Just to follow up on an item from yesterday, Rep. Virgil Goode’s (R-Va.) ridiculous anti-Muslim comments have gone from a local story, to a bloggers’ story, to a national story quite quickly. As of this morning, several major news outlets have stories on Goode, including the Washington Post, the AP, and the New York Times. Not bad.
If you’re just joining us, Goode, responding to constituent concerns sparked by right-wing blowhard Dennis Prager, explained in written correspondence that Americans need to “wake up” and pass sweeping immigration reform to prevent Muslims from entering the country. Goode went on to explain his “fear” of a growing Muslim population, which should be curtailed to “preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America.” Though Goode did not attack Rep.-elect Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) by name, he did refer to “the Muslim Representative from Minnesota,” who will use the Koran in his ceremonial swearing-in ceremony.
Linwood Duncan, a spokesman for Goode, told the NYT that the Virginia lawmaker had no intention of backing down, despite the furor. “He stands by the letter,” Duncan said. “He has no intention of apologizing.”
Nancy Pelosi’s office called Goode’s letter “offensive”; the Council on American-Islamic Relations criticized Goode’s “message of intolerance”; and Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), who represents a large Muslim community in New Jersey, urged Goode to reach out to Muslims in Virginia and learn “to dispel misconceptions instead of promoting them.”
But what about Ellison? If I were in his shoes, I might be tempted to say something intemperate, condemning Goode’s bigoted criticism. To his credit, Ellison took the high road.
“I’m not a religious scholar, I’m a politician, and I do what politicians do, which is hopefully pass legislation to help the nation,” said Mr. Ellison, who said he planned to focus on secular issues like increasing the federal minimum wage and getting health insurance for the uninsured.
“I’m looking forward to making friends with Representative Goode, or at least getting to know him,” Mr. Ellison said, speaking by telephone from Minneapolis. “I want to let him know that there’s nothing to fear. The fact that there are many different faiths, many different colors and many different cultures in America is a great strength.”
Nicely done. Goode’s the hateful nutjob; Ellison’s the reasonable consensus-builder who’s willing to reach out to his critics in the spirit of friendship.
Bill Scher, meanwhile, raised a good point about Goode undermining American foreign policy with his unrestrained ignorance.
To win the “ideological war” that President Bush speaks of, we need to win the hearts and minds of the Arab/Muslim world, by strengthening Muslim moderates and marginalizing extremists.
But when our political leaders attack the entire Muslim religion, they strengthen the jihadist movement and weaken America.
Our own intelligence community has reported that “fear of Western domination” in the Arab/Muslim world fuels “the spread of the jihadist movement.”
The reverberations of a single congressman disparaging the leading faith of the Gulf region can feed that dangerous fear and fuel that deadly spread.
To be sure, I suspect it’s unlikely that violent extremists in the Middle East will lash out in response to a single stupid letter from an obscure right-wing lawmaker, but it’s certainly doesn’t help to have an ally of the president spewing such nonsense.