The GOP has taken their gloves off, and no longer seem to walk on egg shells when it comes to Islam. Whether they're as disgusted with the kowtowing as the majority of Americans are, or fear their political careers are on the line due to the momentum of the Tea Party isn't clear, but for whatever reason they're taking their gloves off. Unlike John McCain who was criticized for being mean to Obama in one the debates, the debates this time around could be entirely different.
Maybe our politicians are finally getting the drift. At least the Republican ones. In 2008, the media would have had a feeding frenzy over some of the statements made at the recent New Hampshire debates.
Newt Gingrich's comment during the New Hampshire debate, as reported from one media outlet:
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich then intervened with his bid to be
the most anti-Islam voice of the night by alluding to both Nazis and
communists:
"I just want to comment for a second. The Pakistani who emigrated to
the U.S. became a citizen, built a car bomb which luckily failed to go off in
Times Square was asked by the federal judge, how could he have done that when he
signed -- when he swore an oath to the United States. And he looked at the judge
and said, "You're my enemy. I lied."
"Now, I just want to go out on a limb here. I'm in favor of saying to people,
if you're not prepared to be loyal to the United States, you will not serve in
my administration, period.
(APPLAUSE)
We did this -- we did this in dealing with the Nazis and we did this in
dealing with the communists. And it was controversial both times, and both times
we discovered after a while, you know, there are some genuinely bad people who
would like to infiltrate our country. And we have got to have the guts to stand
up and say no."
Then there's this more direct excerpt from the debate:
Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain addressed his recent comments that he would
not be comfortable appointing a Muslim to his administration:
"I would not be comfortable because you have peaceful Muslims and then you have
militant Muslims, those that are trying to kill us.
And so, when I said I wouldn't be comfortable, I was thinking about the ones
that are trying to kill us, number one."
Former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney followed up on Cain's remarks when
asked whether certain segments of the American population should be treated
differently based on religion:
"First of all, of course, we're not going to have Sharia law applied in U.S.
courts. That's never going to happen. We have a Constitution and we follow the
law."
"No, I think we recognize that the people of all faiths are welcome in this
country. Our nation was founded on a principal of religious tolerance. That's in
fact why some of the early patriots came to this country and we treat people
with respect regardless of their religious persuasion.
"Obviously, anybody who would come into my administration would be someone who
I knew, who I was comfortable with, and who I believed would honor as their
highest oath -- their oath to defend and protect the Constitution of the United
States."
That one sentence speaks volumes about how many Americans feel about Obama. They view him as a stranger. Not all strangers--immigrants--to the country want to destroy it, but there are those who do. That could explain why Obama makes many people nervous. They view him as a stranger, not one of us. If we we were talking about religion it would be the difference between a ger and...whatever the opposite of that is, a stranger who does not want to be one of us.
It doesn't seem to matter whether he was born here or not.