So you’ve probably heard about the first Muslim elected to congress in November (Keith Ellison, D-MN).
And you probably also heard that some yahoo with the unbelievably yahoo-appropriate name of Virgil Goode (R-VA), kicked up a fuss because Ellison wanted, in his personal and unofficial swearing-in ceremony, to be sworn in on the Quran.
Goode said in a letter to constituents that “if American citizens don’t wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office.”
Ellison is a native of Detroit. Detroit, Michigan. And despite its kind of Frenchy-sounding name, Detroit is pretty solidly American. I mean, they are big fans of both guns AND cars in Detroit. Plus, they really like to riot when their teams win things. You can’t get more American than that.
Ellison’s also a pretty classy guy. Here’s his reaction to Goode’s comments: “I’m looking forward to making friends with Representative Goode, or at least getting to know him. I want to let him know that there’s nothing to fear. The fact that there are many different faiths, many different colors and many different cultures in America is a great strength.”
Oh, but he wasn’t so busy being classy that he wasn’t also planning some pretty sweet poetic justice. Tomorrow, he is for sure going to be sworn in on the Quran.
But not just any Quran.
It’s a copy of the Quran that once belonged to Thomas Jefferson.
Boo-yah!
5 comments:
Just saw him interviewed this morning. He had a great comment, "Jackie Robinson wasn't concerned with being the first black player in baseball, he was just concerned about getting a hit".
I hope things go well for him.
I never met a Detroit Red Wings fan that I could coexist in the same room.
SkyDad: Yeah, actually, I could do without the comparison to Jackie Robinson. Jackie was regularly spiked by other players, called a nigger by his own teammates, received death threats, and had to live with constant harassment of an unbelievably hostile nature every minute he was on the field for many years. Ellison, not so much.
At least he didn't compare himself to Rosa Parks. Yet.
Kristi: You have an uncanny ability to boil every issue down to its absolute essence. And that essence always turns out to be hockey. It's incredible. I don't know how you do it.
Here's what I don't get: if the guy takes his oath on the Bible, he'd basically be (or giving himself license to be) a lying sack of shit, wouldn't he?
Wouldn't we rather he took his oath on his own holy book?
If by "we," you mean people who, although they may not agree with the philosophy of any particular religious text, understand the concept of swearing on that text as a symbol of the seriousness with which one takes his or her oath, then yes.
But I don't think that group includes Virgil.
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