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Washington:
Congress’s top Islomophobes known for their anti_islam rhetoric lost their congressional bid to
Democrats, U.S. media reported.
On Tuesday, Democrat Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran,
defeated freshman Republican Rep. Joe Walsh known for his Islamophobia in Illinois, The Chicago Tribune reported.
Duckworth, who lost both legs in combat before turning to
politics, won 55 percent of the votes.
Another Tea Party freshman, Allen West, lost his re-election bid
to Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy early Wednesday.
With 100 percent of votes in from South Florida’s 18th District,
Murphy defeated West by less than 2,500 votes, despite lopsided
fundraising, The Daily Beast said.
West has once described Islam as a
“totalitarian theocratic political ideology” that is a “very vile
and very vicious enemy.”
Another Islamophobic lawmaker, Republican Adam Hasner, was voted
down by voters in Florida.
“These encouraging results clearly show that mainstream Americans
reject anti-Muslim bigotry by candidates for public office and
will demonstrate that rejection at the polls,” Nihad Awad,
National Executive Director of the umbrella Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said in a statement obtained by
OnIslam.net.
Of the 60 incumbent members of the
House’s Tea Party Caucus, 47 were reelected, while six lost big,
two ended up in races far too close for comfort, and one is still
hanging by a thread (the rest either retired or sought higher
office). Overall, those are bad odds for House incumbents.
The public’s rejection of Tea Party
extremism on social issues doesn’t automatically translate into
rejection of its doctrinaire economics. But the election may have
been enough of a slap in the face to cause Tea Partyers to rethink
their overall strategy of intransigence, Salon.com observed.
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