New York City, September 2001
While New York City was still choked with smoke billowing from the wreckage of the World Trade Center's twin towers, while Bush and Cheney blamed Saddam and bulldozed their way into invading Afghanistan, while the Patriot Act was rushed into law, hate and fear of Muslims rose exponentially. There were
481 attacks against Muslims or people of Middle Eastern descent in 2001 - and Carly Fiorina made a terrible mistake. She had a moment of decency, which now
undermines her Presidential aspirations.
Fourteen years ago, 9/26/2001, Carly Fiorina addressed Hewlett Packard employees. She expressed concern for their safety, and reminded her audience of the many contributions of the Arabic world to science, engineering, history, and the arts.
...As a business leader, I experienced a whole other set of emotions - first and foremost concern for the safety of our employees and their families. Concern for the security of our employees who are of Middle Eastern descent or who practice the Muslim religion here in the US and abroad.
How was CEO Fiorina to know that, 14 years later, any serious Republican candidate had to be virulently anti-Muslim? Who knew that racism and paranoia would be the must-have fashion accessory for the rising GOP star? Her speech cited facts, history, and science in her defense of Islam – and these are, of course, fashion blunders for Republican candidates. Speaking words of tolerance and appreciation for the contributions of Islamic culture in 2001 may cost her a chance at the Republican nomination in 2015.
Follow the orange magic carpet for more.
Carly Fiorina speaking at CPAC, 2014
Fiorina's fateful speech was well-written, and preached tolerance and appreciation for the culture of Islam. She cited history and science. She lauded the contributions of ancient Islamic civilization to modern American society:
I’ll end by telling a story.
There was once a civilization that was the greatest in the world.
It was able to create a continental super-state that stretched from ocean to ocean, and from northern climes to tropics and deserts. Within its dominion lived hundreds of millions of people, of different creeds and ethnic origins.
One of its languages became the universal language of much of the world, the bridge between the peoples of a hundred lands. Its armies were made up of people of many nationalities, and its military protection allowed a degree of peace and prosperity that had never been known. The reach of this civilization’s commerce extended from Latin America to China, and everywhere in between.
And this civilization was driven more than anything, by invention. Its architects designed buildings that defied gravity. Its mathematicians created the algebra and algorithms that would enable the building of computers, and the creation of encryption. Its doctors examined the human body, and found new cures for disease. Its astronomers looked into the heavens, named the stars, and paved the way for space travel and exploration.
Its writers created thousands of stories. Stories of courage, romance and magic. Its poets wrote of love, when others before them were too steeped in fear to think of such things.
When other nations were afraid of ideas, this civilization thrived on them, and kept them alive. When censors threatened to wipe out knowledge from past civilizations, this civilization kept the knowledge alive, and passed it on to others.
While modern Western civilization shares many of these traits, the civilization I’m talking about was the Islamic world from the year 800 to 1600, which included the Ottoman Empire and the courts of Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo, and enlightened rulers like Suleiman the Magnificent.
In modern American conservative circles, it is once again
de rigeur to fear Muslims, to foment conspiracy theories, to extrapolate from the real dangers posed by ISIL and ISIS, to embrace racist stereotypes that anyone with a beard, an Arabic accent, and/or a hijab is a terrorist plotting against one's hometown.
Like sex, fear sells. And what it sells is political loyalty to the Republican brand. Fiorina is a rising GOP star, who did well in the recent debates - but that won't save her candidacy if she is seen as disloyal to the current Republican brand.
GOP women have been assigned the task of taking down a fellow female, to save the guys from being labeled as Warriors on Women. On August 16, Former Rep. Michelle Bachman, who is still trying to remain relevant on the political scene,tweeted a link to Bethany Blankley's "Christian Headlines" hit piece., "Carly Fiorina's Post 9/11 Speech in Praise of Islam Resurfaces"
Blankley ridicules Fiorina's praise of Islamic civilization, and ends with the jab:
Perhaps she should move to Saudi Arabia where women are prohibited from driving; or Iran, where women are prohibited from working.
Her speech 14 years ago only reveals that Carly has been flying on a mystical magical carpet to nowhere for years.
It will be interesting to see how much traction this gets, and whether Fiorina now walks it back, and says that she fears and hates Muslims, after all, like a good Republican.
Will she recant her 2001 speech? Will the other candidates try to outdo each other on anti-Muslim propaganda? Stay tuned.
By the way, Kossacks, I'm not writing this as a plug for Carly Fiorina....Republican women liked her the best of any of the candidates, far more than Trump, and so she may actually have a shot at the nomination. i'd hate to see Islamophobia become a plank in the party platform.
Hat Tip to Council on American Islamic Relations newsletter for the link to the Fiorina article.