Minorities, as defined by (some) Republicans

This is terrible, but, in its own, very particular way, awesome too. Robert Lowry, a Republican, is trying to unseat Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL). In a weekly campaign meeting at a local gun range, Lowry fired shots at a target that was dressed in a traditional kaffiyeh with the letters "DWS" (the Congresswoman's initials) on it. His campaign has kinda/sorta apologized to Wasserman Schultz, and now the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee is on their case trying to get an apology. And best of all, the president of the Southeast Broward Republican Club (who hosted the event) actually commented that the complaints were infringing on minority rights: "For the Democrats, who are supposed to be the party of minority rights, they're not being very sensitive to our rights." I suppose the minority he's referring to would be the Republican party? Or perhaps the ever-maligned "male Caucasian" minority group?

Seems like a pretty reasonable request. Given the pretty absurd portrayals of Arabs, my guess is that many (the majority?) Americans have no idea that Arabs and Muslims are not the same, that the Taliban is not comprised of Arabs, etc, etc. (if you don't know, this information can be found on Wikipedia rather quickly). Just about one year ago we were hearing the only-slightly-humorous complaints of Sarah Palin and John McCain over the LA Times' refusal to release a tape of Obama giving a toast to Rashid Khalidi, esteemed Columbia University professor and scholar, on accounts that he was a "PLO spokesman." Of course, it later surfaced that he and the organization he headed was funded by the International Republican Institute (which denied the "PLO spokesman" claims), which was...wait for it...chaired by McCain.

That's old news, but it's still a fine example of some in this country -- saying it's all "Republicans" is just too easy, and it's not too fair -- seeing "Arab" and thinking "terrorist", or seeing "Palestinian" and thinking "anti-Semite". These are not interchangeable terms.

Also: reminds me too of last year's Fancy Farm happenings whereby Mitch McConnell supporters donned robes and beards and acted like Arab oil sheikhs who were raking in the cash because of opponent Bruce Lunsford's gas tax policy positions. Now apparently Fancy Farm (an annual political meetup) is "rowdy" and "pretty wild" from what I hear, which nonetheless fails to excuse this and further highlights what I'm talking about here.