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"Tancredo" has soared to near the top of the search terms at Technorati.com, a search engine for blogs. Early this afternoon, it ranked just one notch below "Karl Rove" and one above "Harry Potter."

The reason: Rep. Tom Tancredo suggested that a terrorist nuclear attack in the United States could prompt a retaliatory bombing on Mecca or other Islamic holy sites. Bloggers of all stripes have gone ballistic on Tancredo ever since, launching a rapid series of verbal missiles at the Colorado Republican, and conservatives are among his harshest critics.

Hugh Hewitt is among the bloggers on the front lines (see posts here and here), and he reminded readers of the recent outrage over comments by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. "Every media voice that was raised against Dick Durbin's asinine comparison of Gitmo practices to those of Nazis and Pol Pot should speak with equal pointedness against Tancredo's speculation."

The conservative Captain's Quarters also roundly condemned Tancredo's suggestion. "The GOP needs to remind Tancredo of the wisdom of silence in some issues," Ed Morrissey wrote.

As with Durbin, Tancredo has defenders in the blogosphere. "We need tough talk and tough action on global terrorism, and what Tancredo said was actually mild in comparison to what Islamofascists have in mind for us," said La Shawn Barber. And Lump on a Blog wrote: "Any nuclear attack against this country by terrorists will lead to one of two conclusions: The destruction of our civilization or the destruction of theirs. Take your pick. There will be no in-between."

While Michelle Malkin said her "friend" Tancredo should retract his statement quickly (he declined to do so), she also challenged Hewitt's view that "Tancredo's words were 'the most irresponsible' opinions expressed by any American official." She linked to her own picks for that category.

Ironically, Tancredo last week blasted Chinese Major General Zhu Chenghu for threatening a nuclear attack against the United States if the United States took certain actions first. "For a senior government official to exhibit such tremendous stupidity by making such a brazen threat is hardly characteristic of a modern nation -- particularly one planning to host the Olympic Games," Tancredo said in a press release.

Tancredo is a blogger himself, but he has not yet addressed the issue at his blog. In fact, the blog has not been updated in more than three months. Now might be a good time.

Posted by dglover at July 19, 2005 01:24 PM

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» Tom Tancredo Refuses to Apologize from La Shawn Barber's Corner
Good! Congressman Tom Tancredo, the only true conservative in Congress and the only politician on Capitol Hill who takes a hard line against illegal aliens, said that if Islamofascists upgraded to nuclear attacks, we could threaten to bomb Muslim ho... [Read More]

Tracked on July 19, 2005 01:33 PM

» Tancredo Fouls The Water (Updated) from Captain's Quarters
We have enough problems fighting the war on terror in the measured, strategic method used by the Bush and Blair administrations without Republican Congressmen recommending the bombing of sites held sacred by Muslims across the political spectrum. Yet t... [Read More]

Tracked on July 19, 2005 03:18 PM

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