Sharron Angle warns that Muslims have taken over American cities

The Nevada Tea Partier claims sharia law has taken hold in Michigan and Texas towns

Published October 8, 2010 4:30PM (EDT)

Republican candidate for Nevada senate Sharron Angle answers questions during a candidate forum Thursday, Sept. 23, 2010, in Las Vegas. Opponent Senator Harry Reid was in Washington D.C. and pre-recorded his answers to the same questions on video tape. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson) (Julie Jacobson)
Republican candidate for Nevada senate Sharron Angle answers questions during a candidate forum Thursday, Sept. 23, 2010, in Las Vegas. Opponent Senator Harry Reid was in Washington D.C. and pre-recorded his answers to the same questions on video tape. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson) (Julie Jacobson)

Sharron Angle said another stupid thing. This time, though, it wasn't just incoherent and incorrect -- it was also a blatantly bigoted if inept attempt at fear-mongering about American Muslims. Angle seemed to say that the sharia law had already taken hold in two American cities.

Asked by a voter whether or not Muslims were trying to take over the United States, Angle thought this was a reasonable response:

We're talking about a militant terrorist situation, which I believe isn't a widespread thing. But it is enough that we need to address, and we have been addressing it. My thoughts are these. First of all, Dearborn, Michigan, and Frankford, Texas, are on American soil, and under Constitutional law. Not sharia law. And I don't know how that happened in the United States.

It seems to me there is something fundamentally wrong with allowing a foreign system of law to even take hold in any municipality or government situation in our United States.

So, terrorism isn't that widespread, but the Muslims have installed their foreign laws in two American cities.

Dearborn has a large Muslim community -- the Muslim community there dates back more than a hundred years, so they really took their time installing sharia -- but, as the AP amusingly puts it, it "was not immediately clear why Angle singled out Frankford, Texas, a former town that was annexed into Dallas around 1975."

It's hard to argue against a jumble of half-remembered anti-Islam talking points and conspiracy theories, but, for the record, Muslims are not going to take over America and install sharia law.


By Alex Pareene

Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon and is the author of "The Rude Guide to Mitt." Email him at apareene@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @pareene

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2010 Elections Islam Religion Sharron Angle Tea Parties War Room