MSNBC - straight-talking *MUSLIM* Dem House candidate tells it like it is

[BigBearJohn]

KEITH ELLISON - Muslim Democrat running in Minnesota for the House of Representatives
answers Tweety's questions honestly:

Tweety: If elected, will you vote to impeach the President? Answer: YES
Tweety: Why? Answer: 1) lied us into war; 2) condoned torture; 3) the Plame incident to name a few.
(these are NOT exact quotes, but close enough)

Finally a Democrat candidate who is upfront with his answers. I LOVED IT.

[Red Right and BLUE]

1. Hope he wins!

FINALLY, some brutal truth and backbone.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. His chances are excellent.

MN 5th (Minneapolis area) is VERY blue, and his asshat (R) opponent is almost completely unknown.

[me b zola]

6. Ellison says that Wellstone is his mentor

I saw Ellison interviewed yesterday (I believe it was wolf) and this morning on Democracy Now!. I'm impressed with this guy and hope like hell he gets in to Congress!

:bounce:

[goodhue]

23. You hope is almost a certainty

Republican congressional candidates in the 5th generally poll about 25%.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

He's gonna be MY Congressman!

Woo hoo! How cool is that?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. Mine too!

:7

[Minnesota_Lib]

10. Mine as well

:bounce: :toast: :party:

[ananda]

17. I wish he were going to be mine..

.. and not sucky Culberson.

[goodhue]

20. Your wish can come true.

If you move to Minneapolis. :-)

[myrna minx]

13. Mine too.

:toast: :bounce:

[goodhue]

14. me too

There are a lot of happy progressives in Minneapolis this week, knowing we will be well represented by Keith.

[IronLionZion]

22. Damn, I'm a stone's throw from his district

I'm in Bloomington.

[Kagemusha]

2. Others will read this and become despondent.

But, that's democracy for you. If the candidacy of a mere single Muslim is enough to derail the entire Democratic campaign, there's not much oomph to it in the first place.

[Mz Pip]

3. I was impressed with him

He didn't double talk his answers. Said what he believed and wouldn't let Tweety nail him for something he wrote 20 years ago. "I would hope that we have both grown in the last 20 years" when explaining his change of opinion.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[knowbody0]

5. IMO< any candidate speaking this speak

will win. AmeriKa is waking up, no longer numb from 911.

[AnnieBW]

7. Inshallah...

Inshallah this guy wins. :)

[PsychoDad]

18. Inshallah

:)


Peace.

[Beelzebud]

8. Tweety enraged me with this interview. Please read:

The man is a muslim, from Minnesota.

Chris asks the guy if "Palestinians that were cheering what happend on 9/11" were right or wrong


WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING?

The guy is from Minnesota, not the middle east...

I wonder how tweaty would react if I asked him, since he's christian, if Timothy McVeigh was right or wrong, or was Fallwell correct when he said we deserved 9/11 because of the "gays and lesbians"?

What a fucking farce...

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. Besides, the "Palestinians were cheering" video was a crock

Recall that the same clip of the same half dozen people was shown all day on CNN and other "news" stations.

A few months later, a DUer (can't remember who) pointed us to the website of Deutsche Welle (the German broadcasting company), which showed the WHOLE video, not just the expert that was played in heavy rotation for Americans.

It started the same as the one we all saw, but then the camera pulled back to reveal that it really was just a half dozen people on a busy street with everyone else on the street just walking by and paying no attention.

One report I read interviewed the people portrayed in the video, including a couple of children, who had been told that they would get candy if they jumped around and cheered.

Unfortunately, I lost these links when my computer died, so I have to rely on memory.

[Roy]

12. straight-talking *MUSLIM* Dem House candidate tells it like it is

That was nothing.

The sweetest part of the interview was the obvious pain at Tweetys' obvious disappointment in his inability to make him tremble and obfuscate with his intimidating inquisition style questions and tone.

He done good!

[snappyturtle]

15. Yesterday in the Minneapolis Star Tribune...

I read about Keith Ellison's opponents questioning his Muslim background!!!! I really thought MN was more liberally minded than that. He doesn't flaunt his religious beliefs but does answer about it when questioned. What do people want? I think he is great....loved him last night with Tweety.

[cigsandcoffee]

16. I'm not going to cheer him for being religious.

There's enough of that in politics already. I do hope he wins one for progressive values, though, and doesn't legislate with his religion in mind.

[goodhue]

19. Keith doesn't want people to focus on his religion

He has reprensented his legislative district in the MN house for two terms and the fact that he happens to be muslim has rarely come up. Many of his supporters were not even aware that he happened to be muslim until this spring when the congressional campaign began, and the press started asking about it. At first Keith was a little taken aback that he had to talk about it at all. Throughout the summer he has had to talk about it, and will do so when asked, but his perspective is merely that it is a religious choice and should not be any big deal.

His interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now yesterday morning captures his sentiment . . .

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/14/1351249

* * *

AMY GOODMAN: If you are elected to Congress, you will be the first African American elected to federal office, in addition to being the first Muslim member of Congress.

KEITH ELLISON: Yeah, well, you know, that's, I think, an interesting thing, but the point that I’ve been making all along in this race is that what we share is more important than the differences between us, that we all need peace. We all need an Iraq policy that makes sense, as opposed to this crazy quagmire war. We all need universal healthcare coverage, and we all need to stop the middle class squeeze, which has left our wages and our pay declining in Bush’s America. Now, that's something that doesn't hinge on religion or color. It's something we all have to focus on, and that’s what I’m going to focus on.

* * *

AMY GOODMAN: Keith Ellison, what made you decide to convert to Islam?

KEITH ELLISON: It's just a religious choice.

AMY GOODMAN: And do you see any significance in that, with Jim Zogby, for example, the well-known pollster, a Lebanese American, talking about Muslims now as a force, not just a group of people in this country, but a political force?

KEITH ELLISON: Well, certainly, you know, when we went out to knit together the coalition to win this election, you know, Muslim Americans were an important part of it. You know, we went to the people in the peace and justice community. We went to GBLT. We went to African Americans who are overwhelmingly Christian. And we also went to the Muslim community, and we went to the Somali community. We went to the Middle Eastern community. And we were very deliberate and purposeful about saying, “Look, you know, let the Muslim voice be heard. Shape America. Help shape America to be a country in which everyone counts and everyone matters.” And they overwhelmingly said, “Yeah, we want to be a part of that.

And so, yeah, Jim Zogby is right. And so is John -- they’re correct. You know, we're talking about a constituency that wants to be heard, wants to be part of the American political scene, wants to engage in change through the ballot box. And, you know, as I said, my first goal is to represent the people of the fifth congressional district, but if my candidacy would help Muslims feel a greater part of the American political scene, then that's a great thing. And if my candidacy would show Americans that Muslims are here to contribute to this country, then that's a great thing, too.

* * *

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/14/1351249

[IronLionZion]

21. The greatest thing about Keith Ellison

is that he's going to win this election. You can write it down. The fact that he's a good guy and a fighter makes me all the more happy.

[Benfea]

24. Woot! -NT