Over the years, I’ve wondered–how in the world is Bryan Fischer still on the payroll with the American Family Association? This is, after all, a guy who thinks abortion and gay rights are just evil–but has no problem at all with torture. Well, it turns out that his colleagues are equally unhinged.
Take, for instance, one of his colleagues at American Family Radio, morning drive time host Sandy Rios. As near as I can determine, Rios has spent more time than any other AFR host peddling the claim that President Obama is a closet radical Muslim. But on Wednesday’s show, Rios made a claim that, even by AFR standards, is downright bizarre. She suggested that Obama was sending subliminal pro-Islam messages in his State of the Union address.
How’s that, you ask? Well, Rios thinks that when Obama referred to our nation’s values as “a pillar of our leadership,” he was referring to the Five Pillars of Islam. According to Rios, he’s done this several times before. She remarked that word choice can provide a lot of insight into what makes someone tick. People for the American Way got a clip–listen here.
Gee, I thought a “pillar” was another term for foundation or principle. So you mean to tell me that whenever I talk about a pillar, I’m a closet jihadist? Apparently that’s the case if Rios is to be believed.
Believe it or not, this isn’t the most offensive Islamophobic rant Rios has spewed lately. Apparently Rios is none too pleased that Congressman Andre Carson, a Democrat from Indiana and one of two Muslims serving in the current Congress, has been appointed to the House Intelligence Committee. Carson’s appointment has whipped the wingnut fringe into a frenzy that probably hasn’t been seen since the other practicing Muslim in Congress, Democrat Keith Ellison of Minnesota, was elected in 2006. Last week, Rios and Fischer demanded Carson’s removal from the committee solely because he’s Muslim–and Article VI of the Constitution be hanged. Later that week, she went further and called for him to be expelled from Congress altogether for taking money from two of the wingnuts’ favorite whipping boys, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Islamic Society of North America. Rios claims that CAIR and the Islamic Society are charged with helping the Holy Land Foundation funnel money to Hamas before the foundation was shut down in 2001.
What Rios didn’t tell us is that in 2010, federal judge Jorge Solis ordered CAIR and the Islamic Society removed as unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Foundation case. Solis found that prosecutors violated the groups’ Fifth Amendment rights by not giving them a chance to defend themselves against such a serious allegation. But then again, such minor things as facts never got in the way of a good conspiracy theory.
If you’re wondering how Islamophobia has become so virulent on the right, look no further than Rios and AFR. It’s yet more proof that the American Family Association is Christian in name only.
