Barabak: With immigration losing its edge, GOP finds new boogeyman Radical Islam'

"Imagine if a candidate for, say, the California Assembly appeared at a political event and delivered the following remarks: No to kosher meat. No to yarmulkes. No to celebrating Easter. No, no, no. He, or she, would be roundly and rightly criticized for their bigotry and raw prejudice. Recently, at a candidates forum outside Dallas, Larry Brock expressed the following sentiments as part of a lengthy disquisition on the Muslim faith."

"We should ban the burqa, the hijab, the abaya, the niqab, said the candidate for state representative, referring to the coverings worn by some Muslim women. No to halal meat. No to celebrating Ramadan. No, no, no. Brock, whose comments were reported by the New York Times, is plainly a bigot. (He's also a convicted felon, sentenced to two years in prison for invading the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. No to hand-slaughtered lamb. Yes to despoiling our seat of government.)"

"Beware sharia law Aaron Reitz, a candidate for attorney general, aired an ad accusing politicians of importing millions of Muslims into our country. The result? he says, with a tough-guy glower. More terrorism, more crime. And they even want their own illegal cities in Texas to impose sharia law. One of his opponents, Republican Rep. Chip Roy co-founder of the Sharia-Free America Caucus has called for amending the Texas Constitution to protect the state's tender soil from Islamification by radical Marxists."

Several Texas Republican candidates are using explicit anti-Muslim rhetoric and proposals as central campaign themes. One candidate called for banning the burqa, hijab, abaya, niqab, halal meat, and Ramadan observance and has a Jan. 6 conviction. Other contenders aired ads alleging mass Muslim immigration brings terrorism, crime, and sharia law to Texas. A GOP lawmaker co-founded a Sharia-Free caucus and proposed amending the state constitution to prevent Islamification. Incumbent and challenger Republicans exchanged ads accusing each other of being soft on radical Islam. Islamophobia has become a prominent electoral strategy in these campaigns.

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