Newsweek writer and Islamic advocate Lorraine Ali, last seen at LGF when she authored a scurrilous ad hominem attack on Ayyan Hirsi Ali, has another piece of work today in Newsweek’s online edition, doing her best to spin the Pew Research poll: Media Coverage of Muslims Bombs. According to Ms Ali, we should all focus on the good news, and forget about the disturbingly large percentage of US Muslims who admit they think it might be OK to blow themselves up to kill infidels.

If you’ve been watching the reactions of CAIR and MPAC and other Islamic advocacy groups to the survey this week, you already know what Ali’s article says. It’s Islamophobia, of course.

So why, amid all the other encouraging data, would such a large number of media outlets mine the poll for evidence that Muslims—even the ones next door—are dangerous? Hussein Ibish, executive director of the Foundation for Arab American Leadership, says the answer is as disturbing as it is predictable. “It suggests there is an appetite for negativity about U.S. Muslims in the American media,” he says. “There’s two templates post-9/11 for coverage about American Muslims. One is they are scary—be very afraid. The other template is the sorry, poor pathetic victims of hate crimes. It’s villain or victim—a ridiculous set of choices—and coverage of this poll has fallen into the villain category. It’s irrational, because if you read the poll, it is actually quite positive.”

To shed some light on the possible motives of Lorraine Ali for writing piece after piece apologizing for Islamists and attacking Islamic reformers like Ayaan Hirsi Ali, here’s an article from the Wahhabi propaganda site Islam Online, in which Lorraine Ali is praised for her da’wa work in American mainstream media: Arab And Muslim Journalism Conference Ends In Chicago.

Lorraine Ali, music critic for Newsweek magazine, was awarded the National Arab Journalists Association’s Excellence in Journalism Award. Ali, who is of Iraqi descent, urged young people to get into the mainstream media and make their voices heard, saying that the American public is seeking out the truth, as can be seen by the recent popularity of The Holy Qur’an.

“It is up to us to give the American people another perspective,” she said.