Sen. Sam Brownback got the ball rolling last week when he started running “robocalls” in Iowa questioning the pro-life credentials of Rep. Tom Tancredo and Gov. Mitt Romney. Tancredo was especially outraged that Brownback was targeting his campaign for accepting money from population-control zealot John Tanton, whose views the Brownback campaign characterized as “racist:”
“Conservatives and liberals alike have abandoned Tanton once they learn about his bizarre obsession with population control.”
The Eagle Forum’s Phyllis Schlafly has now come to Tancredo’s defense and has recorded her own calls targeting Iowa voters:
“I want to go on record as saying I’ve known Tom Tancredo for 30 years and I know for sure he has always been a champion of the right to life of the unborn.”
Both Tancredo and Romney have called on Brownback to apologize and pull the calls, which he refuses to do.
For his part, Tancredo has not been content merely to defend himself and his own record. He had unleashed his own ads attacking most of his opponents – ads which are themselves drawing complaints from other candidates:
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on Thursday called on rival Tom Tancredo to stop airing a “blatantly dishonest” campaign ad in Iowa that accuses Huckabee of favoring amnesty for illegal immigrants.
Huckabee said Tancredo either did sloppy research or deliberately mischaracterized Huckabee’s position.
“When people engage in a completely false attack, it’s usually an act of desperation. To me, it’s a badge of honor because he sees that we are reaching the people we are trying to reach,” Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, told The Associated Press.
Tancredo campaign spokeswoman Bay Buchanan said the ad would not be pulled and insisted it was accurate. She said Huckabee supported a plan by Bush that would have allowed illegal immigrants to earn the right to stay in the United States, and that Huckabee refused to sign a pledge opposing amnesty.
“All indications are that Huckabee supports amnesty. He’s a pro-amnesty politician who is in denial. There are a lot of pro-amnesty politicians in denial,” she said.
The radio ad calls Mitt Romney a flip-flopper on abortion, amnesty and gun control, then attacks Sam Brownback, Fred Thompson and Huckabee, claiming “they’re all for amnesty.”
