Hi.
My name is Saqib Ali. I'm a Maryland State Representative from Montgomery County (just outside Washington DC). I'm also a Muslim.
On Wednesday night Rudy Giulliani made a comment so beyond the pale, even I was shocked. He basically said that Muslims, all Muslims, are worse than terrorists.
What is even more amazing is the lack of any criticism about his statement. He got a total free pass. Nobody called him out on it. Except bottles in this diary.
I wrote an Op-Ed about Giulliani's statement for the Washington Post. But I was informed by editors today that they would not be running it. So I'm posting it here. Feel free to Rec it up. I'm a little surprised that even on DKos, there was barely any mention of it.
After the jump is unpublished Op-Ed:
"For four days in Denver, the Democrats were afraid to use the term Islamic terrorism. I imagine they believe it is politically incorrect to say it. I think they believe they will insult someone. Please tell me, who they are insulting if they say, Islamic terrorism. They are insulting terrorists!" – Rudolph Giuliani speaking at the Republican National Convention on September 3, 2008 in Minneapolis.
My wife and I turned to each other, stunned when we heard those words. Did he really just say that? Read the quote again. Carefully. Giuliani just denigrated the faith of 1.5 billion Muslims by saying that they are far worse than crazed, mass-murdering terrorists. The crowd cheered. I was saddened, but not surprised, that a once great American political party has sunk to such depths.
Following Rudy’s speech, I eagerly awaited a torrent of disapproval from the political pundits. After all, they had just spent hours vigorously debating weather 17-year-old Bristol Pailin’s pregnancy was a legitimate topic of political discourse. Surely, Rudy had crossed a red line. But no-one considered his remark even remotely worthy of mention. Would an attack on Catholics or Jews be greeted by similar crickets? I doubt it.
In the past, whenever politicians made disparaging remarks about American Muslims, they were ostensibly concerned about preserving American freedoms and liberties. Congressman Virgil Goode’s 2006 rant against his colleague Keith Ellison’s swearing-in ceremony comes to mind. But Giuliani’s statement was far different. On Wednesday night, at the Republican Party’s marquis event, before millions, he dropped this thin pretense and confirmed what many of us had already suspected: Muslims are unwelcome in his party and unwelcome in his America.
Millions of American Muslims live in our society. They are your neighbors. They deliver your babies. They teach your children. They die fighting in your military. And yes, they even represent you in government. They are black, white, brown and all colors in between. They work hard and play by the rules. They struggle with same challenges you do: paying for rising gas prices, single parenthood, finding the cheapest health insurance. And they want nothing more than you do: to enjoy a decent life without harassment. These people decry the hijacking of their faith by foreign fanatics and work hard to extinguish any hints of extremism within their communities. What have they done to deserve Rudy’s gratuitous and childish insult?
In just 35 years, ethnic minorities will make up the majority of our nation. With those ethnic minorities will come more religious minorities too. From a purely political standpoint, the GOP cannot survive as a viable national party if it continues to slam the door in these peoples’ faces. Already, the striking homogeneity of the crowds in Minneapolis cannot be missed. Some Republicans wonder aloud why minorities don’t give them fair consideration. But I ask why they should get any consideration at all when Republican luminaries seem to go out of their way to alienate them? Perhaps the cold political calculus has already been made. Stoking bigotry might energize the base in this election. But can’t the party leaders see that this is a strategy doomed to fail in the long-run? And aren’t they even a little embarrassed that such small-minded meanness is the best they can offer?
In 1954 Joseph Welch famously asked Senator Joseph McCarthy "Have you no sense of decency?" That question turned the tide on an ugly chapter in our history. I think it’s about time somebody asked Rudy Giuliani and the modern Republican Party the same question.