DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - FLORIDA/MINNESOTA/WASHINGTON D.C.: KELITH ELLISON (DEMOCRAT & MOSLEM) UPSET BECAUSE THE ADL DIDN'T WAIT ON HIS 'STATEMENT'

Muslim Lawmaker Cries Foul

Aides to the country’s first Muslim congressman say they were blindsided by a stinging condemnation from the Anti-Defamation League because it came after the lawmaker had told the ADL that he planned to recant his comparison of Bush administration policies to Nazi tactics.

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) in a July 8 speech to an atheists’ group in Minnesota compared Bush administration policies after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to Adolf Hitler’s use of the burning of the Reichstag to consolidate his rule.

After Ellison defended his remarks in a subsequent interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the ADL reached out to him to discuss the issue and convinced him that it was inappropriate to use such an analogy.

Ellison aides and ADL staff in the ADL office here spent much of Tuesday negotiating the language of his recantation, both sides said. It was understood that Ellison would release a statement expressing regret over his earlier comparison and make his feelings known in an interview with The Associated Press.

So Ellison aides said they were shocked when, before the congressman released his statement and the AP article was distributed, journalists called asking about an ADL statement slamming his earlier remarks. The statement said Ellison demonstrated "a profound lack of understanding about the horrors that Hitler and his Nazi regime perpetrated."

...




Pertinent Links:

1) Muslim Lawmaker Cries Foul