Posted on 08/01/2004 8:18:16 AM PDT by SJackson
Edited on 08/01/2004 8:24:03 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
HASHIM Raza is a 38-year-old physician from St. Louis who, like like a majority of Arab- Americans, voted for President Bush in 2000. Raza has voted Republican in every presidential election starting with Ronald Reagan in 1984.
This year, he will vote for Democrat John Kerry. "After 9/11, things started adding up,' he said at a reception Tuesday for Muslim attendees to the Democratic National Convention hosted by the Islamic Society of Boston. "Muslims were unfairly targeted; we were presumed guilty; Ashcroft, Rumsfeld and Cheney acted like they have no use for Muslims. The Republican Party has become a refuge for far right religious extremists. I believe people like Bush senior and (Bob) Dole were moderates. But now I feel the party has excluded me.' A year ago, Arif Gafur, a 52- year-old engineer for Shell Oil in Houston, did not know anything about being a delegate to the convention. Before 9/11, he and many of his professional friends were never involved in politics. But the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, where many Muslims were detained, made him concerned. "America is the best country in the world, but it's not easy to be a Muslim,' he said.
The invasion of Iraq, which Gafur said was "unnecessary,' pushed him and several other South Asian Muslims to register 1,000 voters and elect delegates to district, state and national delegations. Of the about 5,000 delegates to the convention, about 40 are Muslim and six are from Texas, including himself.
"Sometimes, on Middle East policy, Kerry seems to come across as Bush Lite,' Gafur said. "But on domestic policy, with the Patriot Act and the racial profiling of Muslims, the Muslim community was awakened to the fact that we had to get involved.'
Bingo! You nailed it.
We are at war, my friend, and for the sake of protecting this country and millions of Americans, we have to take security measures we all find distasteful. To do otherwise would be foolish and suicidal.
Well said.
No, he isn't, and he didn't vote for W in 2000, either. I smell a sleeper troll.
So getting involved means not fighting terrorism.
I'll go back to the Bush Doctrine - you are either with us or you're against us.
I know one thing. I'm against all Muslims. Period. It's an evil religion. I guess it is tough being a Muslim and living in the United States.
I agree with your worry about the power of the state becoming overweening, etc.. Recently, I decided I was against the death penalty, since it's obscene that the federal govt. which holds such enormous power, can take away your right to exist.
That said, make no mistake about what a Kerry victory means for this country we love. If we don't all get blown to bits through his incompetence, we'd lose each and every one of our freedoms through his stated desire to 'get along' with allies and enemies. This is shorthand for appeasement, and with it comes ignorance, schools that teach only hate, only Islam, no knowledge, burkas, stadiums as execution pits, the Taliban mindset, and the rest of Islam's hate-filled agenda.
In time of war, citizens have to think about what Hillary calls the 'common good'. That means supporting the President and the troops. If we lose this war, all is lost.
You put it in a nutshell. Thanks.
Great reply! Kaping!
The answer to your last question is that we are all Americans and we care about every square inch of this country and even for the right of idiots to vote for Kerry and that hamster, Edwards. That's the point. We're in this together and infighting will only help the enemy. As Mayor Bloomburg just said, we're trying to protect the very freedoms terrorists find so threatening.
Ummmm, no you're not. You're a clear case RINO. No respectable Republican or Conservative would willingly sit out two of the most important elections we've ever faced in America.
That came off as awfully harsh, I may have been replying to the wrong person. If so, I apologize.
Your comments were right on point Yehuda. Thank you.
"Myself, I'm beginning to think of the Islamic faith as less of a religion and more of an ideology much like Nazi-ism and Communism."
That's exactly what it is. It is an evil *system/ mechanism* for completely controlling every aspect of a person's life. Those who go along, live; those who don't, die.
ditto here too!!
You are half right. Maybe no respectable Republican would, but many respectable conservatives will and are staying home this time around. I was part of Toomey's organization, and virtually no one I know in that group is voting for Bush this time. None of these votes are going to Kerry, as far as I know, but Bush burned too many bridges here in Pennsylvania by supporting a very vitriolic and flatout misleading campaign against a good and decent conservative. So I am sitting on my hands and feel quite comfortable doing so. And I did vote for Bush last time around. I miswrote that sentence. I meant to say that I won't vote for either Kerry or Bush this time.
We conservatives did not abandon the party. The party abandoned us. Perhaps Bush will get enough votes from the scared soccer moms and the already rich seniors looking for more government handouts to make up for alienating us. I truly hope so as sKerry is scary in many ways. But there will be advantages to a Kerry presidency from a conservative viewpoint, as I pointed out before.
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