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In Defense Of Tancredo

The once famously nutty Republican, who has since been eclipsed many times over by even nuttier Republicans, has taken some heat for this:

This week, [Tom Tancredo] added more fuel to the fire when he said President Barack Obama is a bigger threat to the United States than al-Qaida or terrorism.

I think that's a crazy belief. But only crazy in the way that many Republican beliefs are crazy. If you believe that Obama is a threat to the country, then naturally he's a greater threat than terrorism. Terrorism just is not that serious of a threat to the United States right now. The long-term prospect that terrorists acquire a nuclear weapon is very, very serious. But in general the threats from airplane hijackings or the like are fairly minimal. Once you accept most Republican rhetoric about Obama at face value, Tancredo's conclusion flows naturally.