Lindsey Graham and the GOP’s Islamophobia Problem
But I suspect that if a presidential candidate said, “Everything I learned about conservative white evangelicals I learned working in the pool room. I met a lot of liars, and I know they are liars,” his candidacy would abruptly end. I offer that example because it is, nearly word for word, what Republican presidential hopeful Lindsey Graham said last Friday about Iranians. This follows Graham’s comment earlier this month that “Everything that starts with ‘Al’ in the Middle East is bad news.” (Al is the Arabic equivalent of “the”). Graham, it’s worth remembering, is running as the foreign-policy intellectual in the GOP field.
Why have Graham’s comments about Iranians attracted barely any notice? Because while American politicians have become less overtly bigoted against African Americans, Latinos, Jews, women and lesbians and gays, anti-Muslim bigotry is still entirely acceptable, at least in the GOP.
I consider myself pretty politically aware and up to date with current events. Before reading this piece I hadn’t heard a peep about his remarkably bigoted pool room comments. A google search didn’t show much of anything about it in the mainstream media.
The Atlantic piece has a link to this BBC article with the exact quote:
“Everything I learned about Iranians I learned working in the pool room,” he said. “I met a lot of liars, and I know Iranians are liars.”
How likely is it that he’ll be required to apologize?
More: Lindsey Graham and the GOP’s Islamophobia Problem - the Atlantic