Dick Armey gave a speech at The National Press Club and had this to say about Tom Tancredo -- Armey Accuses ‘Destructive’ Tancredo Of ‘Alienating’ Hispanics.

Who in the Republican Party was the genius that said that now that we have identified the fastest-growing voting demographic in America, let’s go out and alienate them? [...]

The Republican Party is the most naturally talented party at losing its natural constituents in the history of the world. This party was born with the emancipation proclamation and can’t get a black vote to save its life. How do they do that? Well, the same thing with the Hispanics. [...]

When I was the majority leader, I saw to it that Tom Tancredo did not get on the stage because I saw how destructive he was.

As Think Progress noted:

Armey’s remarks have clearly made “nativist-extremist” groups that are trying to exploit the momentum of the tea party movement nervous. Americans for Legal Immigration (ALIPAC) quickly came to Tancredo’s defense and started urging its members to attack Armey’s immigration position. According to ALIPAC, Armey has been fighting to “keep the illegal immigration issue out of the Tea Party movement.” On an organizing conference call hosted by NumbersUSA, callers dismissed Armey as not being a “true tea party patriot,” but also sought tips on how to translate their anti-immigrant views to fit the tea party narrative.

I find Armey's statement pretty ironic given the amount of blatant racism we've seen the movement feeding off of to get their base riled up. As the ADL noted, the movement has some bigger problems than just Tancredo. White Supremacists May Attempt To Co-Opt July 4 "Tea Parties" To Promote A Hateful Agenda