[Perlstein]

>I find it incredibly hypocritical that the left almost universally thinks >that any reference to one's faith or God's will in a conservative >>Christian is a sign of lunacy or dementia, yet the rabid, obsessive >devotion to one's faith, even to extremes of death, in Muslims is seen to be a sign of character and sincerity.

Sender, find me one example of a person on the left who finds a rabid devotion to Islam even to extremes of death a sign of character or sincerity. If you find three, I'll buy you a steak dinner. Though that would be far from enough to suggest "the left" believes this "almost universally."

By the way, prior to 9/11, you could find much praise of Muslim devotion among conservatives. Grover Norquist almost got into quite a bit of trouble for it, if I recall.

Rick Perlstein

[Howlin]

I think we are being trolled for a new article.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Sender, find me one example of a person on the left who finds a rabid devotion to Islam even to extremes of death a sign of character or sincerity.

I'm sure there aren't any. It's more the old "enemy of my enemy is my friend" philosophy that leads many on the left (even radical feminists) to overlook Islamic atrocities, entranced by all of that powerful, wonderful anti-American sentiment they see on their TV screens.

Conservatives did praise Muslim devotion ad nauseam before 9/11. Hopefully they have learned the error of their ways.

[dead]

Sender, find me one example of a person on the left who finds a rabid devotion to Islam even to extremes of death a sign of character or sincerity.

That’s easy:

"We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it's not cowardly." -- Bill Maher, Politically Incorrect

In addition to praising their devotion to the death, Maher was also wrong. If you sincerely believe that, by murdering tens of thousands, you will be rewarded with paradise, it takes absolutely no courage to murder those people. What it really takes is a bizarre form of greed.

[dead]

And another:

"Americans can't admit that you need courage to do such a thing. For that might be misunderstood. The key thing is that we in America are convinced that it was blind, mad fanatics who didn't know what they were doing. But what if those perpetrators were right and we were not?"
-- Norman Mailer on the 911 attacks

[normy]

"We've got to ask, why is this man (Osama bin Laden) so popular around the world?," said Murray, who faces re-election in 2004. "Why are people so supportive of him in many countries ? that are riddled with poverty? "He's been out in these countries for decades, building schools, building roads, building infrastructure, building day care facilities, building health care facilities, and the people are extremely grateful. We haven't done that. "How would they look at us today if we had been there helping them with some of that rather than just being the people who are going to bomb in Iraq and go to Afghanistan?" Patty Murray US Senate Dem.

[Sender]

Well the left rarely makes the specific remark that faith and obsession among Muslims is somehow different from that among Christians (and Jews also), but the treatment of the two certainly has been different.

Whenever Bush or other Christians are written about, you see terms like 'dangerous' and 'theocracy' and a general atmosphere of dumb bungling and trailer-trash simplicity. It's as if the left really does think they are intellectually superior to conservative Christians and that Christianity itself is some kind of low-IQ quaalude for the troubled yet simple minded.

However, while they may feel similar concerns about fundamental Islam, the tone of most of their writing is different. Palestinian terrorists are 'understandable'. Iraqi terrorists are 'resistance fighters'. Islamic customs such as making women wear hefty bags and chopping off body parts or stoning people to death as punishment for minor crimes are not condemned in nearly the rabid fashion they would be if a Christian suggested such jurassic ideas. It is just their faith. Imams and dictatorial leaders are not spoken of in the same dumb, bungling, stupid fantasy stereotype assigned to Bush and other conservative Christians.

I'll look for some concrete examples. I like my steak medium, with a loaded baked potato and a good draft beer.