Outrage Of The Day

The Democratic National Committee uses my favorite outrage-y buzzwords -- "immediately denounce" -- in conjunction with something Tom Tancredo said about the Pope. Fair enough. Tancredo accused the Pope of fostering a welcome environment for immigrants because of an interest in "recruiting new members." Very provocative words, certainly, and it doesn't take a Catholic to find them offensive. Somehow, this is John McCain's fault -- or it becomes his responsibility, because the person the DNC has asked to denounce Tancredo's "insulting remarks" is John McCain. Guilt by association arguments and denounce-by-association outrageousness only works when they're a genuine and relevant connection between two people. Tancredo dislikes McCain; McCain dislikes Tancredo. The DNC contends that since Tancredo endorsed McCain and said that McCain had come around on immigration, McCain is therefore responsible for Tancredo's comments vis-a-vis immigration. The full DNC press release is after the jump.

From the DNC

WASHINGTON - As John McCain attends the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington today, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean called on the Republican nominee to denounce insulting comments made by one of his campaign surrogates, Rep. Tom Tancredo. Tancredo issued a press release yesterday attacking the "Pope's comments regarding U.S. immigration policy" and accusing his position of stemming from an interest in "recruiting new members." Dean issued the following statement:

"If John McCain is serious in his pledge to run a respectful campaign, he should immediately denounce Tom Tancredo's insulting remarks about Pope Benedict XVI.

"After years of failing to address immigration reform, the Republican party has instead used the issue to scapegoat people to win elections. If McCain believes, as he has said, that 'these are God's children,' he should not stand by silently as Tancredo or anyone else in the Republican Party continues using immigrants as scapegoats or playing politics with immigration legislation."

"The American people don't want four more years of a President who will callously use issues to divide us rather than working to unite us."