COMMENTARY | As The Daily Caller reported, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, claimed on the Jay Leno show, “Michele Bachmann hates Muslims.” Paul is correct, as Bachmann has consistently exhibited her animosity against Muslims. The Minnesota Independent noted Bachmann applauded Rep. Steven King, R-N.Y., and his investigation into “radical Islam” and Muslims in the U.s., at which Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., testified, noting American Muslims stood with non-Muslims in horror on 9/11 and were as patriotic as any other U.S. citizen. Bachmann was quick to denounce Ellison, who is a Muslim, and has for years after falsely claiming Imams flew into the U.S. to celebrate his election to Congress.
Bachmann has been careful in making too many disparaging comments since June because of the impending Iowa caucus, but in 2005, the Minnesota representative exposed her true feelings by snubbing her Muslim constituents when she declared Muslims in Europe were “taking over” and destroying the fabric of Europe; Bachmann commented that “not all cultures are created equal” and Muslims were “diminishing” Western advances.
For years Muslims in Bachmann’s district have felt betrayed and blamed for everything that has gone wrong. In 2009, Bachmann twice stood up a group of her Muslim constituents after a Republican Muslim activist, Ikram Ul Huq, arranged for a meeting with their Congressional representative.
As the Muslim Observer noted on Dec. 8, Bachmann has neither demonstrated a capacity to engage the American Muslim community nor shown the capacity to understand and respect diversity. She has questioned Obama’s “Muslim interests” for having an “outreach to Muslims,” has been “dissing Muslims all over Minnesota” and repeatedly agreed to sit down with Bryan J. Fischer (as one of his regular guests on his radio program) and discuss the Muslim “issue” especially after Fischer tweeted: “First Amendment written to protect free exercise of Christianity, not Islam. Islam has only the liberty we extend to it out of courtesy” on Facebook.
Bachmann’s callous disregard for her Muslim constituents is not unique nor extreme in comparison to other Americans. Far worse than Bachmann on the issue of Muslims in the U.S., Newt Gingrich boldly stepped forward to denounce Muslims. On June 13, 2011, Gingrich declared Muslims should “be treated like Nazis” as seen on YouTube.