Steve Kornacki: For GOP, Islamophobia is the New Anti-Communism
[Steve Kornacki is the news editor for Salon.]
The difference between Bush’s GOP and Newt’s is one of window dressing only. The Republican Party of the Bush years had the same magnetic allure to Islamophobes as today’s does, even if it didn’t use quite the same inflammatory rhetoric....
Bush’s policies also found vocal support from Islamophobes outside the Christian right. "I have nothing against Islamic people," Dennis Miller told Bill O’Reilly during the Bush years, "but I must say, due to the recent track record, when I'm on a plane and there's a guy anywhere between 20 and 30 who looks vaguely shaky, yes, I'm clocking him for most of the flight." Miller supported and campaigned with Bush in 2004.
That Miller, who supports abortion and gay rights, found common ground with Robertson on Bush’s war on terror illustrates the political power of Islamophobia for the GOP. In many ways, it has become the glue that anti-Communism used to be: a demon that fundamentalist Christians and white ethnic voters from outside the Bible Belt (Reagan Democrats used to be the term for them) can both agree to curse....
Read entire article at Salon
The difference between Bush’s GOP and Newt’s is one of window dressing only. The Republican Party of the Bush years had the same magnetic allure to Islamophobes as today’s does, even if it didn’t use quite the same inflammatory rhetoric....
Bush’s policies also found vocal support from Islamophobes outside the Christian right. "I have nothing against Islamic people," Dennis Miller told Bill O’Reilly during the Bush years, "but I must say, due to the recent track record, when I'm on a plane and there's a guy anywhere between 20 and 30 who looks vaguely shaky, yes, I'm clocking him for most of the flight." Miller supported and campaigned with Bush in 2004.
That Miller, who supports abortion and gay rights, found common ground with Robertson on Bush’s war on terror illustrates the political power of Islamophobia for the GOP. In many ways, it has become the glue that anti-Communism used to be: a demon that fundamentalist Christians and white ethnic voters from outside the Bible Belt (Reagan Democrats used to be the term for them) can both agree to curse....