TPM has the story about how Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) questioned a representative from Muslim Advocates at today’s Senate hearing on protecting the civil rights of Muslim Americans about why her organization didn’t condemn violent rhetoric:
“I wonder if you’ve made any public pronouncement or statement condemning those religious leaders who employed violent or hateful rhetoric or promoted hateful views of other religious groups. Have you done that or has your website done that?”
I’m looking at Senator Kyl’s website right now. Hmm, where’s the condemnation of Bryan Fischer, who many of the presidential hopefuls in Kyl’s party are cozying up to, and who thinks that Muslims don’t have the same constitutional rights as Christians, and that Muslims should be banned from immigrating to the U.S. or building mosques?
And look, Kyl was a guest speaker at one of Frank Gaffney’s events, just last year. Gaffney partners with Lt. General William G. Boykin (Ret.), who believes we need a “spiritual army” to fight Islam. I can’t find anything on Kyl’s website condemning that. Nor can I find anything on Kyl’s website condemning the use of the term “spiritual warfare” to describe a conflict between America and Islam, or the promotion of that term by Boykin, and other religious right leaders, including James Dobson and Gary Bauer. I actually searched Kyl’s site for the word “warfare,” and found only this: “Some on the liberal left seem to think that tax provisions in this bill should implement their particular philosophy of class warfare.”
