Thread: Tiff brews between Tancredo, Salazar over remark

http://www.gjsentinel.com

Tiff brews between Tancredo, Salazar over remark

Friday, September 22, 2006

By GARY HARMON

The Daily Sentinel


A staffer for U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., insisted she was speaking only for herself when she criticized Front Range Rep. Tom Tancredo for his comments about Muhammad.

Tancredo, though, demanded that Salazar “clarify whether or not he agrees with the statements that came out of his office” criticizing Tancredo’s letter to Pope Benedict XVI.

Salazar’s director of communications, Nayyera Haq, 24, criticized Tancredo’s “hateful” words that she said would harm progressive Muslims and inflame relations when Tancredo wrote to Pope Benedict XVI.

Tancredo urged the pope not to apologize over a recent speech in which he quoted a 14th century emperor who suggested Muhammad had inspired “things only evil and inhuman.”

Tancredo demanded that Salazar make clear his position.

“Either he believes that forced conversion, the suppression of religious freedom and threats to kill ‘nonbelievers’ are wrong, as I do; or he agrees with his spokesperson, who seems to think that Americans should simply sit down and shut up when radical Islamofascists threaten to kill us if we don’t become Muslims.”

“Western Colorado voters,” Tancredo said, “voted for John Salazar, not his spokesman. If his office wants to comment on something, those voters deserve to know John’s opinion on the issue.”

Haq said Thursday that she, Salazar and the staff had nothing to say about the flap.

Haq, a member of the Congressional Muslim Staffers Association, had written that Tancredo “has always been articulate in expressing his hatred of Islam and immigrants — no surprise there. In his arrogance, he chooses to disregard the existence of millions of law-abiding Muslim American citizens. What is surprising is that as an elected representative, someone who should be working towards our collective safety, Tancredo chooses to throw more fuel on the fire with his hateful words.”

Tancredo, she said, was “knowingly creating a more dangerous environment for all of us. Congressman Tancredo should focus more on building bridges with the progressives in the Muslim world rather than burning the few bridges we have left.”

Haq said there are about 25 members of the Congressional Muslim Staffers Association, and she was called to respond to Tancredo’s letter because she is the only one who works in a press capacity.

She stressed the views were her own and not those of her boss.


Gary Harmon can be reached via e-mail at gharmon@gjds.com.

I agree with Tom Tancredo, as usual.

Just another example of people who want to discredit him. He has a lot of enemies, a lot!

Haq, a member of the Congressional Muslim Staffers Association

What? I guess there is an Association for every possible thing? I wonder if there is a Congressional Christian Staffers Association?? I doubt it....that would be against some law or policy and would be racist.

I wonder if this is not a start of a slur and smear campaign against Tancredo if he intends to run for president. I think they are afraid of Tom so they are getting started early by trying to label him as a racist and hater of Muslims! Myself, I think the pope is a fool if he trys to apologize to the muslims, I am sick of pandering to them to! They are acting like spoiled brats, it is ok to denigrate any other religion except theirs, they do it all the time and we sit back and let them, then they murder a num in their rage and want to blame that on the Pope? give me a break.

I read all 7 pages of the speech by the pope. It's a very good
lecture & I recommend people to read it if they want to get
some insight into the relationship between science & religion
in the Western world. What the pope said that's got their
underwear twisted is this: Christians believe god cannot
transcend his own law, i.e. god cannot be irrational &
command us to fly planes into buildings. The pope said
moslems believe Allah can transcend his law & be irrational
if he chooses, i.e. create a world where 2+2=5. So, if
the pope is wrong, the islamic thinkers should correct him
on a very seminal point of theology. If he's right, then it
goes a long way to explain our differences.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/p ... 6_pope.pdf

Haq's a hack, a skilled political spinner. But Tancredo's right anyway. The people of Colorado should join him and demand that Salazar fess up and agree or disagree with Haq. If he won't talk, they need to throw him out on his regal arse.

Originally Posted by Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Nayyera Haq, Press Advisor

Nayyera Haq currently serves as a Press Advisor to House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, focusing on regional press and coordinating media plans with the Democratic Members of Congress. Nayyera began her tenure in politics as an intern with then Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt and continued on to work on several aspects of Democratic campaigns, including press and voter turnout efforts on Congressional races. Nayyera is a native of New York and has a Bachelor's degree in History and Economics from University of Michigan. Source

Haq said there are about 25 members of the Congressional Muslim Staffers Association, and she was called to respond to Tancredo’s letter because she is the only one who works in a press capacity.

I agree with all of your comments. This woman is not a policy-maker....she is a mouth piece for a policy-maker. Therefore, anything she says should be representative of the views of her boss, otherwise she should keep her mouth shut and her opinions to herself.

Salazar has long been a disgrace. Did anybody notice he was one of only two Senators that didn't vote on S.2611:

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/r ... vote=00157

Salazar is a supporter of illegal immigration yet lacks the spine to even make a vote on what he "believes" in. I am very sad that I live in this man's district.

http://breakingnews.redstate.com

More here
http://www.totheright.org/?p=152

Rep. John Salazar (D-CO) Employs Islamist Extremist
By Colorado

John Salazar is one of the most vulnerable Congressman in the country. He tries to get by pretending to be "moderate," though his staff is mainly composed of former Pelosi staffers.

He is running against Rightroots endorsed candidate Scott Tipton:

Scott Tipton is trying to knock off Democratic incumbent John Salazar in a district that went 55%-44% for George Bush in 2004. This is a seat that should be held by a Republican, but it's a huge district, and Tipton needs lots of cash to overcome the name recognition advantage Salazar holds. If he gets the money he needs, this is a seat that will turn from blue to red.

John Salazar's moderate image is a charade.

Salazar's campaign spokeswoman is Nayyera Haq, a former Nancy Pelosi staffer, who is using her position to launch attacks on the Pope and Rep. Tom Tancredo for being "anti-Islamic.":

The letter drew an angry response from Nayyera Haq, communications director for Rep. John Salazar. Haq, who is Muslim, stressed in an e-mail that she was speaking for herself and not for her boss.

John Salazar refuses to comment on any of this despite intense public and media scrutiny:

“Neither Congressman Salazar, nor his staff will dignify that with a response,” said Haq, who said she had shared Tancredo’s latest missive with her boss.

A spokesman for Tancredo, Carlos Espinosa, later pressed the issue.

“The constituents of the 3rd district elected and pay for Congressman Salazar to represent them, not to provide a platform for one of his staffers to push a personal agenda,” Espinosa said.

“We just want to know whether Salazar agrees with what came out of his office yesterday, or if his press person has a green light to run a mini-personal policy shop out of his office?”


Now, it has been revealed that Haq invited a series of radical Islamists to give lectures on Capitol Hill. Colorado conservative blog ToTheRight.org:

The Muslim Staffers Association did indeed bring Dr. Amr Hajjar to speak on Capitol Hill, per the Kuwait News Agency article cited in the video. Hajjar did argue that the definition of “jihad” and “terrorism” were up for debate. Furthermore, he implied that Israelis should be defined as terrorists.

“Dr.” Amr Hajjar was representing a group called the “American Open University.” As far as we can tell, this isn’t a real university. It is a “distance learning center” operated by the Islamic Assembly of North American, a group that the Washington Post called “extremist.” The IANA is dedicated to spreading Wahabbism, the extremist Islamic philosophy of radical Saudi clerics, in America. The IANA is also under watch by authorities for funding terrorism.

Judging by the fact that virtually every news article ever written about the Congressional Muslim Staffers Association feature Haq prominently, it seems a fair assessment that in addition to co-founding the group she also has some sort of leadership role. In light of this; perhaps John Salazar will finally break his vow of silence on Haq’s ties to Nancy Pelosi, attacks on Tom Tancredo, and general bizarre behavior.


It's time to target Salazar.