William Fisher: Where are the Christians?

[marmar]

Where Are the Christians?
By William Fisher
t r u t h o u t | Columnist

Wednesday 27 December 2006

It's not rocket science to understand why Republicans have gone into hibernation on the issue of Rep. Virgil Goode's outrageous rant against his fellow Congressman, Keith Ellison - the first Muslim ever elected to either legislative house - who wants to take his oath on the Quran.

After all, Goode is one of their own. He's from the same party that brought us George Allen's "Macaca Moment" and the flirtatious "Call Me" tagline from a cute white blonde in a campaign commercial in the recent senate race against black Rep. Harold Ford.

To refresh your memory, Goode is the congressman who wrote his constituents: "If American citizens don't wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration, there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Quran in his personal private ceremony."

Immigration? What has a single Muslim congressman got to do with immigration? Easy. If you've learned anything from Messrs. Bush and Cheney over the past six years, it's that conflating wildly unrelated issues can get people so spooked that it works. The president and the veep did it with Iraq and 9/11. Goode does it with an unofficial swearing-in and dark visions of illegals pouring across our borders. If we don't stop Rep. Ellison from taking his oath on a Quran, the numbers of illegal Muslim immigrants will become a tsunami.

Never mind that the real swearing-in is administered to new members of Congress en masse and without any holy book at all. The ceremony at which Ellison wants to use the Quran is a private, unofficial event for friends and family, a kind of memory-book photo-op. Also never mind that Muslim immigration into the US is miniscule and overwhelmingly legal. Unlike the 9/11 hijackers who were in the US legally on valid visas, most Muslim immigrants become citizens and many have been here for generations and more.

An extensive search suggests that only two Republicans have uttered a single word against this no-nothing attack. One of them is Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, who delivered a robust smackdown of this bigot on one of the Sunday morning talk shows. Graham asked why the newly-elected Minnesota lawmaker shouldn't be allowed to take his oath on a book he believes in.

The other is Sen. John Warner of Virginia, who offered the half-hearted comment that he respects the right of all members of Congress to freely "exercise the religion of their choice, including those of the Islamic faith utilizing the Quran." ....... (more)

The rest of the article is at: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/122706J.shtml

[EST]

1. Keith Ellison can trace his family's American lineage back to at

least 1742-probably a hell of a lot longer in this country than such jonny-come-lately bigots as Virgil no damn Goode!

The ascendence of these bigoted racists to positions of power in the republican party is very very bad for this country.

I hope this dingle balls has a short public life.