Why hasn't the Democratic leadership denounced King's anti-Muslim remarks?

When Jim Moran (D-VA) made anti-Semitic remarks, top Democrats correctly denounced him. When Peter King--a Republican congressman--recently made anti-Muslim remarks, which he reiterated tonight on O'Reilly, the Democratic leadership has been as silent as Republicans.

Democrats were expected to win the vote of Muslims in 2004 as the party of tolerance but this incident reveals the sad fact that both parties have essentially the same stance toward American Muslims. In fact, one could argue that the Republicans are slightly more pro-US Muslim since they actually made an effort to reach out to Muslims in 2000. This silence may cost us a swing vote in an election where every vote will count.

I am not a Muslim but I am perceived as such due to my ethnicity. I am currently an American (I have the Canadian flag avatar for other reasons). However, this incident has caused me to see the writing on the wall: America simply does not want Muslims as part of the country. If King's bigoted comment had been made toward any other group you would have seen leader's repudiate it. Perhaps I will be seeing the Maple Leaf flying in the breeze soon...

eom

In other words, he was calling the vast majority of US Muslims a fifth column that supports Al-Qaeda. He based that on one imam's unsubstantiated statement a few years ago before Congress that 80% of mosques are controlled by extremists.

I'm so sick of 76.934% of politicians citing stats that studys show are untrue 94.7 percent of the time and made up 87.3 percent of the time!

:)

That imam didn't provide any information to support his claim. Steven Emerson has made similar claims but he used that imam as his source. Daniel Pipes also has but I'm not sure what source he uses. I think he is using the putative % of mosques getting funding from Saudi Arabia for that. Mosques do seek $$$$ for Saudi Arabia but most of them are moderate just trying to take advantage of a source of cash that is available.

http://www.democrats.org/news/200402120002.html

Washington, D.C. — Today the Democratic National Committee (DNC) called on President Bush and Republican leaders to repudiate remarks made Tuesday by Rep. Peter King (R-NY) accusing American Muslims of "extremist leadership," and saying that most American Muslims are unwilling to cooperate with law enforcement officials on homeland security matters. Rep. King made these comments in an interview on a nationally-syndicated radio program where he was promoting his new novel. King said his book is about future terrorist attacks by "Muslim extremists" in New York, and that the content is "half truth and half fiction."

"In the past, President Bush has told Muslim Americans that his administration does not condone bigotry," said DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe. "Muslim Americans are teachers, lawyers, doctors, business owners who have made invaluable contributions to our country. President Bush has said 'those who feel they can intimidate our fellow citizens and take out their anger… represent the worst of humankind.' That's why I am calling on President Bush and the Republican leadership to condemn this latest example of hate-filled language.

"Peter King is using bigotry to make a buck, plain and simple," said DNC member Jim Zogby. "He does so showing no concern for the impact his remarks have on millions of decent, patriotic Arab and Muslim Americans. While in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 the President urged Americans not to strike out against their Arab and Muslim neighbors; too many members and supporters of his own Administration have undercut that message using anti-Muslim and anti-Arab rhetoric to create fear and suspicion."

"By failing to condemn and demand apologies from John Ashcroft, General Boykin, Pat Robertson and Franklin Graham for their bigoted remarks, President Bush has undercut his own message and created a situation where some in his party now feel they have a presidential green light to spread a message of hate," said Zogby who also heads the National Democratic Ethnic Coordinating Committee. "One person could put a stop to all of this, and we call on President Bush to do the right thing and condemn those in his administration, in his party and those among his supporters who continue to spew anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bigotry."

But where are Kerry, Pelosi, Daschle, et al.?

Right? You have to be.

?

There are more voters who agree with King, and are either indifferent to or don't have a problem with bush's policies but don't like bush than there are Muslim voters.

If he gets put on the spot, I have no doubt he will say something similar to the Democratic party's statement, but I would not expect him to go out of his way.

And the message is clear: America does not want Muslims. The number of Muslims and Jews in America is similar. The number of perceived Muslims and Muslims exceeds the number of Jews in America. Moran was denounced because mainstream America considers Jews to be part of their country.

In fact, it appears that Americans just can't get enough of em

with Rep. King. It was very courageous of the DNC to criticize King's remarks, but understandable that there has been so little media juice spilled on it.

DU is, as you probably know, far from the mainstream, where King's remarks have sparked little outrage.

The Dems need the mainstream a lot more than they need the voting fraction of any given ethnic group, making their issuance of a statement doubly commendable.

You are right about the mainstream but I don't believe the Democratic response has been adequate. Muslims should be accorded the same respect other groups are accorded. This is a shame but at least I have finally realized the truth about tolerance in America.

CONTACT the Republican National Committee to ask that they repudiate King's remarks. CONTACT: Mr. Ed Gillespie, Chairman, Republican National Committee, 310 First Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003 TEL: 202-863-8700 FAX: 202-863-8774 E-MAIL: Chairman@gop.com, RNCommunications@gop.com

CONTACT: President George W. Bush, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500 COMMENT LINE: 202-456-1111 E-MAIL: president@whitehouse.gov

tonight as well and just as disgusting.

Did he allow someone who disagreed with King to speak? O'Reilly seemed to be sympathetic to King's viewpoint and did not allow a person with a contrary view to speak.

why do they keep electing that idiot?

Is it an affluent district?

but it still voted for Gore by a pretty wide margin.

Or has it changed recently? If so, they probably vote for him out of habit like many Southerners who voted for local Democrats in the 1970's and 1980's while voting Republican in presidential elections.

:kick: