Former Rep. Tom Tancredo speaks at a rally for GOP Senate candidate Ken Buck at City of Cuernavaca Park in Denver, Colo. (July 8, 2010) |
DENVER - At the end of a rally for GOP Senate candidate Ken Buck, former congressman Tom Tancredo, who'd been serving as the emcee, stole the conservative thunder from South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint by making the most over-the-top statement of the day.
"The greatest threat to the United States today, the greatest threat to our liberty, the greatest threat to the Constitution of the United States, the greatest threat to our way of life, everything we believe in, the greatest threat to the country that was put together by the Founding Fathers is the guy who is in the White House today," Tancredo said.
Following the rally, Buck was quick to distance himself from Tancredo's remarks.
"I don't agree," he said. "I think there are a lot of threats to the White House and I don't think the man in the White House is the greatest threat to this country at all. I am concerned about the direction of the country, but -- I love Tom, but I don't always agree with him."
Democratic activists, already salivating at the opportunity to portray Buck as extreme for appearing with DeMint, have already been shopping the video clip of Tancredo's statement to news agencies; and the Democratic Party is trying to make the comments stick to Buck, regardless of his own disavowal.
"No one should just give Ken Buck a pass on the extreme and shocking statements of his good friend Tom Tancredo," said Colorado Democratic Party Chair, Pat Waak. "Over and over again, he associates himself with the extreme elements of the right wing and there is no doubt that it is his intention to forward their dangerous agenda in the US Senate."
Buck reiterated his previous statement that DeMint isn't the problem in the U.S. Senate but "the solution."
DeMint, whose seal of approval has helped insurgent conservatives running in primaries in other states, asked Colorado Republicans to help send Buck to the U.S. Senate to serve as a "reinforcement" within his ultra-conservative wing of the Republican Senate caucus.
"We saw our party say one thing and do another for years, to talk about limited government but then keep spending more," DeMint said. "Now the unbridled Democrat party led by Barack Obama is leading our country to the left of Europe. And the only way we can stop it is with folks out across this country who can give us an earthquake election this November."
"The greatest threat to the United States today, the greatest threat to our liberty, the greatest threat to the Constitution of the United States, the greatest threat to our way of life, everything we believe in, the greatest threat to the country that was put together by the Founding Fathers is the guy who is in the White House today," Tancredo said.
Following the rally, Buck was quick to distance himself from Tancredo's remarks.
"I don't agree," he said. "I think there are a lot of threats to the White House and I don't think the man in the White House is the greatest threat to this country at all. I am concerned about the direction of the country, but -- I love Tom, but I don't always agree with him."
Democratic activists, already salivating at the opportunity to portray Buck as extreme for appearing with DeMint, have already been shopping the video clip of Tancredo's statement to news agencies; and the Democratic Party is trying to make the comments stick to Buck, regardless of his own disavowal.
"No one should just give Ken Buck a pass on the extreme and shocking statements of his good friend Tom Tancredo," said Colorado Democratic Party Chair, Pat Waak. "Over and over again, he associates himself with the extreme elements of the right wing and there is no doubt that it is his intention to forward their dangerous agenda in the US Senate."
Buck reiterated his previous statement that DeMint isn't the problem in the U.S. Senate but "the solution."
DeMint, whose seal of approval has helped insurgent conservatives running in primaries in other states, asked Colorado Republicans to help send Buck to the U.S. Senate to serve as a "reinforcement" within his ultra-conservative wing of the Republican Senate caucus.
"We saw our party say one thing and do another for years, to talk about limited government but then keep spending more," DeMint said. "Now the unbridled Democrat party led by Barack Obama is leading our country to the left of Europe. And the only way we can stop it is with folks out across this country who can give us an earthquake election this November."
