The Qur'an, The Bible and "Two Fu*king Muslims Too Many"
I Swear, I Swear, I Swore
(AP) The grandson of the late U.S. Rep. Julia Carson won a special election Tuesday to succeed her, keeping the seat in Democratic hands and becoming the second Muslim ever elected to Congress. Democrat Andre Carson had a 4,000-vote lead over Republican Jon Elrod out of nearly 49,000 votes counted. With 73 percent of 445 precincts reporting, Carson had about 53 percent of the vote compared with about 44 percent for Elrod. Carson will represent a district that covers most of Indianapolis for the remainder of the year... Carson, whose grandmother raised him in a Baptist church, converted to Islam more than a decade ago. Carson will join Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., as the only Muslims in Congress. His religious identity has drawn little attention during the campaign, and Carson said he doesn't believe it hurts him politically.
Good luck, Andre. The article also pointed out that Carson would be the second Muslim in Congress, the first being Keith Ellison of Minnesota. One of the (mostly positive) comments to the AP article was posted by someone with the tag "grazingoat":
"That is two fu*cking Muslims too many.The last thing we need is this cult of death slowly but surely creeping into our political mainstream. www.jihadwatch.org"
Yes, I checked out http://www.jihadwatch.org/. It purports to be somewhat tolerant of non-jihadists, but the rhetoric is way too harsh for any tolerance whatsoever.
The big question now will be if Carson will want to swear on the Qur'an for his inauguration. When Ellison stated that he intended to do that, the "Christian Nation ONLY" CINOs were out in full force. Dennis Prager (KRLA radio- Los Angeles):
"America is interested in only one book, the Bible. If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don't serve in Congress," And: "This has nothing to do with the Qur’an. It has to do with the first break of the tradition of having a Bible present at a ceremony of installation of a public official since George Washington inaugurated the tradition."
And the rest of the CINOs joined in: The American Family Association in Tupelo, Miss. sent out an "action alert" to its 3.4 million members urging them to write their congressmen "to pass a law making the Bible the book used in the swearing-in ceremony of Representatives and Senators."
Prager was wrong, however, about Ellison's Qur'an being the "first break of tradition".
- Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., took her oath in 2005 on a Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible.
- Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle used the Tanakh when she took her oath in 2002.
- Madeleine Kunin placed her hand on Jewish prayer books when she was sworn in as the first female governor of Vermont in 1985.
- In 1825, John Quincy Adams took the presidential oath using a law volume instead of a Bible, - In 1853, Franklin Pierce affirmed the oath rather than swearing it.
- Herbert Hoover, citing his Quaker beliefs, also affirmed his oath in 1929 but did use a Bible.
- Theodore Roosevelt used no Bible in taking his first oath of office in 1901, but did in 1905.
- House members are sworn in together on the House floor in a ceremony without any Bible.
For all I care, politicians an swear all they want on MY Bible. It would be odd, of course, placing one's hand on The Joy of Cooking.
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