An appearance last night on Alan Colmes' radio show went from bad to barely better for a spokesman with the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Hassan Shibly, executive director of the Florida CAIR branch at Tampa, made an earnest attempt to separate Islamic fanatics responsible for last week's carnage in Paris from genuine Muslims, despite a revealing gaffe right out of the gate.
Shibly was following the predictable left-wing script in calling for Americans to remain "united" in fighting jihadists when he was forced to correct himself --
COLMES (after introducing Shibly as representing the "Center for" American-Islamic Relations): It saddens me, the number of incidents we've seen over the last week since the Paris attacks, of bigotry toward Muslims in the United States. You've got to be really dumbfounded by this.
SHIBLY: It's been horrific. I mean, my office alone has been dealing with about half a dozen hate crimes ...
A number awkwardly comparable to the incidents of mass murder in Paris that preceded the "horrific" incidents in the US. Is it just me or does anyone else discern a suggestion of equivalence here?
SHIBLY: ... credible threats to firebomb mosques ...
Has it been determined if the person or persons behind the alleged threats are Islamist? Based on what we've witnessed for decades, mosques rank high among their favorite targets.
SHIBLY: ... to as one caller said he's going to come and shoot up two-year-old children, hundred-year-old men, he doesn't care if they're quote unquote extremists or not. And it really brought out of the woodworks a lot of xenophobia, a lot of Islamophobia, that's really serving to undermine our nation. What hurts me as an American Muslim is we really just cannot allow our enemies abroad to divide us here at home 'cause if we do we let the terrorists win. We have to stand united against Americans, uh, uh, sorry, we have to stand united as Americans against our common enemy which is terrorist, violence, fear and hate.
Is there a more tiresome cliche these days than we can't (fill in the blank) because this will "we let the terrorists win"? Continued use of this inanity provides terrorists with the victory they so fervently desire.
While Shibly says he's distressed at hatred aimed at Muslims, he made a demonstrably false claim about the frequency of mass killings in the United States committed by those claiming to be motivated by their Christian faith --
COLMES: When you hear, and I'm sure you've heard this many times, where are the Muslims speaking out against ...
SHIBLY: Oh my God ...
COLMES: ... you know, when I put you, I've put CAIR on the show a number of times, I've had a number of people like you making these arguments and yet, is it that the media doesn't put you on enough? Is it that people are just not paying enough attention when you're speaking out against this?
SHIBLY: Yeah, I mean, it's definitely not a sexy meme coming on to condemn ISIS versus somebody shouting out in support of ISIS. I'd get all over the national news if I did that, not that I ever would, they're horrific, they're disgusting, you know, they're evil. But that being said, when Muslims are condemning them it just doesn't get the attention that some crazy idiot extremist who doesn't speak for anybody gets when he goes and says stupid things.
So the important point is this -- people who are saying, where are the Muslims? Just google it -- google 'Muslims condemn violence,' 'Muslims condemn ISIS,' you will find far more condemnations by Muslims against crimes done by other Muslims than you find in any other group. When white supremacists do a mass shooting in this country almost every day, you don't hear white Christian churches issuing condemnations even when it's done in the name of protecting white Christian identity, as has happened ...
Note the sleight-of-hand segue from Shibly claiming that American white supremacists engage in mass shootings "almost every day" -- to Shibly then backpedaling by saying this, uh, "has happened" in the name of Christianity. Which is has -- but nowhere near the frequency he suggests, as even the reliably liberal Colmes pointed out.
