Anaheim city council candidate Belal “Bill” Dalati, who helped organize a demonstration with CAIR and International ANSWER titled “Rally Against U.S.-Israeli Terror in Palestine & Lebanon” and donated money to antisemitic moonbat Cynthia McKinney, has decided he no longer feels welcome in the GOP: Anaheim council candidate leaves GOP as election nears. (Hat tip: wrenchwench.)

But the Democrats are glad to have him—and of course, as always, they’re calling the attempt to expose Dalati’s extremist connections “racism and religious intolerance.”

County Democratic Chairman Frank Barbaro said he was “proud” to welcome Dalati into the party.“Political dissent is fine, but overt religious discrimination is not, especially in a place as diverse as Orange County,” Barbaro said. “As long as the Republican Party fails to stand up for racial and religious equality, it will continue to be viewed as the last refuge for racism and religious intolerance.”Former state Sen. John Lewis (R-Orange), who posted Steel’s letter on a website, said he was not sorry to hear Dalati had left the Republicans.

“We’re talking about someone who donated money to Cynthia McKinney, an extremist member of Congress and who organized a demonstration calling America a terrorist nation,” said Lewis, a consultant for one of Dalati’s opponents. “I guess those kind of people feel more comfortable being a member of the Democratic Party. I say goodbye and good luck to him.”