During Monica Goodling's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee testimony Dem congressman Steven Cohen of Tennessee quizzed the former Justice Department official regarding her Christian faith and the law school at Regent University, founded by Pat Robertson, that she attended.
An internet search reveals brief references to the interrogation in articles by Dana Milbank in the Washington Post and Maura Reynolds in the Los Angeles Times. But I saw no coverage of the grilling on any of the morning news shows, nor have CNN or MSNBC picked it up as far as I have noticed.
I'm setting forth the actual transcript below, taken from this article, with the following changes. In place of "Regent" university, I'm substituting the name of an apocryphal Islamic university, which I'm calling "Prophet." In place of Christian or Christianity, I'm substituting Muslim. And in place of God, Allah.
Now imagine what kind of MSM uproar there would have been if a Republican congressman had posed these questions to a person of Muslim faith.
Congressman: And it says you went -- chose Muslim universities in part because they -- value they placed on service. What was the other [reason] that you chose Muslim universities?
Witness: I chose them because I had a faith system, and in some cases -- I went to American University for my first year of law school and then I transferred. And I enjoyed studying with people that shared the similar belief system that I did. It didn't mean that there wasn't a lot of diversity of discussion, because in some cases I actually found that the debate at Prophet was much more vigorous than it was at American University my first year of law school. But I enjoyed being surrounded by people that had the same belief system.
Congressman: The mission of the law school you attended, Prophet, is to bring bear -- "is to bring to bear upon legal education and the legal profession the will of Allah, our Creator." What is "the will of Allah, our Creator" on the legal profession?Witness: I'm not sure that I could define that question for you
Congressman: Did you ask people who applied for jobs as AUSAs anything about their religion?
Witness: No, I certainly did not --
Congressman: Never had religion discussions come up?
Witness: Not to the best of my recollection.
Congressman: Is there a type of student, a type of person that you thought was -- embodied that philosophy of Prophet University that you sought out as AUSAs?Witness: In most cases, the people at Prophet are good people trying to do the right thing, who wanted to make a difference in the world. If the question is, were I looking -- if I was looking for people like that, the answer is yes. I wasn't necessarily looking for people who shared a particular faith system. I don't have any recollection that that entered into my mind at any point. But certainly there are a lot of people who applied to work for this president because they share his same faith system, and they did apply for jobs.
Congressman: Are there a lot of -- an inordinate number of people from Prophet University Law School that were hired by the Department of Justice while you were there?
Witness: I think we have a lot more people from Harvard and Yale.
Congressman: Well, that's refreshing. Is it a fact -- are you aware of the fact that in your graduating class 50 to 60 percent of the students failed the bar the first time?
Witness: I'm not -- I don't remember the statistics, but I know it wasn't good. I was happy I passed the first time.
Congressman: Thank you. That's good.
Is there any doubt that cries of bigotry would be echoing through the land, along with demonstrations, demands that the offending GOP congressman resign, etc? Once again, the MSM demonstrate that traditional Christians remain one of few groups that may be targeted with impunity in our country.
Hat tip: TAL.
Aside: Rep. Cohen, as am I, is Jewish. How would he react if a Jewish appointee who had attended Yeshiva University were grilled in like manner?
Contact Mark at mark@gunhill.net
