very best reply he could come up with.
Can we quote you on that the next time you ding a democrat for something they do?
You're really just mailing it in these days aren't you, n3b? Just going though the motions. Trolling on auto-pilot. Can't blame you. It's not as if Tanc matters for anything but entertainment value or as if any of your current clown car candidates for Senate has a chance of defeating Udall either. But a troll's still got to troll, right?
The headline should be "Tancredo Embroiled in Finger-gate" … geez, making a mountain out of a mole hill.
Actually, I was at this recall site on Saturday when the video was taken. I did not notice Mr. Tancredo, but was told about his presence after he left. Nevertheless, I can assure you that the individual who made the video was no "thug." Nor am I. Additionally, I was not paid, nor were three others who went with me to the site.
The whole point of being a no hope, can't get any worse joke of a candidate is the freedom it bestows to be a complete asshole. Tom "ok, I know I couldn't even get elected dogcatcher" Tancredo doesn't care. Never has, never will.
He's enjoying the free ink. What else has he got to get him up in the morning anymore?
What I learned from this is that people who PLAN to film need to get the proper image stabilization equipment.
Ooh, now Tommy Tanc has proven himself rude, and inarticulate (let your finger[s] do the talking), as well as a known bigot. And a proven liar, too. It almost makes me grateful that Coffman is my rep. Not really.