Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo is accusing President Bush, rival John McCain and others who tried but failed to push through an immigration reform measure of a total disregard for the views of others.
"It was the arrogance that got to me as much as the bad policy that they were pushing," Tancredo says. "I mean even the president, you remember him saying, ‘I’m going to see you in the Rose Garden at the (bill) signing ceremony.’ Well, there was no signing ceremony. There’s not going to be a bill signing ceremony."
Tancredo has made his opposition to illegal immigration the focus of his campaign and he has referred to the plan which failed to make it out of the U.S. Senate this summer as "amnesty" for those who’ve entered the country illegally.
"We didn’t stop the problem. We didn’t solve the problem. It is still there," Tancredo says. "We still have borders that are porous." Tancredo says this fight over the immigration issue and the perception that leaders like Bush are "arrogant" has intensified public dissatisfaction with their government.
"When you look at 14 percent approval ratings for the congress of the United States, 20-some percent for the president — lowest in the history of poll-taking, right — it’s not just dangerous for incumbents. It’s dangerous, I think, for the republic…when you have this much of a disconnect between the people and their government," Tancredo says. "…I know the frustration. I feel it myself." Tancredo will be campaigning in Iowa almost non-stop in the days leading up to the Iowa Republican Party’s Straw Poll August 11th.