Rick Perry And Islamism

Sultan Knish has a fairly balanced look at Governor Rick Perry and Islam ( h/t, my pal Terresa at The Noisy Room via twitter). Here's a slice:

Some questions have been raised about Rick Perry's views on Islam. Islamic infiltration into American politics means that every candidate deserves close scrutiny. My purpose is not to attack Perry, but to conduct a preliminary discussion of the subject. Pamela Geller and Debbie Schlussel have written their own articles, which add more pieces to the puzzle. As with every candidate, the discussion will go on as more materials are brought forward.

First of all it's important to recognize that the Rick Perry question, is also the Chris Christie question, it's the question that comes with every governor from a state with a large and politically active Muslim population. This question will have more serious implications as the size of the Muslim population expands even further.

The multicultural pandering that used to be associated with the Tammany Hall political machine has become second nature in American politics. There is hardly a governor who does not pay lip service to diversity or do roundups of all the religious groups in America. That's an unfortunate reality.

The initial good news is that Rick Perry did not try to influence the judicial system on behalf of a member of a terrorist organization, or appoint a terrorist Imam's political affiliate to a superior court judgeship the way that Christie did.

The worst thing he seems to have done is played footsie with the Aga Khan and appointed one of his people to the State Health Council. He also seems to have met with a group of black clergy, which included a Nation of Islam minister, and made the usual trips to Dubai to talk up trade and academic exchanges.

In this context, I should mention that the Aga Khan is head of the Ismaili sect of Islam, a moderate group considered apostates by most Sunni and Shia. No Ismaili has ever been connected to terrorist or jihadist activities to my knowledge.

As Knish points out, some of Governor Perry's other associations, some of which involved supporters of the new Texas laws on the selling of halal meat are not so innocuous.

Governor Perry is an Evangelical Christian and strong supporter of Israel,but as Sultan Knish points out, so was George W. Bush. And it didn't stop President Bush from pandering to Islamist groups here in America, turning a blind eye to Saudi-funded Muslim Brotherhood fronts to the point where it hampered our war effort or pressuring Israel for strategic concessions to the 'Palestinians' or a ceasefire that essentially saved Hezbollah from annihilation.

At this point, it would be premature to compare Governor Perry too closely to President Bush, just as it would be dishonest to say that a Bush-style presidency wouldn't be an improvement over what we have in the White House now.

But the Perry candidacy needs close watching,especially as more facts come out and Governor Perry is asked to clarify where he stands on certain things.

I'm not particularly willing to settle for George W. Bush redux. And I don't think the country's best interests would be served by it either.

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