Time Selects Question for Tom Tancredo: 'Why Do You Hate Mexicans?'

It's been eight weeks since Time magazine redesigned itself, and part of that refurbishment is handing over the "Ten Questions" interview inquiries to the readers instead of Time's reporters. In the June 11 edition, Time's interviewee was Rep. Tom Tancredo, a presidential contender and one of the nation's leading opponents of illegal immigration. Among the questions Time selected for Tancredo was a whopper from Ubaldo Padilla of Oroville, California: "Why do you hate Mexicans?" It wasn't the only snotty question Time picked. There was also James Smith of Phoenix, who asked: "I recently found out my family came from Holland without permission in the 1600s. Should we be sent back?"

Since Time Managing Editor Richard Stengel introduced the new format in the March 26 edition, there haven't been any Democrats interviewed. But in the March 12 edition, Time's Massimo Calabresi had ten (mostly softball) questions for Ted Kennedy, one of the nation's leading advocates of an amnesty for illegal immigrants. No one at Time asked him about immigration and why he supposedly hated Americans. Instead, Calabresi's list of questions included these soft touches:

-- Are you the only Senator to keep dogs in your offices?

-- Democrats have the country with them against the war in Iraq but aren't acting to end it. Why?

-- Do you intend to endorse one of the Democrats running for President?

-- It's easy to pick up a newspaper and see some comparison between your brothers and Barack Obama. Is there any validity to that comparison?

-- You know Mitt Romney pretty well.

-- Your long-sought minimum-wage bill is stuck in conference, thanks to a debate on the size of small-business tax breaks. What's going on?

-- Some on the left wing of the Democratic Party would like to see No Child Left Behind done away with. Are you going to deliver reauthorization this year?

-- You just celebrated your 75th birthday. Or rather the celebrations are ongoing.

-- You had a costume party. Who did you go as?

Since the 2006 midterm elections, Time's also offered Ten Questions to a pile of liberals: Al Gore, Rep. Charlie Rangel, newly elected Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, and Gore Vidal. None of them were painted as bigots by Time's selected staff interviewers.