To get a Muslim majority in Congress, they'd have to attain 218 members in the House (we'll ignore the Senate). Anyone want to take bets that Virgil hasn't meet more than 20?

PS Nightly News is coming on right now and they're featuring Goode-Ellison.

have video streams of the interview on their websites, if you want to call that an interview.

great post right now in response to the interview: a guide for reporters convering the story on the facts, and what questions to ask.

Goode's not being truthful. If he really believed that his bigoted commentary represents the people of his district, he would have thought it beneficial to crawl out of his hidey hole and run on those issues.

He didn't.  He didn't have the backbone to make these statements outside of BBQ's until he was assured of his seat.  These are Virgil's statements, not those of his constituents.

I don't bother writing the man.  Why should I? I see him as a lost cause.

Waldo points out an article that focuses on one comment of Goode's:
"Uh, I’m not gonna say yes or no on that."

It means a couple of things:

-- I don't want to take the heat for being a frontrunner on this, but I have an urge to push this idea.
-- I know my views are indefensible, but here they are anyway.
-- I have the answer to your question, and I'm not sharing it with you.
-- What I'd like to say violates etiquette.

"I'm not going to say" along with it's variants, isn't a strictly southern figure of speech, but there is a particularist component to it.

Just saying.. :)

Another factor that may not be receiving due consideration is the degree to which Goode takes it as personal offense that he had to defend his seat beyond a formal exercise.  It wasn't as easy for him to drum up big donations because of MZM, but a couple of offshore drillers stepped up to the plate.  They are certainly not friends of the Sierra Club, the recipient of the accidental letter. For all we know there was a little bit of "bite me" attitude behind this particular mailing error.

In this the second day (Friday, December 22, 2006) of the Roanoke Times newspaper's front-page coverage (http://www.roanoke.c...) of 5th District Congressman Virgil Goode's recent letter regarding Muslims in the U. S. and Goode'ss subsequent courthouse press conference yesterday, there is mention that the "...only person turned away was Joe Stanley, the chairman of the Franklin County Democratic Commtitee."

The RT article also mentions that Goode's press conference "...was secured by a number of county sheriff's deputies..." and that "...Goode had requested the security because he wanted to ensure that only members of the media attended."

The article goes on to report that Franklin County Sheriff W. Q. "Quint" Overton "...said Goode had received threats.  Goode declined to comment on that matter."

"'I do not apologize, and I do not retract my letter,'" Goode stated in the RT article, which goes on to report; "Meanwhile, a growing number of Goode's colleagues in the House of Representatives condemned him for the letter."

Please take time to read the entire article at the link provided above.

Thanks!

Steve 

I wish I had the time and money to start up this project: a free progressive print newspaper for the rural areas. Right now that's the missing ingredient.

Circulation is critical, but even if it started out as a monthly with 10-20 boxes in high traffic spots, it would have an enormous impact.

Some seed money would be required, and move to becoming self-sustaining through advertising and donated labor. Something like this could be coordinated with the technology folks so that it's available on line.

If I were a little younger, a little wealthier and a little less risk averse, I would push this myself.  If anyone is up for it, please let me know, because I would love to help move along such a project.

On "Vote Smart" I read some where in his record that he belongs to a group of about 35 Congressmen who are against Immigration. Some since 1998. So far I have not heard any of these Congressmen come forward telling Virgil to apologize.

Does this mean that group feels the same way as Virgil?

I always knew we had bigots, racists and others in our congress but I did not know there were so many and so well organized.