IS VIRGIL GOODE SMART ENOUGH TO ADMIT HIS MISTAKE AND STFU? A VERY SPECIAL KORAN

No doubt most regular DWT readers will recall the sordid saga of Virgil Goode, virulent reactionary, racist and loudmouthed bigot. (He's also a corrupt bribe-taker probably destined for prison like his pal and co-conspirator Randy Duke Cunningham, but that's a different part of the story.)

Anyway, the louder Goode has screamed about the danger of electing Muslims to Congress, the more moderate, statesmanlike and dignified newly elected Minneapolis congressman Keith Ellison appeared. Keith is the first Muslim elected to Congress and he announced his intention of taking the oath of office with a Koran which may seem perfectly logical to anyone who believes in American values but is entirely anathema to a narrow minded bigot who doesn't understand the first thing about America... like poor dumb Congressman Goode. Goode, who hasn't given his opinion about what books Jews or Buddhists or Mormans take the oath of office on, has been screeching all over the right wing media about how Ellison's taking his oath on a Koran is a threat to American values.

Well, today Congressman Ellison might have finally shut the sad little bigot from southern Virginia up (although I'm not counting on it). It turns out that Keith is taking his oath on a copy of the Koran once owned by a determined advocate of freedom of religion, a former resident of Goode's district no less, Thomas Jefferson.

According to today's Washington Post the chief of the rare book collection at the Library of Congress, Mark Dimunation, who grew up in Minneapolis, found Keith the book. "He wanted to use a Koran that was special." And it certainly is.

Jefferson's copy is an English translation by George Sale published in the 1750s; it survived the 1851 fire that destroyed most of Jefferson's collection and has his customary initialing on the pages. This isn't the first historic book used for swearing-in ceremonies-- the Library has allowed VIPs to use rare Bibles for inaugurations and other special occasions.

Ellison will take the official oath of office along with the other incoming members in the House chamber, then use the Koran in his individual, ceremonial oath with new Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "Keith is paying respect not only to the founding fathers' belief in religious freedom but the Constitution itself," said Ellison spokesman Rick Jauert.

(about the picture: it shows a young Thomas Jefferson being chosen by Benjamin Franklin and John Adams to write the Declaration of Independence)


UPDATE: NOW PAT ROBERTSON, ON THE OTHER HAND, RUNS A RELIGION COMPANY OLE VIRGIL JUST LOVES


Crazy old Virginia bigot Virgil Goode may be running around like a chicken without a head warning on the dangers to America of Minneapolis' new Muslim congressman taking the oath of office on a Koran, but he hasn't had anything to say about the ravings of a much better-known psycho-terrorist religionist fanatic right in his own neighborhood. Although Pat Robertson was never actually elected to anything-- not through lack of trying-- this Republican leader mouthed off big time yesterday on his sci-fi TV show, "The 700 Club." Yesterday, according to Faux News, Robertson predicted "a horrific terrorist act on the United States that will result in 'mass killing' late in 2007" (after September). He says it's not necessarily nuclear, although millions will be affected. His source-- he claims God; others say it's Cheney-- hasn't told him yet.