Republican Congressman Virgil Goode (R-VA) needs to clear up his views on Muslims in America. It's reported that he sent the following letter to a constituent:
Thank you for your recent communication. When I raise my hand to take the oath on Swearing In Day, I will have the Bible in my other hand. I do not subscribe to using the Koran in any way. The Muslim Representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don’t wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran. We need to stop illegal immigration totally and reduce legal immigration and end the diversity visas policy pushed hard by President Clinton and allowing many persons from the Middle East to come to this country. I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America and to prevent our resources from being swamped.
The Ten Commandments and “In God We Trust” are on the wall in my office. A Muslim student came by the office and asked why I did not have anything on my wall about the Koran. My response was clear, “As long as I have the honor of representing the citizens of the 5th District of Virginia in the United States House of Representatives, The Koran is not going to be on the wall of my office.”
Thank you again for your email and thoughts.
Predictably, CAIR has picked up on this faster than anyone. They can probably be counted on to go overboard.
Nevertheless, I don't think it ought to be the explicit policy of this country to prevent an increase in the Muslim population. I hope that Goode doesn't either, and states it.
Hat Tip: TPMMuckraker.
Update: In the comment section, Philo questions whether Mr. Goode might merely be a victim of sloppy staff work. I thought that might be the case, but this would seem to answer that question: Lawmaker won't apologize for 'Islamophobic' letter.
Back to the top.
3 comments:
All we know from this letter is how Goode's letter writers feel about Muslims. It's not clear that Goode wrote this himself at all. Ultimately, he has to stand behind his signature, but let's not presume this was a product of the Congressman until he confirms it. The phrasing of the letter is juvenile in many ways; I suspect an intern let loose with the autopen is as likely as a Congressman going out of his way to alienate people on religious lines.
My first inclination was to attribute this to sloppy staff work. However, the ultimate responsiblity does lie with Mr. Goode.
Further, the personal account of the office visit by a Muslim student makes me fear that this response may be a somewhat accurate reflection of Mr. Goode's views.
Either way, some sort of clarification is necessary.
The Editor
Holy mackerel. He confirmed it.
Oy.
Post a Comment