July 21, 2007

This is why Muslims outside the U.S. think the war on terror is a war on Islam. This is why Muslim leaders complain of an Islamophobic culture in America. This is—regardless of the reality that some young American Muslims believe their faith justifies suicide bombings—abject religious discrimination.

This … is what I heard on NPR while driving home: David Greene asking an average Republican in Council Bluffs, Iowa about the war in Iraq:

“I am so proud of the men and women who fight for us. I am so proud of the ones who have died for us because they are the ones keeping us free and the ones keeping those Muslims out of our country.”

You may have noticed: I’m not a George Bush fan. I may be a Republican, but I don’t agree with 68 percent of the Party that think he’s doing swell or with Republican Jews who think his foreign policy is good for Israel.

But there is one thing I know that would be much worse than President Bush. And that is President Cheney.

Tomorrow, when Bush undergoes a colonoscopy, Cheney will assume the role of chief executive and commander in chief. Considering his assertions of executive power and his position on torture, I ask that we offer this prayer: “Our Father who art in heaven … deliver us from evil.”

* Updated: Recommendations on National Review Online for what Cheney should spend his presidency doing. No. 1 the list: Bomb Iran.