Grover Norquist's Strange Alliance With Radical Islam

The New Republic ^ | November 11, 2001 | Franklin Foer

[testforecho]

Since September, not surprisingly, conservatives once willing to overlook Norquist's alliances have more aggressively aired their grievances. Consider William Murray, head of the Religious Freedom Coalition. He had considered Norquist a comrade, but now makes no secret of his displeasure. "Grover has a very liberated view of Islamic nations," says Murray, somewhat hyperbolically. "So they behead people in the public square. He thinks that's their business. Hey, it's no big deal to have people beheaded for religious crimes." Weyrich, too, has made his unhappiness a matter of public record: "I'm afraid Grover's woefully naive." Even Norquist's weekly confab has become the scene of internecine fighting. At a session earlier this month, Frank Gaffney questioned the presence of terrorist sympathizers at the White House. Norquist exploded, accusing Gaffney of smearing Muslims. Later he choked up as he addressed the meeting and asked Gaffney to stand up and join him in condemning anti-Muslim bigotry. One conservative who witnessed Norquist's tirade says, "His response is powered in part by a sense that this whole edifice he's created is in danger of coming unraveled because of [these groups'] stated and abiding positions."

When I visited Norquist, he was in a similarly embattled frame of mind. He asked me to turn off my tape recorder. Any quote I wanted to use, he told me, would require his approval. There were none of his usual passionate ideological perorations. He just sat in his chair, seething. "There are some people who spit on Muslims and wouldn't like to see them have any role in American politics," he told me in a near scream. Grover Norquist's pursuit of the fabled Republican-Muslim alliance, it seems, will continue for a long time.

FRANKLIN FOER is an associate editor at TNR.

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Let me just note that I'm not the biggest fan of Grover anyway. So this doesn't shock me. I remember reading his boasts about the muslim vote earlier this year and wondering what planet he was on. (Maybe the same solar system as Jude Wanniski)

[veronica]

Interesting. Sounds like he's headed for Buchanan/Sobran world.

[Politico2]

bttt

[Map Kernow]

The vain conceit of the Republican Party ever since they lost their nerve over the budget in 1995 is that they can "target" ethnic voting blocs and bring them into the Republican rather than Democrat fold. It has led to proposals for amnesty for illegal immigrants designed to pull in "Hispanic voters," and various "wink and nod" initiatives designed to peel away "gay voters" from the Democrats. In the process, they've compromised or appeared to compromise long-held Republican principles about American sovereignty, the rule of law, and the importance of family and moral values. Their attitude seems to be that "values" are negotiable when the

But this initiative promises to be the most dangerous one of all. Flirting with the Islamicist extremists who bill themselves as "spokesmen" for the American Muslim community in order to get more votes will profoundly corrupt the Republican Party and be a disaster for America. For one thing, it will take the Republican Party not simply in an anti-Israel direction, but in a direction inimical to Western Civilization itself. America already has one party dedicated to the destruction of our moral, religious and political heritage. She will be doomed with two such parties.

[donozark]

Grover Norquist was elected to NRA Board of Directors in Spring, 2000.

[Cachelot]

The plot sickens...

[veronica]

Now I know why he planted that phony piece in The American Spectator about Muslims voting en masse for GWB, complete with inflated numbers of Muslims in the US.

[Aaron_A]

Interesting read....

[xm177e2]

Norquist a weasel, a "market marxist" if you will, he wants to ally even the most extreme Muslims with the right to get their votes.

[veronica]

More on the Secret Evidence Repeal Act:: and The events of 9-11

[muleboy]

Sounds like Grover realizes that America's self-interest would be furthered more by developing closer relations with Muslims, here and abroad, than by continuing to placate, appease, American Jews, who vote overwhelmingly Democratic, and the state of Israel, whose policies are a perpetual pain in the backside.

[denydenydeny]

There is coalition-building, and then there is treason. Grover is very close to crossing that line.

[veronica]

Actually it sounds like Grover's subterfuge is backfiring on him bigtime.

[XGMan]

No surprise here. Norquist's needs for cash and power overrides all else.
Wonder if he's still a foreign agent for that money laundering haven ?

[muleboy]

It sounds more like The New Republic's casting Grover's activities in their most negative light. As there MAY be as many Muslims in the U.S. as there are Jews, and as our economy depends on oil from Muslim countries, and as we are now faced with the necessary task of eradicating the threat of Muslim extremists, we also have the incredible opportunity to reshape the cultures of the Arab states in our favor.

Grover and the Pro-Muslim forces in this country are now suffering an embarassment, as did the Pro-Israel lobby did in 1967. It will pass, and America will benefit enormously from the coming, and long overdue, new balance.

[Sabertooth]

Bump

[veronica]

So old Grover's now sitting in his armchair screaming. Bet he stays in his pajamas all day more often than he used to, too.

[muleboy]

As he will prevail during the coming decade or two, Grover has earned the right to get comfortable.

[veronica]

Yeah....him, Sobran, Reese and Buchanan LOL.

[beckett]

Norquist will have to do better than "[sit] in his chair, seething." This can turn into quite a problem. As more and more evidence surfaces about the long term anti-American agenda promulgated in several mosques around the country (see Daniel Pipes), any association between that agenda and The Republican Party is highly damaging to the party.