Tancredo Picks A Fight With The Pope

Personally, I get a kick out of Congressman Tom Tancredo. Tom is not afraid to debate anyone, when it comes to the issue of illegal immigration. The liberal mainsteam media attacks him unceasingly, but he is never deterred. He directed his latest salvo at the Pope! Tancredo points out that the Catholic Church has been losing members in the U.S., perhaps as much as one-third of its native-born members, and needs the Mexican illegals to bolster its numbers in the U.S.

The Pope made reference to violence against immigrants in the U.S. Tancredo challenged that assertion, and said,

“I would like to know what part of our lax immigration policy is considered violent,” Tancredo said. “I fail to see how accepting more refugees than any other nation –and providing free health care, education, housing and social service benefits to millions of illegal aliens is in any way ‘violent’ or ‘degrading.’”

But, Tancredo could not resist going a step further and saying,

“I suspect the Pope’s immigration comments may have less to do with spreading the gospel than they do about recruiting new members of the church," said Tancredo. "This isn’t preaching it is ‘faith-based’ marketing.”

That statement deeply offended some Catholics, notably Dan Caplis, who might be running against Tancredo in the Republican primary for the 2010 U.S. Senate race. I have deep respect for Caplis, and would support him over Tancredo, but you just have to like a gadfly like Tancredo.