Saturday, September 17, 2011

GOP & Tea Party Voices Respond to Montgomery Dems // Fred Grandy For Governor in 2014

Earlier this week, Maryland Juice released a letter from a number of Montgomery County Democrats blasting the County's GOP. Several officials have taken issue with their choice of speaker for a September 24th Chevy Chase Republican Women's Club event: former Congressman Fred Grandy. Other recent events featuring Mr. Grandy have been cancelled in Virginia, presumably because he uses terrorism as an excuse to stoke fear of innocent Muslims living in America (note: he was canned from his WMAL radio show because of this).

Even still, Tea Party and GOP voices are thumbing their noses at the County Democrats' letter. Maryland Juice highlights a few responses below, but we are kicking off the series with the following Twitter message from Red Montgomery blogger Caleb. Perhaps controversy and the resulting exposure are motivating Grandy's speaking tour. If so, he may be taking notes from Sarah Palin's playbook:

Maryland Juice hopes the GOP chooses Grandy. Good luck in 2014!
The Potomac Tea Party has jumped to the GOP's defense and is even encouraging residents to get their fill of Fred Grandy:
Reminder!  If you can’t hear the Grandy’s in Chevy Chase, note that you will have another opportunity on October 29th at the Maryland Conservative Action Network Conference in Annapolis, here.   Early registration ends September 30th!
A blog called the Libertarian Republican responded to Maryland Juice's characterization of this incident as "extremism" with the following note:
Editor's comment "GOP extremists" we wear that label proudly here at LR, and fully support Rep. Grandy.
County Republicans are screaming bloody murder about the Democrats' complaints and have joined the Tea Party in writing them off as censorship. Montgomery GOP Chair Mark Uncapher on this blog and the GOP's website makes no apologies for those engaging in this sort of race-baiting. Instead, he blames former Delegate Saqib Ali for complaining and states that Mr. Ali should "stop denying the obvious existence of this threat."

Meanwhile, a recent Gazette article covering the controversy noted the following response from the Montgomery GOP:
Manda Ervin, an Iranian-American and founder of the American Islamic Leadership Coalition, said she is friends with women in the GOP club and is speaking up on Grandy’s behalf, although she stopped short of calling herself a spokeswoman.

“We are living in America and the Constitution of this country gives people of this country freedom of speech and freedom of assembly,” Ervin said. “And everybody has the right to speak their opinion and so does Mr. Grandy.”
Interestingly, Ms. Ervin is an activist on Sharia-related issues. One blogger captured this comment from her to the press (on an unrelated issue):
Said Manda Ervin...head of the Maryland-b­ased Alliance of Iranian Women: "Many of us fled the Muslim world to escape Shariah law. ... We do not wish these laws to follow us here."
Even still, this posture from the County Republicans is a bit misleading and does not address the real problem. Nobody doubts that they should have the right to choose their own speakers, but the public has a right to question what is motivating them to highlight "Creeping Shariasm" as a problem in America (let alone in Maryland or Chevy Chase)?

Notably, MoCo Democrats have not called for censorship and are instead hosting a counter-dialogue earlier on the day of the GOP event. They have invited Mr. Grandy (or a proxy) to speak. We await their response:
Have You Heard about the “Creeping Shariah” Controversy?

Recently many Conservatives have been pushing the idea that American Muslims are trying to take over the country and subvert the Constitution by implementing strict Islamic law known as “Shariah.” This idea has been taken root in many Republican-controlled state legislatures throughout the country. It has been vigorously opposed by the ACLU and many Jewish, Muslim and Christian groups.

Former Congressman and “Love Boat” actor Fred Grandy is a leader in the “Creeping Shariah” movement. He has been invited by the Chevy Chase Republicans Women’s Club to speak on September 24th. Concerned residents of Montgomery County seek to engage
Grandy or the Republicans in a public debate. You can decide for yourself if their concern is justified or just an excuse to harass a minority community.

Is “Creeping Shariah” a Real Threat or a Trumped Up Scare Tactic?
Saturday September 24th, 11am – 1pm
Wisconsin Place Community Center  |  5311 Friendship Blvd.  |  Chevy Chase, MD 20815

Invited Speakers:
  • Maryland State Senator & Professor of Constitutional Law, American University Jamie Raskin
  • Former Congressman Fred Grandy (or any designated representative)
  • National Legislative Director, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Corey Saylor
  • Civil liberties activist Thomas Nephew (MCCRC)
RSVP Requested: mococivilrights@gmail.com.

Placards, signs, etc are welcome.

To learn more visit: http://tinyurl.com/Creeping-Shariah

Event co-sponsored by Montgomery County Civil Rights Coalition (MCCRC)
What say you, GOP/Tea Party? Will you attend?

10 comments:

  1. The Republican party is veering wildly into paranoid anti-Muslim territory. This is happening at the National, State and Local levels.
    Examples such as Herman Cain's pledge to exclude Muslims from his cabinet, Bob Turner's use of the Park51 center against David Weprin and Allen Wests constant screeds against CAIR send a loud message to American Muslims that they are unwelcome.

    These un-American bullies will keep at it if there is no firm pushback against them. So we have to stand strong and expose their fearmongering with heavy doses of the truth.

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  2. Fear-based politics and discrimination against Muslim Americans and those perceived to be Muslim disgrace the memories of those who perished on September 11, and desecrate the core values that make our nation great. Sharia law is no different than the Canon law of the Christian faith or The Torah which literally translates as "The Law." It is clearly written in the Quran 2:256,"There is no compulsion in religion."This idea has only been propagated by radicals such as Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly who have no knowledge of what Islam is truly about.

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  3. Anti-Muslim bigotory has no place in this great country. All those who profess self proclaimed accusations against Muslims are ignorant. Fred Gandy is a known anti-Muslim and has no courage to debate on self created controversy against muslims. The Marylanders dare him to run for Governor, we will clobber this bigot to a point of no return.

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  4. Chicken-Hawks like Fred Grandy talk tough. But when challenged to a public debate they will always run and hide. He knows his ideas won't hold up in a public debate. That's why he has to go around giving his hateful speeches in secret as he is doing with the Chevy Chase Republican's Womens' club (The location of that meeting is secret and it isn't open to the public)

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  5. There is no room in politics to create discrimination against any group. What these people have created is a false fear and trying to take advantage of innocent people. This is not america. we are a nation of people who have come together. there is not many places in the world has a melting pot of many cultures and coexisted in peace and hold such stability. Bigotry is not something that should be allowed in politics. our leaders have to understand that the Muslims who live in this country love america. Those who preach hate are the terrorist who hate peace and understanding between people. People who create these imaginative fears need to learn about Islam because their knowledge of it is probably from a back of a cereal box.
    Those who preach hate and support hate are not Americans.
    In the words of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.:

    "Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true."

    There is no room in our government for hate. we can see from our own american history what hate and fear has lead us to. We should learn from our ancestors who taught us we should never preach hatred for it will only hurt others.

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  6. while i believe in freedom of expression and that everyone has a right to say his say,i also believe that freedom of expression should be for everyone as long as its not causing harm to community in which we live in. Having said that singling out specific group of people and spreading rhetoric about them is not going to do justice to vast majority of peaceful minds belonging to that community !!!!!

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  7. While hate speech is legal, the use of Hate speech is clear sign of a morally bankrupt person or group. The Taliban also started their activities with hate speech, and look where they are now. We must as Americans not allow hate mongers to have any relevance in our society. Hate is not a part of any faith and clearly not a part of American fabric. Bigotry against anyone should be universally rejected. We Americans are better than to listen to the hate and fear mongering by the extremist Republican groups. Actually the Republican Party needs to take back their party which has traditionally been a party of values and Hate certainly was not a part of those values.

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  8. The whole idea of Muslims trying to overtake the Constitution and impose Sharia on the wider American public is ludicrous. The right wing elements are once again using fear and alienating and generalizing a group of Americans that offer much in terms of education, professionalism, and culture.

    The bills that have been proposed in many states banning Sharia are unconstitutional in themselves because they are banning people from actually practicing their religion in their daily lives.

    Hate mongering must be limited by using the truth and standing up for the truth. The Republicans, like Rational Thinking, must take back their party because they have allowed it to be hijacked by extremists on the right.

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  9. Racism is stupidity's recourse. There are plenty of stupid people in this world.

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  10. These low-brow fear mongering bigots do have a right to free speech in America, but guess what? So do I. I have the right to be disgusted with their propaganda and voice my opinion. I have the right to speak out against them promoting baseless discrimination in schools and in the workplace.

    For those of us working in harmony side by side with fellow government workers of any faith or lack there of, their arguments just sound ridiculous. Furthermore, their so called experts' misuse and general misunderstanding of the words sharia and jihad prove their own ignorance.

    The base of the problem lies in the language. Not only what they are saying, but words and phrases the hate mongers themselves have invented. Terms like "Islamic extremist" wedge the whole argument against reason. (We have David Horowitz to thank for most of them) I think we need new words to describe these people and their passion for truthiness.

    Sometimes bigot just isn't strong enough. These monomaniacal jerks need a label designed specifically to describe their condition. In a battle with fists, the guy with the best punch combo wins. In a battle of words, the guy with the best words wins.

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