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Comments

• [1] Chris O from New York January 16, 2008 - 10:39AM

  I am not an Arab American but the view must be bleak. All presidential candidates must prove their fealty to Israel and ensure that the money and devotion will continue to flow. Hence, the one slightly different mainstream candidate, Obama, has Dennis Ross as his key Middle East adviser. This is unfortunate since most American Jews do not seem to support the conservative pro-Israeli lobby.

  Further, just listening to the Republican candidates, they must feel like the enemy within if they are Muslims.

  
  
• [2] hjs from 11211 January 16, 2008 - 10:44AM

  Romney Denies Vowing No Muslims In Cabinet

  http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/27/politics/main3544666.shtml

  
  
• [3] Ted from Brooklyn January 16, 2008 - 10:46AM

  Christian Science Monitor reported, 11/27/07, Romney "'cannot see that a cabinet position would be justified' for a Muslim in his administration, in light of the percentage of Muslims living in the U.S"

  Romney says to CBS, “His question was, 'did I need to have a Muslim in my cabinet to be able to confront radical jihad and would it be important to have a Muslim in my cabinet,'" said Romney. "And I said, ‘No I don’t think that you have to have a Muslim in the cabinet to be able to, to take on radical jihad any more than during the Second World War we needed to have a Japanese-American to help us understand the threat that was coming from Japan,’ or something of that nature.”

  
  
• [4] Ted from Brooklyn January 16, 2008 - 10:47AM

  Looks like I was a touch late!

  
  
• [5] Chris O from New York January 16, 2008 - 10:52AM

  I guess there has never been a Muslim Cabinet member. I don't know this for sure but I can't think of any off-hand and I can't imagine one from the mid-20th Century or earlier. I mean, they are a very small % of the population, so it is somewhat understandable, but still...

  
  
• [6] megan from Park Slope January 16, 2008 - 02:07PM

  the arab-american "journalist" was pretty scary there...touting the Romney smear as if it were Gospel...

  but then again, given what goes for media in most of the 22 Arab countries, with all their anti-Western conspiracy theories, it's not all that surprising...

  i'm more concerned about fealty to the oil-rich arab tyrannies whose dismal human rights records and terror-sponsorship are pretty apalling...

  
  
• [7] megan from Park Slope January 16, 2008 - 02:10PM

  chris o - being pro-israel has nothing to do with being democrat or republican

  i'm a non-jewish born atheist progressive democrat and I'm much happy with our support of israel than the billions in annual aid US taxpayers give to Egypt to mollify the arab "street"

  what do we get for it?

  
  
• [8] Chris O from New York January 16, 2008 - 03:15PM

  Exactly - what do we get for it? Just hate and resentment as we meddle in the affairs of others.

  We don't give aid to Egypt to mollify the Arab street. In fact, our aid to the Egyption government, which is not a democracy and throws political dissidents in jail, angers the Arab street. We give Egypt money because they made peace with Israel. When the Camp David accords were signed, the Egyptians got this and they were smart enough to have a formula so that as aid to Israel increases, so does aid to the Egyptians. (They seem to get about 2/3 of what Israel gets.)

  
  
• [9] gilbert from new york January 16, 2008 - 08:04PM

  i liked what the Arab American journalist said. i think he made a lot of good points. if what Romney said, was reported by more than one media, then there must be some truth to it. listening to Romney's speeches with his right wing doctrine, it is not surprising that he would be a racist and a prejudist.

  Megan's ridiculous comments makes me realize how much of a hard work must be done in order to educate ignorants in our society blinded by the mainstream pro-israeli agenda.

  
  
• [10] smidely January 17, 2008 - 08:43AM

  Chris O

  what you say about Egypt's payments from US is technically true but name another country besides Israel that won a war, then another, then another -- yet keeps giving its land to the losers.

  Whether or not you "approve" of "Zionism," this is still what confounds me most of all.

  Germany never did that, believe it or not. Nor did Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, Iraq or any other country some American freshmen and other uneducated people seem to worship as underdogs.

  I don't know why Israel does it either. They get only headaches and rains of petro missiles for giving land away and lose the very thing they fought so hard to retain.