And it’s about time too.  Via Brown Man Thinking Hard:

August 17, 2010

Dear Republican Colleague:

We are writing to you today as loyal Americans who are active members of the Republican Party. We also happen to be proud of our Arab American and Muslim American contributions to the Republican Party.

We are deeply concerned by the rhetoric of some leading members of our party surrounding the construction of the Muslim Community Center in downtown Manhattan. These comments are not only constitutionally unsound, they are also alienating millions of Arab American and Muslim American voters who believe, as we do, in the principles of our party – individual liberty, traditional values, and the rule of law.

As you know, our party has had a long history of inclusion – beginning with our great President Abraham Lincoln, whose leadership on the slavery issue was monumental, and continuing through President George W. Bush whose public statements and actions on the differentiation between Islam and the terrorists who attacked us on 9-11 were critically important. We are particularly proud to note that President Bush appointed more Arab Americans and Muslim Americans to his administration than any other president in U.S. history.

That being said, it perplexes us as to why some vocal members of our party have chosen to oppose the construction of a cultural and religious center on private grounds. Not only does the First Amendment to our Constitution protect the right of these private citizens to worship freely, it also prevents Congress from making any law respecting an establishment of religion. Our party and the leaders in our party should not be engaged in judgment issues of the location of a cultural center and a house of worship in direct contravention of the First Amendment.

While some in our party have recently conceded the constitutional argument, they are now arguing that it is insensitive, intolerant and

American Muslims free to practice their faith.

unacceptable to locate the center at the present location: “Just because they have the right to do so – does not make it the right thing to do” they say. Many of these individuals are objecting to the location as being too close to the Ground Zero site and voicing the understandable pain and anguish of the 9-11 families who lost loved ones in this horrible tragedy. In expressing compassion and understanding for these families, we are asking ourselves the following: if two blocks is too close, is four blocks acceptable? or six blocks? or eight blocks? Does our party believe that one can only practice his/her religion in certain places within defined boundaries and away from the disapproving glances of some citizens? Should our party not be standing up and taking a leadership role- just like President Bush did after 9-11 – by making a clear distinction between Islam, one of the great three monotheistic faiths along with Judaism and Christianity, versus the terrorists who committed the atrocities on 9-11 and who are not only the true enemies of America but of Islam as well? President Bush struck the right balance in expressing sympathy for the families of the 9-11 victims while making it absolutely clear that the acts committed on 9-11 were not in the name of Islam. We are hoping that our party leaders can do the same now – especially at a time when it is greatly needed.

While we share the desire of all in our party to be successful in the November elections, we cannot support victory at the expense of the U.S. Constitution or the Arab and Muslim community in America. As President Lincoln so eloquently stated in his famous speech: “a house divided against itself cannot stand.”

As proud and patriotic Americans, we are grateful for all the rights our U.S. citizenship allows us, and we will always do our best to not only protect our rights but the rights of all others as well. May God Bless our nation, our freedoms, and our party.

David Ramadan
Vice Chair, Ethnic Coalitions, Republican Party of Virginia

Sherine El-Abd
President, New Jersey Federation of Republican Women

Randa Fahmy Hudome
Associate Deputy Secretary of Energy, Bush Administration

George Salem
Solicitor of Labor, Reagan Administration

Suhail Khan

Chairman, Conservative Inclusion Coalition.

The ball’s in your court Newt, Sarah, et al.  Are you still zealous defenders of the Constitution, or are you hypocrites?

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Are Americans this fucking stupid?  Is this the type intelligent discourse they crave?  Why do some of us presume to be more enlightened than others?  Clearly we are not, judging by this idiot’s disrespectful banter.  [editor's note:  I have broken my unbreakable vow not to comment or post anything about the messiah Glenn Beck.  I feel so cheap.]

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Take a look at this list– compiled by conservative blogger John Hawkins– of the 25 worst figures in American history:

Conservatives have the right to say dumb things; It's the American way.

• 23) Saul Alinsky
• 23) Bill Clinton
• 23) Hillary Clinton
• 19) Michael Moore
• 19) George Soros (8)
• 19) Alger Hiss (8)
• 19) Al Sharpton (8)
• 13) Al Gore (9)
• 13) Noam Chomsky (9)
• 13) Richard Nixon (9)
• 13) Jane Fonda (9)
• 13) Harry Reid (9)
• 13) Nancy Pelosi (9)
• 11) John Wilkes Booth (10)
• 11) Margaret Sanger (10)
• 9) Aldrich Ames (11)
• 9) Timothy McVeigh (11)
• 7) Ted Kennedy (14)
• 7) Lyndon Johnson (14)
• 5) Benedict Arnold (17)
• 5) Woodrow Wilson (17)
• 4) The Rosenbergs (19)
• 3) Franklin Delano Roosevelt (21)
• 2) Barack Obama (23)
• 1) Jimmy Carter (25)

What type of psychosis is today’s conservative party suffering from? Putting FDR on this list with the Rosenbergs is an absolute disgrace–and utterly devoid of any grasp of American political realities.  Today’s conservatives seem to suffer from paralysis by unsubstantiated analysis– an amazing lack of understanding of how American events shaped the leaders who guided us through them.

FDR–no matter how you felt about his policies–steered us through one of the darkest chapters in American history.  Indisputable.  The Rosenbergs were spies.  Comparison fail.  Letting your hatred of anything left of center clouds rational thought.

Bill Clinton and Tim McVeigh?  A president who presided over a prosperous era, and who signed welfare reform–a conservative pet project– and a vile mass murderer?  Why Barack Obama and no Jim Jones?  Jim Jones, the notorious cult leader and mass murderer didn’t make this list huh?  Wow.

I don’t have issues with conservatives making lists–even lists I might disagree with on substantive grounds.  But to mix political ideologies that you don’t like with some of the most deviant Americans, who committed some of the most heinous atrocities imaginable, borders on lunacy.   It doesn’t serve your aims particularly well, and it short-circuits your argument on cogent discourse.  In short, you look like a fucking moron who’s never read a book nor looked at anything through an objective lens.  Your opinion matters not.

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The Drudge Report Slings mud and shame.

So, what does this front page picture on Drudge Report tell you?  What do you think it means?  Conservatives seem hell-bent on devolving this WTC mosque issue into gutter politics– a place most are accustomed to working from–for reasons I cannot imagine.

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Glenn Beck, courtesy of Thunderpigblog.blogspot.com

It’s remarkable that people who invoke the Founders so regularly and in such tones of devotion could be utterly deaf to the Founders’ concern to ensure freedom for mistrusted minority religions. They might start by reading George Washington’s once-famous letter to the Newport synagogue, paying special attention to this sentence: “It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent national gifts.” In Washington’s understanding, it is misbegotten even to ask the question, “Should we tolerate this?” …

A little background first:  Settlers to this wondrous new land arrived at her shores teeming with possibilities, and brimming with hope of a new life–without the scourge of religious persecution.  Early settlers, or pilgrims, were Protestant Christians who fled England because of the monarchy–and religious indifference.   They landed in search of freedom, and the right to practice their faith indiscriminately.  In the 21st century, America conservatism has effectively vilified religious and cultural difference–offering its own brand of religious persecution.

Above all else, we are a nation predicated on the freedom of religious expression.  We are allowed to practice our faith in this country–whatever that faith may be–so long as it does not violate any laws.  It was because of Protestant migration freedom of religion was included in the constitution.  The very document conservatives seem to rise and sleep with.

How do conservative Christians reconcile their ignorance with their faith here?  Surely tolerance and love– and a clear fundamental understanding of this nation’s founding document might elucidate matters more effectively.  What’s taking place now in conversations and debates on this matter far outstrips logic and reasonable disagreeance.  There is a poison strain of conservatism–more modern yet wholly archaic in its application–that seeks to engage in fear baiting, and presupposes an unnatural level of culturally superiority.  It has nothing to do with real Christianity.   How Christian is it to deny those of other faiths a place to worship and fellowship with their fellow man?  How does their God give them the power to ridicule and spit and curse those who simply need and want the space to be one with their higher source?

A funny dynamic is at play here.  Most conservatives consider black Americans blithe victims of identity politics–both by their own hand–and by the hands of their liberal benefactors.  Conservatives have no desire to fruitfully discuss matters of race–at least those matters that deal with suspected white oppression and discrimination.

It’s always assumed that blacks, for the most part, hide behind their race in order to avoid perceived real issues affecting black communities.  If that is the case, how much different is this new style conservatism Gingrich, Palin, et al. are advocating?  This fear mongering is just another example of identity politics, where conservatives feel America is under assault by undesirables whose patriotic cred pales next to their own.  How often have we heard the take America back mantra?  Too often.  How long is the exploitation of culture issues going to be accepted?  Why is it tolerable to demonize minority culture and religion and not mainstream society– where most malfeasance is not only practiced, but encouraged?

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…Yet the country passed the old white/black divide years ago. We are a racially diverse society of Asians, blacks, Hispanics, whites, and mixtures of all that and more. In a world of conservative Cubans and liberal whites, race is no longer necessarily a guide to politics…

America has largely moved beyond race. Tragically, our president and a host of his supportive special interests have not.

Since Barack Hussein Obama’s been in the national spotlight, American conservatives have levied a barrage of verbal assaults at him, calling him everything from a welfare thug,  to a Muslim, to a racist–who not only has a deep-seated hatred for white people and white culture–but whose policies favor the black person. He’s been referred to as uppity by a GOP congressman, and called a boy.  Obama has been caricatured as a witch doctor, and surrounded by fried chicken and watermelon on food stamps created by a California republican group.  Michelle Obama has been referred to as a monkey by a South Carolina conservative activist.  At campaign events during the presidential election of 2008, Obama was frequently mocked as a monkey, and openly castigated for his race.

A closer look is in order here.  There exists a virulent strain of racism in every segment, every industry, every pillar of American life.  Following this logic, one cannot doubt that inside this Tea Party movement–which is just a cleverly disguised republican party clique–lies a strand of racism.

Andrew Breitbart– while quick in his attempt to expose the racists embedded in the NAACP– failed to recognize the possibility that the TPM hides bigots.  You cannot say progressives harbor racists while denying conservatives do–and vice versa.  The most damaging thought here is the irrelevance some on the right see in terms of their own racial animus.  Let’s deny every filthy incident we’ve ever subjected President Obama to, because we did not do it out of racial intolerance.  It’s an effort that is part of  a new coda,  where some conservatives are proclaiming blacks themselves suffer from racism toward whites–an inverted racism as Ta-nehisi Coates suggests.  The harm it causes is significant.

Obviously no one wants to be branded a racist.  So in an effort to confront racist behavior, conservatives have created a new strain of racism that codifies blacks, but excludes them.  It seeks to root out black bigots to tamp down the appearance of their own racists.  How else to justify Tea Party bigotry and some of their own bigoted malfeasance?

The civil rights movement succeeded in part by shaming some white folks into changing their behavior, and condemning race-based atrocities.  By shaming blacks into denying racism and its instances, white conservatives have effectively doubled down on their inversion strategy.  Proving black racism– despite evidence to the contrary in most cases– lends credence to it.  Even if  Barack Obama had not one shred of evidence pointing to any bigoted incidents in his past– any gesture or statement remotely considered to be controversial by him,  is enough to condemn him– and reaffirm his black racism.  It is now paranoia and deniability that shapes the narrative on their part.  Racial polarization in political discourse has subverted partisan politics, and its consequences will be significant.

These issues are indicative of one thing:  America has not moved beyond race, as Victor Hanson put it.  Not even close.  A good portion of Americans are uncomfortable with black people, and the election of a black man has seemingly lifted the lid on that bubbling cauldron.

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Hello again Rush: I wanted to finish my thoughts about your words last week regarding my hatred for the white race.  As I said earlier, you’ve managed to figure out my diabolical plans.  Of course I was being facetious in my approach last week.  Now, it’s time to get real.

Being called a racist by you is most curious.  After all, your track record on race relations and reconciliation is non-paralleled.  I don’t ever recall you making any inflammatory or derogatory statements about race and race relations(withering sarcastic snicker).  Let’s talk about reality here Rush. I must reject your charge of racism, simply because you resemble that remark more than I.  In fact, you have done more in your time on air to reflect that moniker, than I ever could in this office.

I’ve always thought my political opponents held no personal animus toward me–racial or otherwise.  I feel they have genuine differences of opinion with me on policies and legislation. Not you.  You use reverse victimization– coded language to make the offended the offender.  And you use it to demonize my administration and me.  It’s much easier today to say Blacks rely solely on government assistance– and the work of the white working class–than to call them niggers.  It’s less offensive and more socially acceptable.  You’ve managed to carve out a niche as the clown prince of reverse victimization–supercharging white fright at the expense of racial harmony.  I’m sure you don’t mean to offend.  I’m sure it’s all a part of your all-exclusive, capitalist credo.  It encompasses who you are as a radio shock jock.

But I am the President of the United States– and I must administer a reminder about precisely who I am– and what you are dealing with.  To that end, I say it’s time to relinquish your grasp as the virulent conscious of the white American male.  Open your eyes and embrace truth, not fiction.  Deal with absolutes, not fairy tales.  Stop peddling false narratives about race and racism.  My America doesn’t include black kids beating up white kids with impunity.  My America doesn’t equate health care reform with reparations.  Deal with your personal racial animus the only way you can; away from the microphone, and into a mirror.  Because it’s clear you do not understand me, or the subject of race.

Your willingness to engage in script-flipping– casting the victim as the victimizer– is directly attributable to the dearth of real, fruitful debate on race relations in our country.  You ascribe the militancy and ignorance of the Black Panther Party onto me–as If I will pick up a club to threaten and harass white folks like some common thug.  You assume since I’m black, I am soft on black racism, and I’ll tolerate calls for the slaughter of white children.  It is insidiously harmful, offensive, and vile.  Have you any idea of the madness you spread by perpetuating these distortions?

I’ll finish with this Rush.  One of my favorite writers recently shut down his open thread posts, due to the some of its more “colorful” commentators.  The debate degenerated to the point where he had to close his most popular blog segment.  Why?  Because people–I’m sure on both sides of the political spectrum–began writing into the margins–shouting lewdly, wildly, and inaccurately– in order to be proven right in their argument.  This is your brand of communication Rush, not mine.  I’ll have no part of it, and neither should any American who prizes cohesion as one of our unifying principles.  The promise and demands of true leadership calls for no less.

Take care Rush.  I carry no ill will toward you.  I hope that you will reflect upon the words you use, and how your audience responds to them.  Think about the ignorance of the claims you make against me in the name of dissent.  Is it worth ginning up a mob mentality?  I hope in reflection, you grow to understand the burdens of leadership, and the cost of demagoguery.  May God bless you, and the United States of America.

Barack H. Obama

44th President of the United States

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Dear Rush:

First let me say that I admire your dogmatic approach to defending the lies, half-truths, and other space age theories of your fellow conservatives.  You are to be commended on your willingness to get down in the muck and the mud– and sling it far and wide hoping it tags someone.  It usually does.  Wonderful tactic.  And when you couple that with an absolute lack of knowledge about anything, you’ve got a winning combination.  It’s no wonder folks at the EIV pay you the big bucks.  See Rush, only in America could a dullard with a God complex become successful.  But let me stay on task here.

I’d like to  address your recent comments about me, and this nightmarish recession all Americans dealing with.  Your claim about me causing this terrible calamity to punish white people is correct.   And now that you’ve finally figured out my masterstroke, I’d like to try and explain what my thinking is.

I don’t like white people.  Yes.  I can freely admit that to you now.  You have figured out my secret.  Yes I know I am half white, but nothing good has ever come from my white half– therefore I am compelled to reject it and all the deviousness that comes from it.  You say black people were oppressed for centuries, and I am here to right those evil wrongs.  I humbly submit to you that your assertion is totally rooted in truth.  I am the president Rush.  Me.  A black man.  Do you know what it feels like to tell a white man to fetch me an apple?  Or a delicious double cheese from Hell Burger? Oh the irony is rich my friend.

Everyday I drink it in, as Michelle and I throw darts at a nude David Axelrod.  White comeuppance is here at last, and all it took was for the rubes in the heartland to appeal to their white guilt, and cast a ballot for a son of Kenya/Indonesia/ Hawaii– that fake American state.  My mother always told me I was fiendishly clever.  Then again, I never put much stock into what she said–she being white and all.

I never expected anyone to find out I was a foreign national born in an Indonesian jungle.  The Hawaii ruse was as elaborately crafted as any conspiracy plot ever devised.  Even more clever than the Trig Palin-Sarah Palin son-mother hoax (And that my friend is saying something).  Think Rush.  Think about how long it took to inject this phony I’m an American sentiment into my bloodstream.  It has taken years to develop this plot, and the stress and logistical challenge of involving the state of Hawaii, Illinois, the entire continent of Africa, the Democratic party, the FBI, CIA, and the American people was unimaginable.  Wow!  And I would’ve gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for your keen intellect and big microphone.  But there is one other thing you should know…

(to be continued…)

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Save America!  Elect Glenn Beck president of the United States.  In one of the creepiest spots I’ve ever seen, a group called Main Street Bites Back is organizing a petition to get irritating, alcoholic, crybaby curmudgeon Glenn Beck to run.  The front woman for the group Robin Potwora, showcases her terrifying skills before the camera to make their case.  It’s like watching a circus clown talking about politics–only the clown has a thing for point of view close-ups.  Watch:

George Washington indeed.

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h/t daily dish

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