Tom Tancredo needs a new expression. In the grinning photo on his website, his lips curve in a crescent shape that might be mistaken for a symbol of radical Islam.
No one must confuse Tancredo for a terrorist. So he should get a new mug shot. Preferably one with his foot stuffed in his mouth.
Colorado’s world-famous race-baiting congressman hit a new low Tuesday. Fresh from suggesting the U.S. bomb Mecca, Saudi Arabia, if terrorists mount a nuclear attack on America, Tancredo asked the federal government to change the design of a 9/11 memorial in Pennsylvania because its crescent shape suggested an Islamic symbol. The memorial will be built where United Flight 93 crashed. The plane went down after passengers overpowered terrorists trying to fly the hijacked jet supposedly into the White House.
“The appropriateness of the design has been questioned by many people because of the crescent’s prominent use as a symbol in Islam – and the fact that the hijackers were radical Islamists,” Tancredo wrote to the director of the National Park Service. “Indeed, it has raised questions in some circles about whether the design, if constructed, will in fact make the memorial a tribute to the hijackers … .
“I hope that you will reject this recommended design, and urge the committee to select a more appropriate design.”
As he questions the memorial’s flaws, Tancredo’s emergence as an architecture critic begs another question:
Will his latest inexplicably insensitive publicity stunt finally alienate voters in the suburban Denver Republican’s congressional district?
Tancredo did not return a call Tuesday.
But this time, Tancredo didn’t just stick it to the usual suspects – dark-skinned foreigners who speak a different language. He smeared the English-speaking white folks who are among the 40 passengers the memorial honors.
“I’m insulted by his comments,” said Dorothy Garcia, whose husband, Andy, died on Flight 93. She helped select the crescent-shaped design from among five finalists. “Everyone I have spoken to totally understands the memorial,” she said.
That includes U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.
“They all love the design,” Garcia said after hearing them speak glowingly of the Flight 93 memorial at a 9/11 service Sunday, the fourth anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
The design, said Los Angeles architect Paul Murdoch, sprang from the topography of the field where Flight 93 crashed. It has nothing to do with Islam.
“This was derived from the shape of the space,” said Murdoch, whose design was chosen from more than 1,000 submissions by two juries of professionals and families of the dead. “The field is called The Bowl. It’s circular in shape. We made a formal edge to The Bowl, cut by the flight path.”
The design, Murdoch continued, is meant to evoke arms embracing the victims in “an act of love and honor.”
Tancredo’s letter, on the other hand, panders to what so many of his comments do – hate and prejudice.
The congressman’s request makes as much sense as changing the nickname of New Orleans – known as the Crescent City – so it won’t be mistaken for a radical Islamist stronghold.
Interior Department spokesman Dan DuBray said Tuesday that his agency has not received Tom Terrific’s latest bombshell. DuBray said a federal advisory panel will make a recommendation about the Pennsylvania memorial’s design to Interior by Sept. 25.
After that, said DuBray, there will be a 45-day public-comment period.
Garcia has something to say right now to Tom Tancredo:
“I’m disappointed he feels that it’s his job to tell us family members what to choose as our memorial,” she said. “This design spoke perfectly to the memorial’s sentiment and its mission statement.”
That would be to remember patriots, not encourage bigots.
Jim Spencer’s column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He can be reached at 303-820-1771 or jspencer@denverpost.com.
