Diane Black and Lou Ann Zelenik argue over who's more anti-Islam as election nears
Shariah and Share Alike
by Steven Hale @iamstevenhale
The Olympics are touting peace and harmony. But in the TV attack ads peppering the games leading up to Thursday's election, it's scorched earth as usual, with nobody leaving more ashes than incumbent U.S. Rep. Diane Black and challenger Lou Ann Zelenik.
Now, along with all the televised tussling in their 6th Congressional District race — stoked with images of finger-wagging, carpet-bagging and stormy apocalypse — they've added a curious offscreen dimension to their beef: a pissing match to determine which is the true anti-Islam hardliner.
Zelenik's credentials on that score are beyond question. She campaigned against Black in 2010 on grounds her opponent was not doing enough to sound the alarm about Shariah law, the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro and the coming Muslim hordes. Since losing that election, Zelenik has led the Tennessee Freedom Coalition along with her former staffer, fellow Shariah-spotter and deep-pocketed super-PAC-wielding supporter Andrew Miller. Priority one for TFC is educating "citizens on the realities of Shariah" and stopping "the growth of Radical Islam."
But instead of letting those associations further the notion that Zelenik is "crazy" or "delusional," as they have in the past, the Black campaign is apparently trying to measure up. When Zelenik received endorsements from three state legislators, Black's campaign was quick to boast the support of U.S. Reps. Michele Bachmann and Allen West, whose McCarthyite bona fides are unquestionable. In recent weeks, Bachmann accused a longtime aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a fellow congressman of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, while West made headlines in April branding up to 80 House Democrats as members of the Communist Party.
Most recently, incumbent Black's defenses were up about claims she was soft on the threats posed by the Murfreesboro mosque and Shariah law. When stories by Politico and Mother Jones cited the claim, her campaign had evidence on hand to prove that Black was no latecomer to the Creeping Shariah bandwagon. Campaign spokesman Jennifer Coxe-Baker told Politico that Black had been outspoken about her concerns back in 2010 and said she had recently signed a Republican-sponsored anti-Shariah bill in the House.
Black's campaign also sent the Scene links to past news articles where she is quoted expressing concern that "violent Jihadism" was becoming the norm in Islam today, "not the exception." As such, she defends the right of American communities "to be vigilant in ensuring that Islamic institutions in this country" do not aid it.
If you've never seen a race to the bottom, this is what it looks like.
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