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Tennessee holds its primary elections today, and the marquee race involves a challenge to a very conservative member of the very conservative 2010 GOP Freshman Class in the House on grounds that she’s insufficiently focused on the dire threat of Shariah Law. No kidding. It’s as though Frank Gaffney had his very own congressional district, and the campaign was being put on primarily for his benefit.
This is from a Reuters report on the contest:
Freshman Republican Representative Diane Black is challenged by Lou Ann Zelenik, who lost to Black in a primary to represent the rural district two years ago by less than 300 votes.
The heart of the struggle is over the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, about 30 miles south of Nashville, which has been controversial since construction began two years ago.
Zelenik, who vigorously opposed the mosque and warned of potential terrorist connections, said Black was not forceful enough in her opposition.
“I will work to stop the Islamization of our society, and do everything possible to prevent Sharia law from circumventing our laws and our Constitution,” Zelenik said.
The incumbent wants voters to know she’s as alert to this completely imaginary threat as the challenger, notes Nashville Scene’s Steven Hale:
[I]nstead of letting those associations further the notion that Zelenik is “crazy” or “delusional,” as they have in the past, the Black campaign is apparently trying to measure up. When Zelenik received endorsements from three state legislators, Black’s campaign was quick to boast the support of U.S. Reps. Michele Bachmann and Allen West, whose McCarthyite bona fides are unquestionable….
Most recently, incumbent Black’s defenses were up about claims she was soft on the threats posed by the Murfreesboro mosque and Shariah law. When stories by Politico and Mother Jones cited the claim, her campaign had evidence on hand to prove that Black was no latecomer to the Creeping Shariah bandwagon. Campaign spokesman Jennifer Coxe-Baker told Politico that Black had been outspoken about her concerns back in 2010 and said she had recently signed a Republican-sponsored anti-Shariah bill in the House.
So let’s get this straight: in a party that is supposedly focused with insane, teeth-grinding monomania on the economy and the fiscal situation and nothing else, a congressional primary is revolving around the horrid threat to Western Civilization of a mosque that’s not even in this district anymore (it was removed by redistricting).
Hale’s kicker is entirely accurate: “If you’ve never seen a race to the bottom, this is what it looks like.”
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schtick on August 02, 2012 9:52 AM:
I am so sick of this bs about Sharia Law when we have our idiot teapotbaggers pushing laws that would shame Sharia Laws. They push this crap that is nothing while drooling over vaginal probes and making sure their redneck friends that rape and impregnate their daughters get to procreate without limits. The idea they will be spawning more teapots is just plain scary. This country only needs one more flush by the teapots and we're done.
Hedda Peraz on August 02, 2012 9:54 AM:
Scoff if you will, but Real Americans know that full employment cannot be achieved until all aliens, muslims, gays, and pointy headed intellectuals are purged from our God Fearing Christian Nation.
g on August 02, 2012 9:58 AM:
"Elect me!! I'm more of a bigot than she is!"
c u n d gulag on August 02, 2012 10:03 AM:
Hedda,
You forgot to add, "So sayeth the Lord, Our God."
Peter C on August 02, 2012 10:05 AM:
Yes, a race to the bottom. Yes, a primary about ideas which are certifiably insane. These things are pathetic.
But, the thing which I find even more disappointing - there is no Democratic candidate running in the district (Tennessee - 6).
We can't win election if we don't run.
skeet on August 02, 2012 10:09 AM:
Despite all of the insane laws coming out of TN (anti-muslim,anti-gay, "gateway" sexual activity) I assure you that not everyone that lives here is as dense as our lawmakers, they really, really want to make it look that way though.
c u n d gulag on August 02, 2012 10:10 AM:
What's even scarier than these knuckle-dragging morons running for office, is the knuckle-walkers who vote for them.
Still think keeping "The Ol' Union" intact is such a good idea, folks?
We may not have a choice after November if they win the Presidency and the House and Senate.
Goodbye, USA. HELLO, CSA!!!
stormskies on August 02, 2012 10:11 AM:
We need to remember, sadly, that it takes crazy/ stupid/ delusional people to elect stupid/ crazy/ and delusional people to office. Welcome, or unwelcome, to a large part of the USA.
Don on August 02, 2012 10:36 AM:
Voters in the district were unable to be reached for comment about the threat of Sharia law because they were all at Chick-Fil-A striking a blow for religious freedom. Wait, what?
Renai on August 02, 2012 10:45 AM:
What evidence is there of Sharia Law being enacted anywhere, or threat of, or hint of it? I looked it up because I know nothing about it other than it's a Scare Me topic, and it appears to be more like corporate arbitration than our court system. **
Not that our dear leaders would ever hide their lack of progress on real issues like jobs and balancing local budgets under imaginary issues like Sharia law, birth certificates, and wailing about socialism, but...
Since when do Americans fall down and be scared at whatever our elected officials point to (I mean besides the hiding-under-desks-in-case-of-nuclear-war thing). What happened to American pragmatism or our natural inclination to withhold acceptance until proven beyond a doubt, you know, the way so many do with climate change. We, the People of 2012 should be WAY beyond putting any stock into this kind of empty hype and BS.
** http://the-american-catholic.com/2010/06/25/sharia-law-and-the-u-s-constitution/
Peter C on August 02, 2012 10:46 AM:
@Stormskies and @CUND,
Please, we can't blame the people of that district unless we run a candidate - just the individual supporters in that district. This is our failure as much as theirs.
I know both of you support a 50-state strategy. Until we've got one, though, please don't write-off the unfortunate voters in these areas whom we haven't given a choice.
dr sardonicus on August 02, 2012 10:48 AM:
No Democratic opponent is running in TN-6 because there are virtually no Democrats remaining in the district. The Democratic Party in Tennessee is in shambles after a decade of electoral routs; outside of urban Nashville and Memphis, the party is in many places non-existent. Virtually no white Tennessean under age 50 will admit to being a Democrat.
kd bart on August 02, 2012 10:49 AM:
Just further proof that years ago, the majority of those with functioning brains left those parts to seek a better life elsewhere.
T-Rex on August 02, 2012 10:55 AM:
Not to mention that this is the party that fetishises the Constitution, and loves it so much that they wasted hours of time at taxpayer expense reading it out loud on the floor of Congress. But never mind the pesky old first amendment when we want to scapegoat an ethnic/religious group.
rea on August 02, 2012 11:51 AM:
I live in an extremely conservative congressional district, and there are two mosques recently erected within a few blocks of my home, without a word of opposition being voiced. This is not, I suspect, because we are better people up here than those down in Tennessee--it's because nobody sees a political advantage to be gained by such an attack--nobody's trying to beat the incumbent from the right.
rfb on August 02, 2012 12:31 PM:
Apparently a substantial number of people want to turn this country into a purely Christian nation with severe restrictions on other religions. Just like the NRA believes any gun law is the start of banning all personal weapons, I believe limiting Muslim worship is the beginning of restricting all non Christian religions.
Am I paranoid?
Justin Case on August 02, 2012 2:02 PM:
Hedda Peraz:
If you keep extending that list of people to be "purged from the United States", don't be surprised when you end up on the same garbage scow that you're too quick to toss someone else.
Also.....the U.S.A. isn't a "Christian nation" .... as historical revisionist keep inaccurately claiming it is.
If you do the most basic research, you'll learn that there were Muslims on these shores LONG this was called "the United States of America".
And the bubble bursts....!!
Justin Case on August 02, 2012 2:07 PM:
rfb:
No. You're not paranoid.
There are quite a few nutjobs that want us to either convert to Christianity ONLY, leave to the U.S. or have our religions recognised as subordinate to Christianity.....yet another religion that did not originate in this country or even this hemisphere!
Serenity Gerbman on August 02, 2012 5:03 PM:
I live in the town where the mosque is located, and just wanted to note for the record that the mosque has been in our community with no problems at all for more than thirty years. It was a proposed expansion that started the fight, and the original complaints were introduced by residents in the area who did not feel sufficient public notice was given for the zoning requests. The idiots jumped on it from there, and there are unfortunately plenty of them. However, support for the mosque's presence in the community is larger than one might think based on what our moronic legislators and candidates are saying. This CNN article actually sums it up fairly well: http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/19/justice/tennesee-mosque-lawsuit/index.html