Tancredo Fails to Reconnect with Movement of Youth

When the demonstrators had finished with Tom Tancredo’s table in the University of Northern Colorado’s Student Center in the mid-1960s, it looked more like Sunday morning at a fraternity house than a political forum.

The student who would eventually become Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) and the three other members of the campus branch of Young Americans for Freedom had just seen their conservative pamphlets and books swept to the floor, their table overturned and his character shredded on the floor of the school’s student center by an angry group of protesters.

As a young political activist, Tancredo made a name for himself at UNC by founding his own branch of YAF and immediately making it the most politically active group on campus.

“You can’t imagine how volatile things were on campus,” Tancredo said, chuckling at the memory in a recent interview with Scoop08. “There would always be a ruckus.”

But rather than pack up and quit like the campus administration appealed for, the resolute Tancredo returned following week with fresh literature and a campus security guard.

Not much has changed. These days the often controversial candidate seems to have a gift for attracting attention, only now on a much larger stage. So much so, in fact, that his presence has occasionally ignited violent protests at scheduled appearances. Tancredo, who cut his political teeth debating liberal peers during the Vietnam War, may be able to get a rise out of students, but does that translate into a focus on young people in his campaign?

The 61-year-old Tancredo speaks fondly of his days in YAF, recalling the hours spent on the road wrangling with nearby liberals. The organization was young in those days, only founded in 1960. Students for a Democratic Society —a liberal youth movement that has recently seen a modern revival — was a frequent source of opponents, and the debate generally centered on the Vietnam War. But debating in hostile territory allowed the politician in Tancredo to take root.

“At that time of my life, the very volatile environment helped develop my style and the enthusiasm that I put into the discussion,” he said.

That style — and also the substance of what the staunchly anti-amnesty congressman says — has made for impassioned responses. Fights broke out in December 2006 when Tancredo made a trip to East Lansing, Mich. to speak at an event planned by Michigan State University’s YAF and College Republican chapters. Protesters, carrying signs that read “Ignorant Racist,” tried to shout over Tancredo. Attendees later reported assault and vandalized vehicles, and the fire alarm was pulled.

But while students’ energy may still be going strong, 2008 just isn’t the same as the 1960s for Tancredo.

“It’s proven to be true that no matter how much emphasis you put into [courting college voters] it doesn’t seem to make a difference at the polls,” he said. “There’s nothing like [Vietnam] that they feel affects them or threatens them in any way.”

A strong stance against undocumented immigrants is nowhere to be found in the Sharon Statement, a listing of strict libertarian values adopted Sept. 11, 1960, at a conference at the Sharon, Conn. home of conservative icon William F. Buckley. The document, which focuses on small government and economic and political freedom, became the founding principles for YAF.

Some chapters — and apparently Tancredo — have since moved beyond the libertarian ideals found in the Sharon Statement to take more forceful stances on social issues, including immigration, gay rights, abortion and gun control.

“Catch an Illegal Immigrant Day,” an event that offered rewards to students who found other students posing as illegal immigrants on campuses across the country, was planned by several YAF chapters. The events, which have faced accusations of racism and hate-mongering, appear to be part of a political strategy labeled Overton Window, said Philip Moon, a Michigan State University student who runs an anti-YAF blog, YAF Watch. The Window refers to the space of ideas that are seen as reasonable, and exploiting that window counts on extremist groups to promote ideas so far from the mainstream that less extreme, but still far from moderate, ideas seem acceptable.

Tancredo, not just YAF, is capitalizing on this concept, Moon said.

“He knows he’s not going to win, but he’s going to push his ideas out there,” Moon said, adding that the tactic may even be successful. “He might see things spreading a little more his way. The nation’s watching.”

But to Tancredo, who was warned by White House officials never to “darken the doorstep of the White House” following his criticism of the Bush administration’s immigration policy, he’s simply speaking what he believes.

“Political correctness will get us all killed,” Tancredo said at a September GOP debate.

Despite a wide field of Republican candidates and poll numbers that show he has yet to gain traction among potential voters, Tancredo has made it clear that he does not intend to duck out of the race for the presidency. Immigration is a make-or-break issue for the GOP, he says, and if nothing else, he believes he is forcing the other candidates to make it a serious part of their platforms. Meanwhile, a return to at least one of the ideals of YAF — engaging college students — as part of that plan seems unlikely.