Posted on 11/07/2006 7:57:52 PM PST by My Favorite Headache
MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - Voters elected a black Democrat as the first Muslim in Congress on Tuesday after a race in which he advocated quick U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and made little mention of his faith.
Keith Ellison, a 43-year-old lawyer and state representative, defeated two rivals, television networks said, to succeed retiring Democrat Martin Sabo in a seat that has been held by Democrats since 1963.
Ellison, who converted to Islam as a 19-year-old college student in his native Detroit, won with the help of Muslims among a coalition of liberal, anti-war voters.
He advocates an immediate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq along with strongly liberal views. While Ellison did not often speak of his faith during the campaign, awareness of his candidacy drew interest from Muslims well beyond the district centered in Minneapolis.
A significant community of Somali immigrants in Minneapolis cast their first votes for him in the crowded September primary. Ellison also was the surprise choice of party regulars.
While Muslim-Americans make up less than 3 percent of the U.S. population and have largely been a non-factor in terms of political power, get-out-the-vote efforts in several Muslim communities could indicate they may become an emerging force.
Roughly 2 million Muslims are registered U.S. voters, and their ranks increased by tens of thousands in the weeks prior to Tuesday's mid-term elections, Muslim groups have said.
Since the September 11, 2001, attacks by Islamic militants, Muslim-Americans have become sensitized to what many feel is an erosion of their civil rights. U.S. foreign policy that targets Muslim countries also has generated a sense of urgency, experts said.
"(Americans) treat us differently after September 11. My own father was attacked," said Ellison supporter Khadra Darsame, a 1995 immigrant from Somalia. "Ellison said everybody matters equally and he told us what he would do ... he will do the right thing."
Born into a Roman Catholic family in Detroit, Ellison said his values were shaped by both faiths, along with his grandfather's civil rights work in the Deep South.
Opponents focused on Ellison's sloppy handling of his taxes and a slew of unpaid parking tickets, along with his one-time affiliation with the Nation of Islam, whose leader, Louis Farrakhan, has been criticized for making anti-Semitic remarks. Ellison subsequently said he worked with the group largely to promote the 1995 Million Man March.
The surrender begins....
Oh my. What a night.
SO IT BEGINS !!!!!!!!
Locked and Loaded!!
As I said on a previous thread...I feels as if I am watching 9-11 again on my TV. Watching America be attacked from within and I am helpless watching.
America...what have you done?
Not a good sign at all
Watch "Obsession"!!!!!!
THAT'S friggin crazy!
His family must be so proud of him....
What is it with blacks converting to the religion of those who first made them slaves ,and continue to enslave and kill in Africa?
You had a better attention grabbing title. You win.
Since the September 11, 2001, attacks by Islamic militants, Muslim-Americans have become sensitized to what many feel is an erosion of their civil rights. U.S. foreign policy that targets Muslim countries also has generated a sense of urgency, experts said.
F them
The House Dems will fall all over themselves to make Islam welcome in the House. Watch for alterations to the opening prayer.
WE ARE SO SCREWED UP AS A NATION IT ISN'T EVEN FUNNY!
Over or even he introduce the first sharia law leglietatio
But, if we have an immediate w/d from Iraq, like this clown wants, the terrorists will come here, like Bush said & we'll all be dead anyway.
Congratulations to the burqa-wearing Minnesotans! Good job!
Minnesota might yet learn from its mistakes. Unfortunately, they have 6 years to do just that.
what a gutless country
Oh, you are right, the enemy is within, Bush knows it, we know it.
"(Americans) treat us differently after September 11. My own father was attacked," said Ellison supporter Khadra Darsame, a 1995 immigrant from Somalia. "Ellison said everybody matters equally and he told us what he would do ... he will do the right thing."
Boo fricking hoo! Listen pal! Don't like it? GO HOME! Otherwise why don't you help your new country defeat the folks trying to kill ALL of us! Or, are you on their side?
Well, I guess this ends any doubt we might have had that America had not forgotten 9/11.
National suicide has begun.
I'm convinced that the only thing reasonable people need to become bigots is permission.
You are so right! (no pun intented)
Brainwashing by Democrat teachers in the public schools. This started back around the time of the Civil Rights Movement, when Dems suddenly moved in and claimed that THEY freed the blacks from slavery. And that revisionist view of history has been taught in our schools ever since.
Take this to the bank, they will rue the day that they elected a Muslim to our Congress.
...winning the war on terror.
Minnesota might. Minneapolis won't. Ellison's votes will be indistinguishable from those of his predecessor, Martin Sabo.
Glad I’m old … I will not be around (hopefully) to see the total overthrow of the greatest country that ever existed.
What kind of Muslim? Is he is a black muslim, or has he embraced a more Middle Eastern form of Islam?
No religious test. No reason not to have him as a congressman.
future suicide bomber?
Whoops - I suppose the last line answers my question. But I wonder what he is today?
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The camel's nose is under the tent!
A Muslim is a Muslim is a Muslim.
THE PARALLELS TO THE ROMAN EMPIRE ARE SCARY,,,at least the downfall of it.
Only in America and especially in KumBaiYah Minneapolis/St. Paul.
His term is 2 years, not 6 years....it's a house seat,
NOT a senate seat....
2 years.
Can you envision this guy ripping Bush on the House floor? And the dems will howl and applaud.
You're talking about a state that embraced George McGovern, went for Walter Mondale, and elected Jesse Ventura.
These people will never learn.
Screw the burkha. Buy ammo :)
Oh dear. Well, I suppose it could be worse, he could be a full-blown NoI member...
Yep, silly me. Bound to be an interesting 2 years anyway.
Agree whole heartily. History repeats itself.
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