Tancredo VS. Southern Poverty Law Center

John Hawkins debunks the "Tancredo=racist" story put out by SPLC here and here. Tancredo's office responds:

Rep. Tom Tancredo gave his standard immigration stump speech in South Carolina on Saturday. There were Confederate flags in the room, and he joined audience members in singing the Southern anthem Dixie.

But Tancredo's office on Tuesday vehemently denied that the gathering was "a hate-group event," as the anti-racism group Southern Poverty Law Center charged.

In an online article widely circulated on the Internet on Tuesday, law center officials cite an online invitation (www.sclos.org/news.htm) to the event by the South Carolina chapter of the League of the South.

But according to Tancredo's office, the Saturday gathering was organized and sponsored by Americans Have Had Enough Coalition, which backs Tancredo's anti-illegal immigration stand and traditional conservative causes. Tancredo's longtime aide, Jacque Ponder, is on its board.

. . .

Garland McCoy, president of Americans Have Had Enough Coalition, said the League of the South had nothing to do with the event.

"They're incorrect," McCoy said. "It was not their event. It was our event."

Whether Hawkin's debunking of the SPLC release indicates at best a misinterpretation of incorrect information from the League of the South claiming to be a sponsor or at worst a deliberate attempt by the SPLC to discredit Tancredo using the "racist" appellation--Tancredo deserves at least a retraction, if not an apology from the law center. The SPLC fights admirably against racist organizations and should not be distracted or fall into guilt-by-association attacks against Tancredo.