Dec 5^th

Mona Charen is presenting her opinions again in the morning paper. Charen takes just three paragraphs to present her case and then to contradict herself.  She begins by quoting Hillary Clinton, “let’s be clear: Islam is not our adversary…” Then Charen asks, “What happens when a major political party becomes so wedded to political correctness that it feels constrained to deny reality?...the threat of Muslim extremism is glaringly,, blazingly obvious.” Finally Charen circles back and agrees with Clinton by saying that, “Most Muslims are peaceful. Beyond that they practice charity, care for the sick and practice good works.” Apparently Charen is upset because Clinton did not condemn Muslim extremism but simply said that our adversary is not Islam which Charen then seems to agree with.

What’s going on here? Charen must have needed a conservatively correct column, something that took a swipe at Hillary Clinton to maintain her conservative chops and what you saw is what you got.

Charen goes on to comment on the Muslim refugees and the ability to assimilate them into our society. She starts with a little scare tactic by telling us the percentages of Muslims who favor the death penalty for apostates. (Perhaps she should also direct us to Deut. 23: 6-9 which does he same for straying Jews and those who entice them.) Charen seems to forget that these refugees whom those on the right fear so much are refugees from this very extreme interpretation of Islam. If they agreed with it they wouldn’t be trying to get away from it.

Then comes Ted Cruz to assert that violent felons are all Democrats. That is nonsense of course but when does that stop Cruz who wondered not long ago why the Pope hadn’t been “fired” and Cruz, a Catholic, should know that isn’t how it works.  The research that Cruz misinterprets doesn’t distinguish “violent felons” from non-violent felons. A disproportionate number of convicted felons are poor, black or Latino and minimally employed. Anyone who fits into those categories is likely to vote Democratic whether or not they have been convicted of a crime.

Then Cruz points out that Democrats have tried to restore voting rights to felons who have served out their sentences. He says that “Democrats go in and fight for the right to vote to convicted felons. Why? Because Democrats know that ex-felons are more likely to vote Democrat.” What? You mean that after a felon has served his sentence and been released, and then he discovers that the Democrats have been actively trying to arrange for him to have the right to vote again he is likely to vote Democratic. Now isn’t that shocking?