Republican politician calls out Rick Perry’s ‘Muslim blind spot’
Posted on September 28, 2011
by Kate Shellnutt
blog.chron.com
.The role of Muslims in America and concern over shariah law hasn’t come up at all in debates since Gov. Rick Perry joined the presidential race, and not a single candidate has signed Frank Gaffney’s latest anti-shariah pledge.
That hasn’t stopped some Republicans from criticizing Perry for going too easy on Muslims (as well as immigrants) in Texas. Here’s what Tom Tancredo, a former Republican congressman from Colorado and a Republican president hopeful in the last election, had to say in a post for The Daily Caller:
He extends his taxpayer-funded compassion not only to illegal aliens but also to Muslim groups seeking to whitewash the violent history of that religion. Perry endorsed and facilitated the adoption in Texas public schools of a pro-Muslim curriculum unit developed by Muslim clerics in Pakistan….
Perry’s close alliances with pro-Islamic Republican activists like Grover Norquist give additional cause for concern. Norquist supports open borders and amnesty for illegal aliens and is well known in Washington, D.C. circles for his tireless efforts to build Republican bridges to pro-amnesty groups and to slander advocates of immigration enforcement as “racists.” Norquist also has close ties to the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR), whose Houston chapter bragged in a recent newsletter that “Rick Perry’s relationship with Muslims may set him apart.” Precisely so, but not in a way that helped him with voters in the Florida straw poll.
Update: Mustafaa Carroll, head of the CAIR-Houston, told the Chronicle that Tancredo’s statements are mischaracterizations. The group does not “brag” about Perry, and he hadn’t even heard of Norquist or his ties with CAIR, Carroll said.
Perry is friends with the Aga Khan, the head of a Shia Muslim sect called Ismailis. As governor, he’s had the support of politically conservative Muslims in Texas as well.
Before Perry became a candidate, some of the others spent time talking about the Muslim threat in America.Back in June, Herman Cain was criticized for emphasizing the shariah threat and voicing skepticism about Muslim-Americans in government. He has since reconciled with the Muslim community somewhat, visiting a Washington D.C.-area mosque and offering an apology.
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