September 21, 2007
Another Gotcha Moment For Giuliani Camp
First, he didn't know how much a gallon of milk costs. Now, his homeland security adviser is being accused of disparaging Muslim Americans.
On Wednesday, the Politico reported that Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said in an interview, “We have, unfortunately... too many mosques in this country."
King later complained that his remarks were taken out of context. Politico has since posted video of the interview to let readers decide, and it appears that King may be right -- sort of.
The full quote is, "Unfortunately, we have a, uh, too many, uh, mosques in this country, there's too many people that are sympathetic to radical Islam, we should be looking at them more carefully, we should be finding out how we can infiltrate. We should be much more aggressive in law enforcement."
King insists he did not say there were too many mosques or too many Muslims in this country, period. Then again, he's said in the past that "80 to 85 percent" of American mosques are run by extremists. By that measure, he probably does believe there are too many mosques in this country.
Anecdotally, that's one crazy stat. Unlike Britain, France and a host of other European nations, we don't have clerics preaching anti-Western hatred in the streets or violent protests about cartoons in a newspaper. We haven't had so much as a synagogue bombing since 9/11, and Muslim Americans have signed up to serve in the military and help train troops for a war that's despised by their foreign counterparts. If a majority, or even a large minority, of American mosques were run by radicals, none of the above would be the case.
Criticism of the Muslim community's level of cooperation in rooting out extremists is a touchier subject. Even moderates have come to believe that Muslims aren't doing enough to de-radicalize their faith. But the Bush administration's with-us-or-against-us ethos doesn't allow for the reality that some American Muslims might be sympathetic to the cause of Islamic militants in foreign lands, if not their methods. Does that qualify as "radical preaching" in King's book? Probably.
King's platform on Muslims in America appears to resonate with his constituents, who handily voted him back into office last November despite an anti-GOP/incumbent tide. His remarks are being used against the presidential candidate he's working for, so the real question should be whether Giuliani shares King's views.
It doesn't seem so. In a profile in the New York Times magazine, the former New York City mayor said, "The other thing, I have to tell you, is that I have real knowledge of the other side of it, of the Arab-Muslim world that is peaceful, friendly, that is peaceful, that loves freedom as much as we do, that loves us and cares about us, that loves America, that exists in the Arab world and that exists in the Muslim world.”
In his campaign speeches, Giuliani talks enthusiastically about commerce and trade as the means to win hearts and minds in the Muslim world. This is not that different from what liberals mean when they say improving the lives of the often impoverished and oppressed Muslims in the Middle East, not brute force, is the only way to eradicate anti-Western sentiment there.
The Democratic National Committee is already jumping all over King's remarks and pressuring Giuliani to drop King from his campaign staff. The former mayor is laughing off the suggestion he dump a friend of 41 years. His rival, Mitt Romney, could learn a thing or two here. Does what Peter King has to say make Rudy Giuliani a bigot? Probably no more than the Larry Craig scandal made Mitt Romney gay.
Posted at 11:28 AM
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Campaigns, Mitt Romney, Republicans, Rudy Giuliani, WH 2008
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