October 07, 2015 03:29 PM UTC

OF COURSE Coffman Spoke To An Anti-Muslim Hate Group

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Colorado Independent’s Kyle Harris reports:

Republican Rep. Mike Coffman spoke in September at the conference of an organization that has been profiled repeatedly as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

“ACT For America is perhaps the nation’s leading Anti-Muslim hate group … extremely out there in terms of their bigotry and extremism and hate mongering,” said Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The New York Times Magazine described the organization’s president Brigitte Gabriel, who also spoke at the conference, as follows: “She presents a portrait of Islam so thoroughly bent on destruction and domination that it is unrecognizable to those who study or practice the religion.”

Gabriel has described Arabs as “barbarians” and has said, “Every practicing Muslim is a radical Muslim.” [Pols emphasis]

Now before you make any, you know, presumptions:

Would he speak for this group, which has have given him a 100 percent grade for voting against “radical Islam,” had he been warned?

“With regard to why he spoke to this group (ACT! for America), the Congressman speaks with literally hundreds of groups every year, and very rarely agrees with every aspect of their agenda. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have a dialogue,” his spokesperson [Cinamon] Watson wrote.

As Harris recounts, Rep. Mike Coffman has made bashing so-called “radical Islam” a favorite topic in guest opinion columns and at public events. The group that Coffman spoke at, ACT! For America, appears to take it a step further by declaring all Muslims to be “radical” Muslims. It should be noted that this belief has a fair number of adherents in Colorado, as one example the openly anti-Muslim climate that pervades the Western Conservative Summit year after year–even inviting internationally-infamous anti-Muslim demagogues like Geert Wilders of the Netherlands to speak.

At a Defense Department course on Islam, in 2007, Gabriel said: “If a Muslim who has — who is — a practicing Muslim who believes the word of the Koran to be the word of Allah, who abides by Islam, who goes to mosque and prays every Friday, who prays five times a day — this practicing Muslim, who believes in the teachings of the Koran, cannot be a loyal citizen to the United States of America.”

Wow! But remember, Coffman doesn’t necessarily agree. He just gave a speech at their conference, right? After all, it’s not like Coffman has ever said anything even remotely close to what this group says, right?

Oops (see photo).

Given the substantial percentage of the Republican base who believe to this day that President Barack Obama, like Coffman said in 2012, “is just not an American,” a belief largely revolving around President Obama’s Muslim father…well, don’t you think that if Coffman meant any of those apologies, he might be a little more careful about appearing before an organization given to all-too-similar generalizations?

All we can say is, he must really be counting on that free ride from the press.