Lee Baca was just great in the face of the bigoted and staggeringly arrogant questioning from Congressman Peter King’s House Homeland Security Committee hearing on the “radicalization of American Muslims.”
The LA Times’ Robert Faturechi reports:
Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca shot back at a congressman who warned him during a congressional hearing Thursday that a Muslim group the sheriff supports is affiliated with terrorists and is “using” him.
The reference to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, whose Southern California branch Baca has allied with, came during a controversial House hearing on the question of whether American Muslims are becoming radicalized.
“You are aware” that CAIR is affiliated with Hamas, Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-Minn.) said.
“No I’m not aware,” Baca interrupted.
“Let me bring this to your attention ... I’m trying to get you to understand that they might be using you,” Cravaack said.
Baca, noticeably irritated, told the congressman that he is aware of no criminal allegations have been made against CAIR. If there were any such allegations, he said, “bring them to court.”
“We don’t play around with criminals in my world,” Baca said before the packed hearing.
The tense exchange wasn’t Baca’s first on the issue.
During a hearing last year, Baca cut off a congressman who asked the sheriff why he attended CAIR fund-raisers, despite the group’s “radical” speech. Baca called the line of questioning from then-Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) “un-American.
Un-American is right.
A big thank you to Lee Baca for standing up to these fools.
You can find Baca’s prepared remarks here.
Celeste Fremon, Rep. Cravaack was correct in saying that CAIR was a group associated with the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. That’s not bigotry no matter how one tries to spin it. It’s supported by the FBI. Nor is it bigotry to assert that American Muslims are being targeted for radicalization. There’s more than ample proof of that. Hopefully the vast majority of Muslims won’t acquiesce to that.
But I question why you find it bigoted and arrogant to investigate whether or not certain groups such as CAIR, La Raza, and the NBPP are trying to subvert America. Perhaps you’re unaware that for decades we’ve been at war with radical Islam. As a matter of fact, that’s been the case since the late 1700’s. We shouldn’t hide our heads in the sand.
I recall liberals claiming Bush was a Nazi because his grandfather supposedly was, a fact that was incorrect. They also claimed that Schwarzenegger was also a Nazi due to his father’s associations, and have called for investigations of the Tea party Movement for having the audacity to call for a restoration of a democratic Republic under the rule of constitutional law with a free market capitalist economy rather than a socialist welfare nanny one-party state. Could it be that liberals only see conservatives and Republicans as out of line when questioning groups and individuals motives or backgrounds? So just who are the real arrogant bigots?