Bush kicks off Muslim strategy for reelection

World Tribune ^ | 7/28/03

[truthandlife]

President George Bush has launched an outreach effort to win Muslim support for his reelection campaign in 2004.

One of the organizations the president is courting has opposed the listing of Hamas and other Islamic groups as terrorist organizations. The administration has been considering a proposal that would preserve Hamas as a political movement while eliminating its military wing, officials said.

On Thursday, the president met Yahya Mossa Basha, chairman of the American Muslim Council, during Bush's appearance in Michigan, Middle East Newsline reported. Basha delivered a letter to Bush on behalf of the American Muslim community.

The letter was reported to outline the positions of American Muslim leaders on the Arab-Israeli conflict and other Middle East issues. The AMC has opposed the listing by the State Department of such Islamic insurgency groups as Hamas, Hizbullah and Islamic Jihad as terrorist organizations.

"The majority in the American Muslim community voted for President Bush in the presidential election of 2000," the AMC said in a statement. "The community believes that the Muslim vote, and hard work and efforts of many Muslim activists in the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign played a decisive role in the victory for the president."

The officials said the White House regards the Muslim vote as a key element in the campaign.

Among the U.S. agencies meeting with the Muslim community have been the State Department, Treasury Department and the FBI. Basha has met officials on such issues as U.S. policy in the Middle East and the freezing of assets of groups that support Hamas and others on the terrorist list.

[truthandlife]

Does everyone still think Rove is a genius?

[Clemenza]

Do you think this means that Bush will spend a lot of time here in Bay Ridge? He better be careful if he brings his motorcade down Fifth Avenue in this nabe, lest some Saddam/Party of God/Hezbollah symphathizers get too cocky.

[Types_with_Fist]

I know Bush is a "good guy" and "better than Clinton," but I've been disturbed ever since shortly after 9/11, when he visited a mosque and praised "peaceful Islam" even while body parts were being pulled from the destroyed towers.

[Shermy]

I smell Grover Norquist?

[BenR2]

Does everyone still think Rove is a genius?


/////////////
Of course. Yes.

(And a convert to Islam, as well.)

[twigs]

His capture of the Muslim vote, who now outnumber the Jews in this country, put him over the top in the Florida election and got him to the White House. Bush is a brilliant politician and he knows that he needs them. I personally want him to be re-elected and while I do not agree with everything he does, I do not see this negatively. He needs to get votes. In the meantime, I saw a thread here just in the past day or two that said that Muslim deportations are on the rise. This president doesn't see the need to rush to the microphone and announce to the world that he has done yet something else as president. He does it quietly. I continue to trust him.

[truthandlife]

I agree that the object of an election is to get elected. I just think this "Big Tent" philosophy will backfire in a lot of ways. Many conservatives on this forum are getting to be "luke warm" or cold to Bush and there is no way Bush can win this election unless he fires up his base. The foot soldiers are the ones he needs most. Hopefully Bush has something up his sleave to fire up his base but I am not holding my breath.

[Noachian]

Pandering to the Muslims didn't do the French any good, and if Bush tries his own brand of pandering to Muslims we'll wind up being another France.

If Bush thinks that the Muslim vote is more important then his base of Christian voters he's sadly mistaken.

[Courier]

Fifteen of Nineteen Saudis support Bush for President

[veronica]

His capture of the Muslim vote, who now outnumber the Jews in this country, put him over the top in the Florida election and got him to the White House.

Excuse me? Got some specifics, stats, etc., regarding "the Muslim vote putting Bush over the top in Florida"?

One *fact* I can share, is that Bush LOST Michigan, the state with the most Arabs in the US.

[risk]

>>>> Does everyone still think Rove is a genius?

No, never did, never will.

[truthandlife]

I remember Rove getting off the plane the day before the election saying he was very confident they would win. He told some that it would be a landslide. Seems to me he would have factored the illegal vote a little more than he did.

[Uncle Bill]

"Does everyone still think Rove is a genius?"

Yes, for losing.

[veronica]

"The majority in the American Muslim community voted for President Bush in the presidential election of 2000," the AMC said in a statement. "The community believes that the Muslim vote, and hard work and efforts of many Muslim activists in the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign played a decisive role in the victory for the president."

What a crock...

[Paul Ross]

Yep. And Michigan was a state, with a Republican Governor, we were supposed to win, and handily.

[AuH2ORepublican]

"One *fact* I can share, is that Bush LOST Michigan, the state with the most Arabs in the US."

---

Most Arabs in Michigan are Christian, not Muslim. And Bush carried Dearborn, the city in Michigan with the highest concentration of Arabs. Bush lost Michigan because suburban pro-choice "Republicans" voted for Al Gore, while blue-collar pro-life Democrats didn't cross over to vote for Bush in large enough numbers. The Muslims had absolutely nothing to do with what happened in Michigan in 2000.

[AuH2ORepublican]

"Pandering to the Muslims didn't do the French any good, and if Bush tries his own brand of pandering to Muslims we'll wind up being another France."

---

True, but I don't think Bush is going to pander to Muslims. He's just going to seek their votes. There are plenty of reasons why individual Muslims should vote for Bush, just as there are for individual Jews and (of course) individual Christians.

[veronica]

You provide no back-up for your claims. The fact is Bush lost Michigan, so the Arab and Muslim vote helped him nada there.

[caltrop]

I'm pretty sure Rove, whether a genius or not, is smart enought to recognize the Republicans have been chasing the Jewish vote for some time without success. If he figures his down side is losing votes he can't get anyway, why not reach out to the Muslim vote?

[onyx]

This is a totally fallacious headline! Read the article.

POTUS met with the arab/muslim rep., and said rep. gave him a muslim wish list. BFD.

POTUS agreed to NOTHING!