CAIR's Double Standards

Last week, I predicted that Dennis Prager would get criticized for his column about Keith Ellison. This week, I'm proven right. Actually, it isn't just that he's being criticized. It's much worse:

A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today called for the removal of a presidential appointee to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council because of his intolerant views toward Islam in American society.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) urged that talk show host and columnist Dennis Prager be removed from the taxpayer-supported museum's council because of a recent syndicated column in which he wrote that Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, should be prevented from taking his oath of office using the Quran.
(President Bush recently appointed Prager to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, the governing board of the Holocaust Memorial Museum, for the remainder of a five year term expiring January 15, 2011.)

This is one of CAIR's time-tested techniques whenever anyone says anything that challenges their agenda. They simply try to silence the person rather than open up a discussion. On that note, I haven't seen proof that they've even sought to be on his show to challenge his column or debate this man to man. Everything that I've seen looks like proof that they simply want to silence Mr. Prager. They attempt to do this with a collection of quotes like this:

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called Prager's views "intolerant, misinformed and downright un-American."

I can think of many adjectives to describe Dennis Prager but misinformed isn't on that list. Here's what CAIR said about Prager in their official letter to Fred Zeidman, chairman of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council:

"No one who holds such bigoted, intolerant and divisive views should be in a policymaking position at a taxpayer-funded institution that seeks to educate Americans about the destructive impact hatred has had, and continues to have, on every society. As a presidential appointee, Prager's continued presence on the council would send a negative message to Muslims worldwide about America's commitment to religious tolerance."

I didn't detect any concern on CAIR's behalf of sending a negative message when they protested the LA billboard "describing Osama bin Laden as 'the sworn enemy,'" which they found as "offensive to Muslims'". Likewise, CAIR didn't consider the fact that Jews might find CAIR's attempt to get Dennis Prager fired from a Holocaust memorial board as an act of intolerance towards that community. They also didn't seem concerned about sending an offensive message to still-nervous Americans when they took the flying imams' side without knowing all of the facts involved. It's fair to characterize their reaction as one lacking in concern about airline security in a post-9/11 world.

Based solely on their words immediately after that incident, it's safe to say that they were most concerned about civil rights issues. Based on the information that came out later, it isn't unreasonable to question whether this was a staged thing. Here's the information that came out earlier:

Incoming Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, (D-MI), has already drafted a resolution, borrowing from CAIR rhetoric, that gives Muslims special civil-rights protections.

I find it more than a little too convenient to believe that John Conyers was able to write a Sense of the House resolution in less than a day. It's also interesting that he's planning on holding hearings on the matter in light of this information:

Working with Conyers, the Ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, Democrats have introduced legislation to end racial profiling, limit the reach of the Patriot Act, and make immigration safe and accessible. Leader Pelosi is a proud cosponsor of the End Racial Profiling Act, the Security and Freedom Ensured Act (SAFE), and the Safe, Orderly, and Legal Visas Enforcement Act (SOLVE).

Forgive me if I don't see this as coincidence.

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog