Littwin: Pure primary gold

 
[dropcap]F[/dropcap]IRST Mecca. Now the White House.

Tom Tancredo, the self-admitted bomb thrower, is running for governor of Colorado by going all incendiary on Barack Obama, who, at last check, was not in the race.

It’s a strange tactic, but this is Tom Tancredo — friend to Ted Nugent — we’re talking about. And what Tancredo is talking about is invoking the 10th Amendment, fighting off the feds, defending Colorado’s sovereignty (which, in Tancredo-world, is under attack) and, of course, seeing to it that Obama is impeached, because what else would you want from your governor?

It’s no wonder that state Republicans are scared to death that Tancredo will win the four-way primary race. Would you like to be Cory Gardner, who’s running as fast as he can toward the political center, and have Tancredo as your running buddy?

[pullquote]Tancredo is running for governor of Colorado. Yet there he was in Oklahoma calling for the impeachment of the nation’s president and attorney general. He said the ‘one reason’ Obama hasn’t been impeached is that he’s the ‘first black president.’ At least he didn’t go the Bundy route and say ‘Negro.'[/pullquote]

Tancredo isn’t Dan Maes, who was embraced by Republicans four years ago. Maes was a phony who caught everyone by surprise by talking about United Nations plots to take over Denver by riding in on bicycles.

Tancredo is Tancredo. And no one needs to explain what that means.

You can’t be surprised by whatever he says, whether it’s Tancredo singing the virtues of bombing Muslim holy sites or warning that illegal immigrants are streaming into America in order to kill our grandchildren. And here he was the other day at the Jefferson County Republican Men’s Club, according to an account by Ernest Luning of the Colorado Statesman, in full Tancredo mode:

“We are going to have to establish the whole idea of state’s rights, of the 10th Amendment,” Tancredo said. “The fight is going to have to start somewhere. Let it be here, I firmly believe, because I am willing to do it. Not only willing, I am looking forward to it.”

Of course, he is willing. Tancredo is always ready for a fight, at least rhetorically. As you know, the 10th Amendment reserves certain rights for the states and apparently also reserves a chance for Tancredo to weigh in on Cliven Bundy, who was defended by Tancredo’s three primary rivals in a recent debate. Tancredo didn’t attend the debate because he’s Tancredo and he doesn’t play by the rules. Which is probably what most attracts him to Bundy.

Tancredo said if the feds came to Colorado as they did to Nevada, he’d, well, he’d do whatever he had to do.

“We will have one hell of a battle about that,” he promised. “And I will use every single lever at my disposal to stop that.”

Try to imagine which levers. First, though, just try to imagine Tancredo as governor, especially if you’re in the National Guard.

You may remember when Tancredo ran the last time and was blown away by John Hickenlooper in the three-way race with Maes. Tancredo, an equal-opportunity offender, proved then he has no chance to win a state-wide race in Colorado. But, in a four-way race, he does have a legitimate chance to win the Republican primary.

Last time I checked on Tancredo (this was in late April) he was in Oklahoma City as part of a protest against a planned visit by attorney general Eric Holder, whom Tancredo called — no surprise here either — a tyrant. Two questions come to mind: One, why would someone running for governor of Colorado attend a protest in, uh, Oklahoma? (The Daily Caller said he was there for a fundraiser.) Two, why don’t any of his rivals — I’m talking to you, Scott Gessler, Bob Beauprez and Mike Kopp — have the nerve to call him on it?

While at the rally, Tancredo was busy calling for Obama’s impeachment, and Holder’s, and reminding the crowd that Obama was a socialist. Of course, he was calling for Obama’s impeachment — and calling him a socialist — back in 2010 when he was running for governor the first time. It didn’t make much sense then either, but this time he added that “one reason” Obama hasn’t been impeached is that he’s the “first black president.” At least he didn’t go the Bundy route and say Negro.

And he didn’t — as far as I know — say the reason Obama was elected was because we don’t have literacy tests and that people who couldn’t spell “vote” had elected Obama. That’s what he told a Tea Party convention back when he was still in Congress.

It’s good to see he has grown. Here’s what Tancredo did say to the Jeffco Republicans:

“We have a guy in the White House that I believe, and have seen it on many occasions, is the most dangerous thing — he’s more dangerous than any other threat we face as a nation. Barack Obama, I believe, is dedicated to destroying the America that I love.”

The real danger is that we’ve seen people, on many occasions, who can’t spell “demagogue,” and who take Tancredo seriously. Here’s the threat Republicans face: Some of those people might even vote for him.