Rightwingers/teabaggers claim the Obama administration is part of vast liberal conspiracy to impose Shariah law on the U.S. Teabaggers have raised a number of seemingly discrete anti-Muslim issues, but the underlying connecting link is their extreme belief that each constitutes "evidence" of their Obama conspiracy theory. For some who do not pay attention to politics or news, it might seem as if the teabaggers are raising "legitimate" issues of concern that are not anti-Muslim, such as proclaiming that the NYC mosque issue was ostensibly about respect for 9/11 victims. This may explain why some have supported their positions. However, if it is made clear that each of these issues is related to the "Obama Shariah conspiracy," both their Islamophobia and their nutty extremist views are obvious. It is also apparent that Teabaggers want to use the next Congress for investigations of the Obama administration based on a variety of conspiracy theories.
The teabagging GOP are now salivating over the prospect of advancing their political agenda by their Islamophobic fear mongering. If the GOP take control of the House, they will parade their conspiracy issues on their corporate media buddy forums to push for public support of Congressional conspiracy investigations that will make the Clinton years look mild.
As President Clinton warned, they are prepared to conduct "two years of unrelenting investigations." GOP Rep. Darrell Issa has already vowed to probe the global conspiracy theory of "climategate." Sharron Angle called Sen. Reid a "co-conspirator" with "president Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi" for making "deals for policies that have crushed our economy." But a good chunk of their conspiracy theories are based on their central tenet that Obama must be a Muslim, a lie that polls show many believe, perhaps due to the fear of Muslims nurtured by Bush Team for 8 years.
Teabagger Christine O'Donnell showed her conspiracy buff credentials back in 1996 when she complained that President Clinton was not on trial for the right-wing conspiracy theory that the Clintons arranged the murder of Deputy White House Counsel Vince Foster. Last year, four GOP lawmakers -- Reps. John Shadegg (AZ), Paul Broun (GA), Trent Franks (AZ) and Sue Myrick (NC) -- requested a witchhunt to determine whether there were Muslim spies placed as staff and interns in Congressional offices. The "evidence" to support the persecution was a book published by birthers at WorldNetDaily.
One goal is to neuter Obama and the Democrats from implementing the progressive agenda that the public supports.
Teabaggers identify the Obama "conspirators" and thus the potential targets of teabagger Congressional conspiracy probes
Birther Frank Gaffney claims Obama is "America's first Muslim president," while others proclaim that he might be a "closet Muslim" as "Islam is notorious for allowing deceit in matters pertaining to infidels." Executive branch co-conspirators include General David H. Petraeus, Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton because each opposed the burning of the Koran. Judicial branch co-conspirators include Supreme Court Justices Bryer and Kagan who have expressed "sympathetic view[s] of Sharia, or Islamic law." Legislative branch co-conspirators probably include all Democrats and any Independent or GOP who oppose teabaggers for they will then be part of the evil establishment elite. There is also the fourth branch of government: Newt Gingrich maintains that the media "thought police" have been suppressing and twisting his message on the "ground zero mosque."
Gaffney's ludicrous starting point is that Obama orchestrates this conspiracy by using code words of respect for Muslims to show that America will submit to Sharia. Yes, when President Obama uses the word "respect" in the "context of a waist-bow to the king of Saudi Arabia," the use of "respectful language" is "code" that only Obama, "al Qaeda, the Saudis, and the Taliban understand." (Photo accompanying Washington Times article cited in diary.)
While this is a ridiculous theory that we might wish to just laugh away, the nuts have believers. A Newsweek poll from this summer showed 52% of Republicans, 17% of Democrats and 27% of Independents think it is definitely or probably true that "Barack Obama sympathizes" (pdf file) with the goals of Islamic fundamentalists who want to impose Islamic law around the world." More than half (59%) of the GOP thinks Obama "favors the interests of Muslim Americans over other groups of Americans."
The disconnect is amazing: Obama is both "a social libertine who wants to teach sex ed to children, end discrimination against gays and lesbians in the armed forces and allow women unfettered access to abortion, and on the other he's part of a global conspiracy to institute a repressive interpretation of Islamic law that would prohibit all of those things."
Teagbaggers' "Evidence" of Obama Conspiracy
The major premise is that the Obama administration is implicitly working with "many apparently-lawful U.S. Muslims" to wage a "stealth jihad" to "impose sharia on the U.S. through peaceful means." The extremists had other extremists issue a report ("Shariah: The Threat to America") that reached this predetermined conclusion so that it could be cited as evidence for their theory. GOP lawmakers Rep. Pete Hoekstra, Rep. Trent Franks, and Rep. Michelle Bachmann endorsed this report.
Not even a scintilla of evidence is needed before wild accusations and innuendoes are proclaimed. A few days ago, Sharron Angle warned that Sharia law has somehow already taken hold in the U.S. because the mere "presence of Muslims in such a strong plurality [in the population of two U.S. cities] apparently means to Angle that American law no longer applies." At a rally, "[o]ne of the last questioners asked about "Muslims taking over the U.S.," including a question about Angle's stance on the proposed mosque near Ground Zero in New York." This is Angle's response, focusing on two US cities that have "predominantly Muslim populations" as evidence that Sharia law has "taken hold" in some U.S. cities:
"Dearborn, Michigan, and Frankford, Texas are on American soil, and under Constitutional law. Not Sharia law. And I don't know how that happened in the United States. It seems to me there is something fundamentally wrong with allowing a foreign system of law to even take hold in any municipality or government situation in our United States."
Additional "evidence" of this "stealth jihad" includes health care reform. Right wingers claim that "ObamaCare" is Dhimmitude or the "Muslim system of controlling non-Muslim populations conquered through jihad" because Muslims are "specifically exempted from the government mandate to buy insurance." Only problem is that the health care law does not mention Muslim or Islam or any religion. What it does provide is an exemption for "a member of a recognized religious sect" who is an "adherent of established tenets or teachings of such sect or division by reason of which he is conscientiously opposed to acceptance of the benefits of any private or public insurance." This is a recognized exemption that has been used by Amish and Mennonites who traditionally have not participated in government programs such as Social Security or Medicare. It is possible that a Muslim could be exempted from the mandate but this exemption has been strictly construed and "Muslims don't have a history of spurning Social Security, which they consider a form of caring for those unable to meet their own needs."
The evidence against administration officials is shocking: They "implicitly established Islam's privileged status in the United States" by stating fears that burning the Koran could trigger violence or place American troops in danger:
Second, David H. Petraeus, Robert M. Gates, Eric H. Holder Jr., Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama pressured Mr. Jones to cancel only because they feared Muslim violence against Americans if he proceeded.
...The Obama administration has joined this ignominious list. Its pressure on Mr. Jones further eroded freedom of speech about Islam and implicitly established Islam's privileged status in the United States, whereby Muslims may insult others but not be insulted. This moves the country toward dhimmitude, a condition whereby non-Muslims acknowledge the superiority of Islam. Finally, Mr. Obama, in effect, enforced Islamic law, a precedent that could lead to other forms of compulsory Shariah compliance.
That is, not buring the Koran was an act of recognizing Sharia law that forbids the burning of the Koran.
Newt Gingrich is the first "prominent politician to speak out against the perceived sharia threat" when he claimed that the purpose of the "Ground Zero Mosque" (or really the Islamic cultural center) was to "impose sharia on the United States." The theory is that "the goal of Muslims seeking to build new houses of worship is to slowly make America comfortable with Shariah before using political power to allow it to become the law of the land."
Potential presidential candidate Newt called for a federal law that bans the use of sharia by any court to "reach any judgment about American law." No American judge has used Islamic law to handle a case, and no judge is proposing to do so. Newt ignores that court cases are based on our statutes, precedent, and Constitution. U.S. courts cannot apply Shariah law unless it is permitted by U.S. law. Changing our law requires voters electing lawmakers who want to change our laws while "stacking the courts with like-minded judges willing to ignore constitutional constraints and substantial court precedent."
Newt also insinuates that Justices Bryer and Kagan might want to use sharia law to "interpret the American constitution." Justice Bryer is pegged as advocating Sharia law because he commented that the proposed Koran burning might not be protected under the First Amendment in this internet age. As for Justice Elena Kagan, right wingers charged during her confirmation process that she has a "sympathetic view of Sharia, or Islamic law" and thus "might allow it to be recognized as law in the United States." The accusations against her include:
[C]ondoning the acceptance of $20 million from Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talal — who blamed the attacks of 9/11 on American foreign policy — to fund programs on Islam. She also spearheaded the "Islamic Finance Project," a program aimed at mainstreaming Sharia-compliant finance in America. And, as some point out, she awarded the Harvard Medal of Freedom to the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Iftikhar Chaudhry, who critics say is a promoter of Sharia.
Guess we should ignore that the "prince is a business partner of Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch, and owns a significant share of Murdoch's News Corp.
It is a sad state of affairs when Americans believe such drivel. But, last week, four candidates for the Arizona House debated Obama's birth certificate and whether he was an American citizen.