Most Democrats just avert their eyes from the topic of radicalization in Muslim-American communities, or the Muslim world at large. When they are asked directly about it, they usually offer some sentiment like Hillary Clinton’s recent statement, “Muslims are peaceful and tolerant people and have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism.”
California Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez has taken a shot at estimating (guess-timating?) what percentage of that community qualifies as extremist and threatening: “But certainly, we know that there is a small group, and we don’t know how big that is — it can be anywhere between 5 and 20%, from the people that I speak to — that Islam is their religion and who have a desire for a caliphate and to institute that in anyway possible, and in particular go after what they consider Western norms — our way of life,” Sanchez said on “PoliticKING with Larry King.” And with that, the media freezes in indecision, unsure whether to denounce Sanchez for Islamophobia and bigotry or to hold fire on a Democrat in good standing. Sanchez is running for the U.S. Senate. Her current House district, in Long Beach, is about 50 miles from San Bernardino. She was previously best known for exceptionally odd Christmas cards that featured her cat.
