This is from a speech Winter made this morning to a conservative group.
Be sure to read the comments. There is an exchange of comments between Winter and Barry Welsh who is running for the 6th district House seat in Indiana.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/8/28/113225/256It's my understanding that my opponent, Tom Tancredo spoke to you last week and that he tried to wrap up all the problems facing America today in one word--immigration.
Well I submit to you that Mr. Tancredo has lost touch with those of us who live and work down here at the regular American level. I submit to you that his eight years in Washington have gone to his head and he's no longer interested in representing us.
And I say that because he is clearly fixated on HIS issues and not on ours. I say that because he is clearly more interested in running for President or for the United States Senate than he is in representing us here in CD6.
And I will also say that I do not believe that Mr. Tancredo offers us any realistic solutions on the immigration issue and I don't believe the reasons he gives for his personal crusade.
With regard to solving the immigration issue I stand with the President, and with my former boss, Senator John McCain, in supporting the comprehensive immigration reform package passed by the United States Senate this year.
And I will say right now that Mr. Tancredo is simply not serious when he says his immigration crusade is about national security. Mr. Tancredo's crusade is not about national security, terrorism, or keeping America safe, and it's time we spoke honestly about that.
If Mr. Tancredo really cared about National Security, he would be talking about the Canadian border, where we have 3 thousand miles of border protected by one agent for every 300 miles, and where the majority of the 9/11 hijackers crossed into America. (NOTE: I am trying to contact his campaign to let him know that this is not true)
If Mr. Tancredo really cared about National Security, he would be talking about our ports, where 95% of all containers entering this country are still not searched.
If Mr. Tancredo really cared about National Security, he would be talking about our airports, where more than 50% of all commercial baggage checked onto airplanes is not screened at all, but where you and I can't take toothpaste or nail clippers on board!
If Mr. Tancredo really cared about National Security, he would be talking about a federal government that insists on spying on it's own citizens instead of doing the hard intelligence work that actually leads to breakthroughs.For those of you who don't know, the recent breakup of the terrorist plot by the British was NOT a result of wire taps and internal surveillance. It was the result of actual human beings on the ground in Muslim Countries infiltrating terrorist organizations.
The United States hardly does that kind of intelligence work anymore and we have to get it back. I want to know why we are more interested in wire tapping Americans than we are in infiltrating Al Quaeda.
And if Mr. Tancredo really cared about National Security, he would be talking about a military in the United States that is past the breaking point. According to the generals in charge of readiness in the regular and reserve Army, more than two thirds of our Army brigades are not certified combat ready right now, mostly due to massive shortages in manpower and equipment.
But we don't hear Mr. Tancredo talk about any of these things, do we? So I suggest to you that he isn't really interested in national security at all.
And to suggest, as Mr. Tancredo does, that every problem in America today is caused by illegal immigration defies reality.
We don't have an education problem in America because of illegal immigration. We have an education problem in America because Mr. Tancredo and the Washington bureaucrats are trying to tell us how to run our schools.
We have an education problem because Mr. Tancredo and this Congress keep cutting every single program that helps hard working Americans send their kids to college.
We don't have a health care problem because of illegal immigration. We have a health care problem because 44 million Americans can't get health care coverage and because our businesses can't compete with foreign companies that don't have to pay for health care.
And what about the Iraq War and national security?
What about the fact that we don't have enough water here for all the people who want to use it?
What about skyrocketing fuel prices?
What about the price of prescription medications and the absolute fiasco Mr. Tancredo and his friends in Congress gave us in Medicare Part D?
What about cut after cut to veteran's benefits, undermining the very people who sacrificed so much to defend our great nation?
These are all important issues that affect the lives of everyone here, but my opponent absolutely refuses to address them.
Take water as just one example.
One of Tom Tancredo's most critical failures in this district is his absolute failure to provide any leadership in this critical issue.
He has failed completely thus far, and will fail in the future, to secure federal funding for water in this District.
Most of the large projects (e.g. upsizing of Chatfield Reservoir, upsizing of Cherry Creek Reservoir, aspects of the Ruder-Hess Reservoir plan, etc.) that will provide the water we need to survive here will require some level of federal cooperation and funding.
Mr. Tancredo's failure to work with anyone to do this is simply inexcusable. Are you all ready to take a 20% to 25% hit on the price of your homes because Tom Tancredo cannot be bothered to do anything about our water problems?
And it's not a new problem either. We knew about this issue in Castle Pines North a long time ago as a result of the bankruptcy of our water district in 1992.
Folks, we pay federal taxes here just like everyone else. We are entitled to have some of that money spent here to make our lives better. That won't happen as long as Tom Tancredo is the Congressman from Congressional District 6.
We deserve better from our Congressman. We deserve leadership.
We deserve someone who will fight for us, who will bring jobs to the District for us, and who will make sure our tax dollars are spent here instead of continually being exported somewhere else.