The Daily Background

What an incredible bigot. Representative Virgil Goode (R-VA) is an incredible bigot. The following is a letter the recently re-elected Rep just sent to many of his constituents:

Thank you for your recent communication. When I raise my hand to take the oath on Swearing In Day, I will have the Bible in my other hand. I do not subscribe to using the Koran in any way. The Muslim Representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don’t wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran. We need to stop illegal immigration totally and reduce legal immigration and end the diversity visas policy pushed hard by President Clinton and allowing many persons from the Middle East to come to this country. I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America and to prevent our resources from being swamped.

The Ten Commandments and “In God We Trust” are on the wall in my office. A Muslim student came by the office and asked why I did not have anything on my wall about the Koran. My response was clear, “As long as I have the honor of representing the citizens of the 5th District of Virginia in the United States House of Representatives, The Koran is not going to be on the wall of my office.” Thank you again for your email and thoughts.

Sincerely yours,
Virgil H. Goode, Jr.
70 East Court Street
Suite 215
Rocky Mount, Virginia 24151

Emphasis mine. What incredible bigotry. The man is not only racist, but he wants to limit the number of people of certain religions entering the country. And he brags to his constituents that his policy will help America. How blatantly unconstitutional is that? Racism written into law and policy? This is absolutely disgusting, and I hope the voters of Virginia’s 5th district who elected this man are just as horrified as the rest of us are.

As you may know, this letter is partially in reaction to the decision of newly elected Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN), the first Muslim man elected to Congress, to be sworn in on the Koran rather than The Bible. To many bigots, like apparently Ellison’s colleague from Virginia, this represents an assault on American values. To the rest of us, it doesn’t represent a problem at all. Representative Goode apparently believes that if Democratic Representative-elect Ellison is sworn in on his holy book, he will taint the entire 110th Congress with the evils of Islam.

It doesn’t matter what our elected officials are sworn in on. Good people will do good things no matter what they’re sworn in on. Bad people will do bad things regardless of what they’re sworn in on. Mark Foley was sworn in on The Bible, wasn’t he? And look what he did. How about Bob Ney? Duke Cunningham? Richard Nixon?

Filed under: Immigration, Z-TDB Blog