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Wednesday November 07, 2012

Islamophobia Rebuked at the Polls

Posted by Frank Matt at 2:56 pm

American voters delivered a strong rebuke to Islamophobia and fear-mongering in last night’s election, with the defeat of several of the country’s most notoriously Islamophobic candidates. This cycle saw tough election battles for several members of the “hate caucus.”

While strong opposition candidates emerged to challenge Representatives Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Joe Walsh (R-IL), and Allen West (R-FL), these incumbents were armed with massive campaign war chests and national fame. Despite these obstacles, voters cast their ballots against Islamophobes in many key races. Rep. Joe Walsh was defeated by his challenger, and Rep. Allen West has yet to concede, but barring a major advantage in absentee ballots he will have lost his seat in Congress. Former Florida State Senator Adam Hasner, who ran on a platform of Islamophobia, was also roundly beaten, by Rep. Lois Frankel. Though Michele Bachmann won reelection, her razor thin margin of victory in her safely Republican district can still be considered a stinging critique of her conduct in office.

The Islamophobic rhetoric of these candidates is despicable in two respects. First, of course, is the bigoted content of their message. Second is the shameless way in which these candidate use fear-mongering to garner national fame and donations. Unfortunately, candidates espousing Islamophobia have not gotten the message about the negative consequences of their hate speech. Joe Walsh delivered a speech during his campaign claiming that American Muslims were “trying to kill Americans every day.” The speech was followed by three hate crimes against Muslims and their places of worship in the vicinity of his district, yet he did not seem to grasp that his hateful words contributed to the violence. Last night’s victory sent a message to Islamophobes that they are more likely to understand: voters resent the sort of attention-hungry antics used by Islamophobic representatives, which come at the expense of real constituent services. Michele Bachmann’s constituents were angry that she spent her time chasing imaginary Muslim Brotherhood infiltration, and Allen West could not explain what his frequent incendiary media appearances accomplished for his district.

Elected officials have shown that they notice these sorts of reactions from voters. It’s even possible that we’ll see a more tempered version of Rep. Bachmann now that her future re-election is not a forgone conclusion. Islamophobia has certainly not been banished from Capitol Hill, but the result of last night’s election sent a clear message to Congress that Islamophobia is not good politics. 

Tagged as Issues, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Islamophobia, Yalla Vote, Election Central, Republican