HOUSTON — Former Colorado representativeTom Tancredo fired up 600 Tea Party movement conventioneers in Nashville bylambasting “the cult of multiculturalism.”

He also called President Obama “asocialist ideologue” elected because of "people who could not even spellthe word 'vote' or say it in English.”

The six-term Colorado congressman who didnot stand for re-election after his also-ran campaign in the 2008 Republicanpresidential primaries is a one-note politician with simplistic, intemperatemeasures to regulate migration.

Until he said “people,” I had to wonderwhether Tancredo was talking about corporations and pandas. Ever since theSupreme Court majority declared that corporations have the same First Amendmentrights as “individuals” — which is who “people” are  — it’s somewhatconfusing.

I thought at first he was talking aboutthe real socialist encroachment, the freeloaders on our generosity, the oneswho don’t respect our borders or appreciate citizenship, but use our facilitiesand medical care.

Until “people” came up, Ithought Tancredo was talking about Tai Shan, the panda, who was deported Feb. 4and that band of pandas.

Before he was removed, thepanda was held in zoological detention in Washington, D.C. His parents, MeiXiang and Tian Tian, are Chinese communist pandas. Although Tai Shanwas born in the United States, Chinese authorities claim that all pandas areChinese.

The move is similar to theElián González caper, during the Clinton administration, when the child wassnatched by U.S. authorities from his U.S. family to be repatriate to his Cubanfather, and the boy became a member of a communist youth group.

As a harbinger of things tocome, in 2009 Tai Shan was presented with a  Chinese passport byAmbassador Zhou Wenzhong.

Some zoo circles interpretedthis as a strong-arm move against the Panda-American, who was born in theUnited States.

Arriving in Chengdu, China,on Feb. 5 after a 15-hour Fed Ex-crated flight, Sheng was greeted by a hundredwell-wishers. Automaker Sichuan announced it was privatizing Tai Shan by“adopting” him for life. He is to be housed in a bordello where he will tabledance as a sex slave at Wolong’s Bifengxia Panda Base. Sichuan will pay for thestud’s food, medical care and other expenses to the tune of about $90,000 ayear.

There has been no indicationthat China intends to compensate the U.S. public for the welfare support oftheir pandas for more than 10 years. The U.S. paid $10 million to China over tenyears for Shan’s parents.

The panda family clearly gotsocialist care in the United States and is getting free enterprise in China.And who got soaked for the bill?  The overburdened taxpayer, that’s who,including those who never saw Tai Shan at the Smithsonian National ZoologicalPark or received benefit of any cheap, off-the-books panda labor.

Although there is no reportof a panda ever voting in an election, it is possible to incorporate one as acompany and campaign for its “individual” rights under the Constitution so theyeventually get “people” rights, like you and me.

Sarah Palin, the formerRepublican vice presidential candidate who resigned as Alaska governor in themiddle of her term, was the only major conservative headliner in Nashville. Shecommended a $100,000 speaking fee at the “grassroots” $549 dinner event.Although heavy-hitting on her allusions to President Obama, she made noreference to pandas.

However, Palin said, “Americais ready for another revolution," adding “This movement is about people.”The reference to humans suggests she opposes the recent Supreme Court decisionthat makes corporations into “individuals” and the panda power challenge.

Stay tuned to find out howTea Party followers manage their contradictory ideals, like one expressed byPalin’s saying she wants “another revolution,” and Tancredo’s calling for a“counter-revolution” and how they all plan to take back the country fromencroaching Panda power.

[José de la Isla writes aweekly commentary for Hispanic Link News Service. His 2009 digital book,sponsored by The Ford Foundation, is available free atwww.DayNightLifeDeathHope.com. He is author of The Rise of Hispanic PoliticalPower (2003).  E-mail him at joseisla3@yahoo.com.]

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