I knew that other Republicans would carry the torch, in this case literally, for so-called Rev. Terry Jones, because this outpouring of hatred and bigotry are not the isolated acts of a few wing-nuts. This level of hatred has been promoted by leaders in the Republican party.

First on yesterday:

The United States marked the anniversary of the September 11 attacks on Saturday with commemorative ceremonies and although a pastor had canceled plans for a high-profile protest burning of the Koran, the Muslim holy book was abused in at least three separate incidents. Hundreds of people in favor and against the building of an Islamic cultural center and mosque near the site of the toppled World Trade Center gathered in New York — hours after ceremonies in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania to mark the attacks nine years ago that killed nearly 3,000 people. The protests were peaceful. But there were at least two incidents of abuse of the Koran in Lower Manhattan. Separately, two evangelical preachers not affiliated with any mainstream church burned two copies of the Koran in Tennessee. Florida preacher Terry Jones had outraged Muslims around the world with his plans to burn copies of the Koran on Saturday. Jones, head of a tiny and obscure church in Gainesville, canceled his plans on Thursday. The plan had triggered outbreaks of violence in Afghanistan in which one protester was shot dead. Thousands of Afghans demonstrated in the northeast of the country for a second day on Saturday. President Barack Obama and U.S. officials had warned that the burning of the Koran could harm America’s image abroad, endanger lives and act as a recruiting tool for al Qaeda. Muslims view the Koran as the literal word of God, and actual or alleged desecration of the holy book has often sparked protests in the Muslim world… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Reuters>

Note that the woman pictured above, holding a picture of a lived one killed on 9/11, is wearing a chador. The attack in 2001 was as offensive to Muslim Americans as it was to the most rabid Republican pseudo-Christians.

You would think that they would learn or that they would care about the danger they pose for our service people or harm they are doing to our international standing, but no. The Republican litany of hate goes on.

Given the notoriety Terry Jones and his Dove World Outreach church have achieved in the last week, what do you think the chances are that Jones will be invited to speak at a gathering of social conservatives any time soon, or that leading Republican presidential contenders and Congressional leaders would attend a conference hosted by Dove World Outreach? The chances of that are probably rather slim … but, for some reason, social conservatives and Republican leaders seem to have no problem sharing the stage with anti-Muslim bigot Bryan Fischer at the upcoming Values Voter Summit. The Summit is being co-sponsored by the American Family Association [bigots delinked], where Fischer is Director of Issues Analysis, and Fischer is scheduled to be a featured speaker [bigots delinked] along with the likes of Michele Bachmann, Jim DeMint, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, Bob McDonnell, Mike Pence, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and others. Would any of these leaders be willing to share a stage with Terry Jones? If not, then why are they sharing a stage with Fischer, who has declared that all Muslims should be banned from serving in the military, that all Muslim noncitizens must be deported and all Muslim citizens must be stripped of their US citizenship and expelled from the country, that the construction of mosques in the United States must be completely banned, and that all the soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan have died in vain because the US did not convert those countries to Christianity ?… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Right Wing Watch>