Tancredo wouldn't change anything about past Agile investments

February 4, 9:46 AMDenver City Buzz ExaminerRichard Blake

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In an interview for Channel 7 concerning his and KOA talk show Mike Rosen's losses to the Agile Group (his loss may have been as high as $1.1 million), former Congressman, former Presidential candidate and now head of his own conservative think tank, Tom Tancredo, stated that if he knew now what he knows he still wouldn't have done anything differently concerning his investment in the Agile Group.  My first reaction was not to believe what I had just heard. 

Then I decided to reason out, if possible, the possibilities for Tancredo's amazing statement.  The first and most obvious was that he was a complete idiot.  Only a complete idiot would lose up to a million dollars and then state he would do it all over again.  I decided that it was probably unlikely given his exalted positions but then again individuals have risen to exalted positions who at least seemed to have had mental deficiencies, as recent history has demonstrated. 

The second is that Tancredo talks before completely thinking things out.  That was certainly a distinct possibility but I believe if I had lost a million dollars I would have thought about it a bit before giving a statement to the media. 

The third was that Tancredo was more invested in his philosophy of unrestricted laissez-faire to say, "oops."  This idea gained traction when he further stated that he didn't feel that the Agile Group meltdown or even the Madoff scandal suggested that there ought to be further securities regulation.  Again an incredible concept to put your head around and suggestive of a logic that some of my former girlfriends might find compelling. 

The fourth is that Tancredo was lying, but it was not in any way apparent what lying in this case might achieve.  If he was lying, it was only to himself. 

Another source of humor was to be had from the joint statements of Rosen and Tancredo to the affect that they were not seeking sympathy and did not want anyone taking up a collection for them.  That was a relief.  Maybe the Red Cross will be able to meet their fundraising goals this year. 

Unanswered questions abounded, however.  One of the most obvious was to what extent Rosen's losses came from in-kind contributions to the fund as payment for his commercial endorsements of the fund.  And it would be interesting to know if Rush Limbaugh and some of the nationally syndicated conservative talk show hosts had invested with Madoff linked firms as well.