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Tom Tancredo

Levey: I Had No Idea Sotomayor Smear Campaign Would Blow Up

Brian Beutler | June 2, 2009, 9:26AM

Yesterday we reported that prominent Sonia Sotomayor critics including Tom Tancredo ("Latina KKK") and Pat Buchanan ("That woman... is for race-based justice") were employing, with full knowledge of the events, a young man named Marcus Epstein, who plead guilty to karate chopping a black female pedestrian and calling her a "nigger."

Dave Weigel of The Washington Independent asked a number of conservative Sotomayor critics what this apparent hypocrisy says about the larger campaign to block her confirmation, and one response, in particular was telling.

Curt Levey, the executive director of the Committee of Justice, has been optimistic about the right's fight against Sotomayor, but he admitted to TWI that he "underestimated the degree to which a few conservatives would say a few extreme things, and that would be characterized as what all conservatives think."

As we've noted before, the campaign against Sotomayor has exposed and widened a rift between a sensible faction within the conservative movement and die-hard activists. By basing the attacks on charges of racism, while simultaneously lobbing ethnically loaded insults at her, people like Levey have, inadvertently or not, poured gasoline on the embers of this conflict.

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Topics: Pat Buchanan, Racism, Sonia Sotomayor, Tom Tancredo

Pat Buchanan

Tancredo's Karate Chopping Racist Aide Also Works For Pat Buchanan

Brian Beutler | June 1, 2009, 1:34PM

In addition to crusading for Tom Tancredo and karate chopping innocent black women on summer evenings in Georgetown, it turns out that Marcus Epstein also works for everyone's favorite MSNBC talking head Pat Buchanan.

According to its website, Epstein is the executive director of The American Cause--Buchanan's anti-immigration organization. I've placed a call to The American Cause and to MSNBC for comment, and to verify that Epstein remains on staff, and will let you know what they tell me.

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Topics: Pat Buchanan, Tom Tancredo

Tom Tancredo

Tancredo Aide Pleads Guilty to Karate Chopping Pedestrian, Calling Her 'Nigger'

Brian Beutler | June 1, 2009, 11:23AM

Remember how Tom Tancredo went on CNN last week and called Sonia Sotomayor a racist, accusing her falsely of being a member of a "Latino KKK"? Well, if racism so offends him, how does he explain this?

On July 7, 2007, at approximately 7:15 p.m. at Jefferson and M Street, Northwest, in Washington, D.C., defendant was walking down the street making offensive remarks when he encountered the complainant, Ms. [REDACTED], who is African-American. The defendant uttered, "Nigger," as he delivered a karate chop to Ms. [REDACTED]'s head.

That defendant is named Marcus Epstein--a former Tancredo speechwriter who now works as executive director of Tancredo's political action committee.

Epstein pled guilty to the charge, but, according to Dave Weigel of The Washington Independent, he'll remain on the job "until he leaves for law school in the fall."

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Topics: Racism, Sonia Sotomayor, Tom Tancredo

Tom Tancredo

Tancredo: "I Don't Know" Whether Obama Administration Hates White People

Eric Kleefeld | May 29, 2009, 6:25PM

Appearing on Hardball today, former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) was asked whether he agrees with Rush Limbaugh that the Obama Administration hates white people. His answer: "I don't know."

"What do I -- I have no idea if they hate white people or not. But I will tell you this," he said, as David Shuster attempted unsuccessfully to interrupt him. "I am sick of having people suggest that because I am Caucasian, I cannot -- and that's the suggestion here -- is that if you are white, Caucasian, male, you cannot comment on this sort of thing."

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Topics: Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court, Tom Tancredo

Supreme Court

NCLR Spokesperson: Not The First Time Tancredo "Doesn't Know What The Heck He's Talking About"

Eric Kleefeld | May 28, 2009, 6:15PM

I just got off the phone with Lisa Navarrete, vice president of the National Council of La Raza, getting her take on Tom Tancredo's assertion that the longstanding Hispanic civil rights group is the "Latino KKK" and that their slogan is "All for the race, nothing for the rest."

"It's not the first time for Mr. Tancredo when he doesn't know what the heck he's talking about," said Navarrete. "I don't know what he bases the assertion on, since he didn't provide any facts or evidence to that effect, as to why he calls us the Latino KKK. But I can assure you our motto or logo as he phrased it, is not what he says it is. It's not the motto of any Latino group."

"We've urged the [Republican] party to not allow people like Tom Tancredo to dominate the debate, as he has on the immigration issue," she added. "And he has, and it's cost them."

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Topics: Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court, Tom Tancredo

Sonia Sotomayor

Tancredo: Sotomayor Is Member Of "Latino KKK"

Eric Kleefeld | May 28, 2009, 4:32PM

The right-wing fear-mongering against Sonia Sotomayor just keeps getting more and more comical. The latest grievance is her membership in the National Council of La Raza, a large national organization that bills itself as "the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States."

Former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO), who spent his career in Congress calling for a moratorium on immigration, appeared on CNN to lambaste Sotomayor for belonging to a group whose name would translate as "The Race," made the false claim that La Raza has the motto, "All for the race, nothing for the rest," and bashed it as being "a Latino KKK without the hoods or the nooses."

The KKK without the hoods or the nooses? Um, those hoods and nooses do make a really important difference!