[swarthyguy]

Well, if Grover Norquist had the good sense and the smarts to court those muslims not of the wacky wahhabi persuasion, he would be performing a valuable service.

As it is, his shilling for this group of nutcases borders on the treasonous.

It is ignorance of the nuances of various muslims sects that is the main issue; his refusal to acknowledge his "mistakes", if that's what they really are and his shameless dismissal of those who disagree with him as racists.

Sweet, isn't it?

[Trollstomper]

Hi, Agree. Norquist's work has made it harder for the few organized moderate/syncretic, or "peacable" (in Gaffney's wording), Muslims to have any presence anywhere (Media, WH, etc.) The irony here is that moderates are those who don't want to be political about their religion and don't want to play victim and rent-seeker.

Re the sects, etc., Grover does not do serious in-depth work, he is what we called in B-school a "tranactional manager" --very standard DC thing, and fine, but it focuses on people and process and reaction time, not on facts, implications thinking ahead and deep. There is no "net assessment" -- e.g.,are radical muslim votes now and later going to outwiegh marginalization of moderate muslims, or alienation of jewish votes, or risks to national security, etc.

The approach is acutally simplistic (muslims = arabs and muslims = bloc vote/issues). And, by not bothering to learn any of these details (let along read the hadith, know the Hanafi school, sharia variations, etc.), and clearly not investigating the history of Islam in America, he has been condescending and irresponsible; and, Karl Rove et al have been sloppy, at the least, in farming this out to him. The "racist and bigot" nonsense as Keene has said is "Stalinist tactics," and is at once also puerile, and well beyond the pale -- and certainly not part of the President's "new tone in Washington" policy. all best