WaPo: Democrat seeks to be first Muslim Congressman

[funflower]

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - A Minnesota state legislator who advocates a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq was favored to become the first Muslim in Congress, a day after he won his Democratic primary race.

State Rep. Keith Ellison, a lawyer who made little mention of his Muslim faith during the campaign and who is considered an eloquent orator, would also become the state's first black congressman if he wins the general election in November to represent a solidly Democratic district.

"In this election, we had people who say 'shalom.' We had people who say 'as-salaamu aleykum.' We had people who say all the words of greeting to each other in peace, because peace must be the guiding principle of our nation," the 43-year-old Ellison told his raucous victory party in Minneapolis on Tuesday night.


more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/13/AR2006091301297.html

[Sam Odom]

1. 3rd or 4th post on this bullshit n/t

n/t

[KingFlorez]

2. You have a problem with a Muslim winning the primary?

[Sam Odom]

4. Yeah

But go read my replies about this in GDP

[Tom Joad]

6. Can't find your posts. Perhaps they were deleted?

Why can't you explain your comment? Give us a link to your comments elsewhere, or explain here.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Tom Joad]

11. So you include Buddhists, Christians, Jewish, Hindu, Pagan?

All the same?

[funflower]

3. Why is it BS?

Apologies for any redundancy. I don't monitor DU all day long, and it wasn't in the recent posts list. The WaPo story is less than an hour old.

[Tom Joad]

5. I hope his victory against his repuke opponent does something to

change the very pervasive anti-Muslim bias we see all around his. Even here.

[goodhue]

9. Ellison will face 3 challengers in general, none of whom can win

Keith will face Republican Alan Fine, Independence Party candidate Tammy Lee and Green Party candidate Jay Pond in November. The district is about as blue as they come, so the history was made yesterday. The apparent anti-Muslim bias popping up on DU is a little weird to me. I guess maybe I'm lucky to live in Minnesota's Fifth Congressional District (aka Minneapolis).

[rodeodance]

8. "peace must be the guiding principle of our nation,"---I want him to be

my Representative. yES YES

[goodhue]

10. indeed

That really is what Ellison's campaign is all about. It is no accident that Dennis Kucinich and Maxine Waters were both in Minneapolis in recent weeks to campaign for Keith.

[bamacrat]

12. Good, as long as he doesn't use his religion for political fodder.

I dont really care if a Muslim is in congress, not all of them blow stuff up. Oh but wait, nevermind he's black.

[goodhue]

13. that reminds me of this column from July . . .

http://www.startribune.com/357/story/539892.html

Last update: July 08, 2006 – 10:50 PM

Muslim candidate with parking tickets seems to unnerve some

Nick Coleman, Star Tribune

Keith Ellison is black. Keith Ellison is a black Muslim. Keith Ellison is a black Muslim scofflaw who doesn't pay his parking tickets and is sloppy with paperwork.
And another thing: I hear he is a Muslim.

Some folks seem very worried about the possibility Keith Ellison could become the first black Muslim scofflaw elected to Congress. Decent people are not supposed to thumb their noses at parking tickets until after they get to Congress.

By the way, Ellison is not the same kind of Muslim as Osama bin Laden, even though he and Osama share a shocking disregard for parking tickets. Ellison's problem is that he used to be associated with the Nation of Islam, an American religion led by a man named Louis Farrakhan, who would not know Ellison if he sat next to him on the No. 5 bus.

Somehow, Ellison finds himself condemned as a black American who was upset by the Rodney King verdict, spoke on behalf of accused criminals, and worked as an organizer for the Million Man March that called on black men to take responsibility for their families.

That kind of behavior has to be nipped in the bud.

* * *

http://www.startribune.com/357/story/539892.html