Sunday, October 22, 2006
And so it begins
phase next
Bill Dalati is running for city council in Anaheim CA [yes, home of The Rat] as a Republican.
Shawn Steel, state GOP leader from 2001 to 2003, wrote a letter that ended up on the OC blog mentioning Dalati’s connections to CAIR, calling it a “pretty radical, nasty group,” citing Dalati’s involvement with an Anaheim rally protesting the Israel-Lebanon conflict, and his endorsement of EX-Rep. Cynthia Smyffa McKinney of Georgia, a Democrat, anti-Semite and cop-smacker.
Dalati’s response:
I need to be out on the campaign trail, not worrying about all this negative stereotyping. People should look at the issues, not where I came from. Everybody came from somewhere. It’s clear that my faith and my heritage are the reason they don’t want me around.
Your “faith and heritage” include consorting with known terrorist-supporters, anti-Semites and petty cop-smackers? Ah. Thank you for whining sharing that.
from comments, Mr Steele responds to the criticism:
Orange County Register
LettersSaturday, October 21, 2006
At issue are the issues, not his religion.
Sometimes tempests carry implications beyond the immediate teapot. And I seem to have created just such a mini-storm with my letter, which was posted on OC Blog (http://www.ocblog.net), about Bill Dalati, a candidate for the Anaheim City Council next month ["Letter on candidate condemned,” Local, Oct. 13].
To review: I expressed concerns about Mr. Dalati because:
1) He supported an anti-American rally billed on a Council for American Islamic Relations Web site as “Rally Against U.S.-Israeli Terror in Palestine & Lebanon”;
2) In 2004, he made a campaign contribution to Cynthia McKinney in her race for Congress (the donation was made after McKinney’s infamous views were publicized on President Bush’s pre-knowledge and alleged involvement in the 9/11 attacks); and
3) He argued that dowries given in Muslim marriages should be viewed legally as prenuptial agreements (he was quoted in this newspaper in 2001: “I think it is a prenuptial agreement, and it should be enforced here").Mr. Dalati is a candidate for an important public office, and so his views and political affiliations and public activities are wholly appropriate for examination and criticism.
Mr. Dalati and his CAIR allies now are denouncing me as a racist and an Islamophobe. This is nothing but a smokescreen to muddle the public debate.
When I was the chairman of the California Republican Party, I encouraged Muslim Americans to join the GOP. I sponsored the first Muslim prayer at the party convention, despite criticism from some Christians.
I support another Arab American for mayor in Orange County because of his political views.
I do not judge candidates based on their religion or race.
Shawn Steel
Newport Beach
former chairman of the state Republican Party
Indeed, the easiest “response” to a challenge on one’s political stands is a cry of “raaaacism.” It’s facile, disingenuous and, sad to say, likely to deflect attention from the actual issues at hand.
What those who use it fail to realize is that this tactic is insultingly disrespectful to those who use it; kinda like calling oneself a racist name implying lack of competence—without the irony. Using this tactic is crippling the ability of others in the political scene to take these foks—and perhaps others who might look like them—seriously on theor own merits and issues.
Read my lips, kids: crying “racism” where there is none makes you look like a dumb *racial epithet of choice.*
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