http://www.capitolhillblue.com/news2/2006/12/racist_congress.html

December 22, 2006

Racist congressman stands by anti-Muslim tirade

By Staff and Wire Reports


A racist, bigoted Virginia congressman said Thursday that he will not
retract a letter warning that unless immigration is tightened, "many
more Muslims will be elected" and use the Quran to take the oath of
office.

Republican Rep. Virgil Goode, a rabid right-winger who has embraced
racism and even the Ku Klux Klan in the past, triggered angry
responses from a civil rights group and some colleagues with a letter
this month to constituents concerned about a decision by Rep.-elect
Keith Ellison of Minnesota, the first Muslim elected to Congress, to
use the Quran when he is sworn in.

"I will not be putting my hand on the Quran," Goode said at a news
conference Thursday at the Franklin County Courthouse in Rocky Mount,
Virginia.

The most active and visible klavern of the Ku Klux Klan operates in
Franklin County, holding a half-dozen public rallies a year in Burnt
Chimney near the birthplace of Booker T. Washington.

Goode, who represents Virginia's ultra-conservative 5th Congressional
District, said he is receiving more positive comments from
constituents than negative.

"One lady told me she thinks I'm doing the right thing on this," he
told Fox News.

"I wish more people would take a stand and stand up for the principles
on which this country was founded."

Goode also told Fox News he wants to limit legal immigration and do
away with "diversity visas," which he said let in people "not from
European countries" and "some terrorist states."

In his letter, Goode wrote that strict immigration polices are
necessary "to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the
United States of America."

"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," he
wrote.

Ellison said Thursday that Goode and others had nothing to fear about
Muslims.

"They are our nurses, doctors, husbands, wives, kids, who just want to
live and prosper in the American way," Ellison, a Democrat from
Minneapolis, said Thursday on CNN when asked what he would say to
Goode if they met.

"All of us are steadfastly opposed to the same people he's opposed to,
which is terrorists, and so there's nothing for him to be afraid of."

Asked whether he thought Goode was a bigot, Ellison said, "I don't
know the fellow, and I'd rather just say that he has a lot to learn
about Islam. ... I don't want to start any name-calling."

Virginia's senior senator, Republican John Warner, said in a statement
Thursday that he respects the right of congressional members to freely
"exercise the religion of their choice, including those of the Islamic
faith utilizing the Quran."

Rep. Rahm Emanuel, an Illinois Democrat who is Jewish, said Thursday
that he hoped Goode would meet with Ellison, saying he would "see what
I saw: a good American with good values of a different faith who's
trying to do right by the people he represents."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations had asked Goode to
apologize, saying the remarks sent "a message of intolerance that is
unworthy of anyone elected to public office."

Ellison was born in Detroit and converted to Islam in college.

His decision to use the Quran at his ceremonial swearing-in next month
prompted criticism from conservative talk radio host Dennis Prager.

_____________________________________________________

Republican racists are crawling outa the sewers.

Harry

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/news2/2006/12/racist_congress.html

December 22, 2006

Racist congressman stands by anti-Muslim tirade

By Staff and Wire Reports


A racist, bigoted Virginia congressman said Thursday that he will not
retract a letter warning that unless immigration is tightened, "many
more Muslims will be elected" and use the Quran to take the oath of
office.

Republican Rep. Virgil Goode, a rabid right-winger who has embraced
racism and even the Ku Klux Klan in the past, triggered angry
responses from a civil rights group and some colleagues with a letter
this month to constituents concerned about a decision by Rep.-elect
Keith Ellison of Minnesota, the first Muslim elected to Congress, to
use the Quran when he is sworn in.

"I will not be putting my hand on the Quran," Goode said at a news
conference Thursday at the Franklin County Courthouse in Rocky Mount,
Virginia.

The most active and visible klavern of the Ku Klux Klan operates in
Franklin County, holding a half-dozen public rallies a year in Burnt
Chimney near the birthplace of Booker T. Washington.

Goode, who represents Virginia's ultra-conservative 5th Congressional
District, said he is receiving more positive comments from
constituents than negative.

"One lady told me she thinks I'm doing the right thing on this," he
told Fox News.

"I wish more people would take a stand and stand up for the principles
on which this country was founded."

Goode also told Fox News he wants to limit legal immigration and do
away with "diversity visas," which he said let in people "not from
European countries" and "some terrorist states."

In his letter, Goode wrote that strict immigration polices are
necessary "to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the
United States of America."

"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," he
wrote.

Ellison said Thursday that Goode and others had nothing to fear about
Muslims.

"They are our nurses, doctors, husbands, wives, kids, who just want to
live and prosper in the American way," Ellison, a Democrat from
Minneapolis, said Thursday on CNN when asked what he would say to
Goode if they met.

"All of us are steadfastly opposed to the same people he's opposed to,
which is terrorists, and so there's nothing for him to be afraid of."

Asked whether he thought Goode was a bigot, Ellison said, "I don't
know the fellow, and I'd rather just say that he has a lot to learn
about Islam. ... I don't want to start any name-calling."

Virginia's senior senator, Republican John Warner, said in a statement
Thursday that he respects the right of congressional members to freely
"exercise the religion of their choice, including those of the Islamic
faith utilizing the Quran."

Rep. Rahm Emanuel, an Illinois Democrat who is Jewish, said Thursday
that he hoped Goode would meet with Ellison, saying he would "see what
I saw: a good American with good values of a different faith who's
trying to do right by the people he represents."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations had asked Goode to
apologize, saying the remarks sent "a message of intolerance that is
unworthy of anyone elected to public office."

Ellison was born in Detroit and converted to Islam in college.

His decision to use the Quran at his ceremonial swearing-in next month
prompted criticism from conservative talk radio host Dennis Prager.

_____________________________________________________

Republican racists are crawling outa the sewers.

Harry