Anti-Muslim rhetoric & religious baiting this election season

The amount of anti-Muslim rhetoric that seeks to use Islamophobia to gain votes has been totally unreal this election season. See comments below:

1/2/08 – Rudy Giuliani’s new ad “Ready” appeals to fear of Muslims by using menacing imagery.
Transcript:

An enemy without borders
hate without boundaries
A people perverted
A religion betrayed
A nuclear power in chaos
Madmen bent on creating it
Leaders assassinated
Democracy attacked
And Osama bin laden still making threats
In a world where the next crisis is a moment away
America needs a leader who’s ready
I’m rudy Giuliani and I approve this message.
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12/31/07 – New Hampshire – The Concord Monitor reports that New Hampshire Veterans for Giuliani co-chair John Deady has quit his position following reports that he told The Guardian of London, “[Giuliani]’s got I believe the knowledge and the judgment to attack one of the most difficult problems in current history and that is the rise of the Muslims, and make no mistake about it, this hasn’t happened for a thousand years. These people are very dedicated and they’re also very, very smart in their own way. We need to keep the feet to the fire and keep pressing these people until we defeat or chase them back to their caves or in other words get rid of them.”

The Monitor adds, “When asked if he was referring to all Muslims, Deady told the paper, ‘I don’t subscribe to the principle that there are good Muslims and bad Muslims.'”

In a release addressing the issue Ahmed Rehab, a spokesman for CAIR said, “There is no need to point out why these chilling comments have absolutely no place in the public or political discourse of a serious presidential campaign – that’s obvious. The troubling reality is they were made by a representative of Giuliani’s campaign and he has yet to repudiate them. His silence sends a terrible message.”
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11/27/07 –

Mitt Romney would decline to appoint an American Muslim to a cabinet position because of their low percentage of the population.
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11/18/07 –

Tom Tancredo said Europe has already become “to a large extent, Islamicized. And that is worrisome.”

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11/13/07 – Tom Tancredo releases ad depicting fictional terrorist attack.

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10/12/07 –

Mitt Romney releases ad in Iowa entitled “Jihad”, in which he vows to fight terrorists and confront Iran.

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9/20/07 –

Peter King (R-NY) said there are too many mosques in America and they haven’t been cooperating with law enforcement.

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8/5/07 – Republican Presidential Candidate Tom Tancredo defended his earlier comments while campaigning in Iowa that an attack on Muslim holy sites in Mecca and Medina is an appropriate response to a terrorist attack.

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10/1/07 – John McCain stated he would prefer a Christian president and that the Constitution established America as a “Christian nation.”

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8/8/07 – Congressman Bill Sali (R-ID) believes the nation’s founding fathers would not have approved of a Muslim Congressman or a Hindu prayer being read before the US Senate.

• Islamophobia