Of course, why a politician whose salary is paid for by taxpaying folks like me is staying at a Resort like that is the subject of another blog entry BUT he had this to say about Miami:
Miami, he told a conservative online news site, ``has become a Third World country.'' Source.
''Look at what has happened to Miami,'' the WorldNetDaily quotes Tancredo as saying in an interview. ``It has become a Third World country. You just pick it up and take it and move it someplace. You would never know you're in the United States of America. You would certainly say you're in a Third World country.''
There is no objective definition of Third World or "Third World country" but the use of the term remains common. The term Third World is also disliked as it may imply the false notion that those countries are not a part of the global economic system, according to Wiki.
Tancredo is too dumb to realize that the French demographer Alfred Sauvy coined the expression ("tiers monde" in French) in 1952 by analogy with the "third estate," the commoners of France before and during the French Revolution-as opposed to priests and nobles, comprising the first and second estates respectively. Like the third estate, wrote Sauvy, the third world is nothing, and it "wants to be something." The term therefore implies that the third world is exploited, marked by poverty and high birth rates. The third estate is marked by shantytowns with pockets of rich elite.
The remarks drew an instant rebuke from Miami Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who called Tancredo ''flat out wrong'' and extended an invitation for him to come and judge the city for himself.
Tancredo didn't visit Miami on his trip. Nice of him to trash the city without visiting it, eh?
Nevermind that Miami is home to many thousands of Cubans who arrived in the United States legally. Or that the GOP has a near stranglehold on Cuban votes and most hispanic voters there. Or that Miami is no different than NYC in the 40s and 50s, with enclaves like Little Italy. Tom should know about NYC, since he is the grandson of Italian immigrants who, like Cubans, settled in ethnic enclaves across the United States.
Make no mistake: Trancedo is a rascist.He has received thousands of dollars from individuals linked to white supremacy (Link). He has insulted generations of Hisnapic immigrants who are the stalwarts of the Miami economy. I will take a wild guess that he has never been to Marrakech or Kabul. Open sewers, rampant and unchecked disease.
I was raised in South Florida. While certainly there are many hispanics, you are just as likely to hear German, Italian, and French at shops and on the beach. I challenge him to take a trip to the Miami area and see where the conditions are rough. You know what you will find? Poor whites. Members of many minorities living day to day. But, had he done his research, he would know that. He'd know that the area around the Orange Bowl - a dump of a stadium - is in poor shape, and is according to several census sites, majority white.
That's not enough for this POS ... Tommy goes on to say: "While a recent documentary comparison of Miami-Dade County to Baghdad was a bit of an overstatement no one can argue that it is not one of America's most dangerous areas." Well Tom, not quite ... according to this site, Safest and Most Dangerous U.S. Cities, 2005. D.C. - Tom's 2nd hometown - is there. Miami is not in the Top 25, but Baltimore is. Tom, your rascist notions are wrong. This guy votes on balancing a budget?
But hey, Tommy knows that a Third World Country like Miami has hosted a Super Bowl, has the reigning NBA Champs, hosts international banking, and has one of the USA's busiest ports. Or that those living below the poverty line in Miami-Dade total 18% compared to 15% in Denver.
Tommy boy, if you want to run for President you just crapped on a big segment of your voters. At the conservative seminar/vaction you attended apparently there was no discussion of hispanics deserting the GOP in droves this past election because of spliiter issues like immigration. Your hate rhetoric won't fly - Comprende?
