Today's Washington Post has a quote which really could apply to Virginia Republican politicians in general. The quote is by Maryland Del. Saqib Ali (D-Montgomery), "the first Muslim elected to a state or districtwide office in the Washington area," at a forum yesterday in Fairfax County that was packed with 1,000 Northern Virginia Muslim Americans. Ali's comment came after Delgaudio, one of the worst examples of Republican homophobia, xenophobia, and intolerance generally, made "a rambling appeal to the Muslim voters in his eastern Loudoun district," including the classic but utterly meaningless line (in the case of Delgaudio and Muslims), "I stand with you." True to form, Delgaudio followed up his pandering with a truer slice of what he and his followers represent -- outright bigotry. Thus, Delgaudio "demanded to know whether those in the crowd "come in peace" and whether they pledge allegiance to the United States."
Imagine if Delgaudio had implied to a Christian or Jewish audience that they were not loyal to the United States All hell would break loose, as well it should. But see, Delgaudio knows that he can express his bigotry only to a few groups, preferably ones that aren't widely liked, have little political power, and/or can't fight back. Thus, Delgaudio's frequent expressions of anti-gay, anti-Hispanic, and anti-Muslim sentiments.
Luckily, yesterday, there WAS someone available with the courage and ability to fight back against Delgaudio's bullying bigotry and damaging demagoguery. The question is, will there be someone there tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, to do the same? And will there be people to demand that other Republicans denounce Delgaudio, unless of course they agree with him. Speaking of which, we're all still waiting for a Republican, ANY Republican, to denounce Virgil Goode for his Muslim bashing several months ago. But we're not holding our breaths, that's for darn sure.
People like DelGaudio have basically turned them into Democrats. The interesting part of that article from the Post is this excerpt:
"More than 56,000 Muslims are registered to vote in Northern Virginia, and last year, more than eight in 10 turned out to vote, compared with about five in 10 for the general population, said Mukit Hossain, a board member of the Virginia Muslim Political Action Committee, which tracks trends and candidates in local elections."
Jim Webb defeated George Allen by approximately 7,000 votes. I would assume that the majority of those Muslim voters turned out for Webb. The number of Muslims who turned out is 800% more than Webb's narrow margin over Allen. That makes me wonder if they played a strong role in defeating Allen.
Some of the xenophobia from the right has probably cost them this constituency. And given how the fastest growing parts of Virginia are up in the DC suburbs and exurbs, it has a potential to set them back further in the region and the state at large.
The contrast between her dedication and experience in Loudoun and Delgaudio's blather couldn't be greater.