Mehmet Oz, the celebrity surgeon endorsed by Trump in Pennsylvania’s Senate race, could make history as the first Muslim US senator ever.
But one of his opponents, commentator Kathy Barnette, has a history of anti-Muslim posts on social media.
Here's a sampling...
(Thread 1/8)
From 2014 to 2017, Barnette repeatedly posted on Facebook and Twitter attacking then-President Barack Obama by accusing him of being a secret Muslim and a terrorist sympathizer (also implying at one point that he was gay).
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Barnette wrote that there was "nothing rational about Islam," implied that religious freedom did not extend to Islam, and shared a post stating that “Islam should be banned in the USA.”
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At one point Barnette said that there was no such thing as a “moderate Muslim” and that ISIS was “the authentic Muslim.”
(4/8)
In 2015 she shared an article stating that “pedophilia is a cornerstone of Islam.”
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Many of Barnette’s tweets originate from Facebook, and several contain links to now-deleted Facebook posts and videos. One such tweet reads “Just confronted a Muslim today” before linking to a now-deleted Facebook video (so we don't know what's in it).
(6/8)
Barnette has seen a rise in the polls — notching a close second in a new Trafalgar survey — even as frontrunning candidates Oz and former hedge fund CEO Dave McCormick pump millions of dollars into their campaigns. Barnette has spent far less.
But today's news is that Barnette will reportedly get a boost from the Club for Growth to the tune of $1 million in TV advertising. The primary is in 1 week.
"The mindset of a Muslim is very different from the mindset of Americans and that's the reason why we cannot fully understand the level, the depth of the depravity, the depth of the evil, because it's just not a part of the American fabric."
That's a short clip from a 15-minute speech Barnette gave about Islam and Muslims that is up on her YouTube page.
And here's Barnette likening Islam to Nazism/Stalinism.
"You are not a racist if you reject Islam or if you reject Muslims, because they are not a race of people, they are... a people that have a partiuclar view of the world. We have a right to discriminate against worldviews."
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From earlier today on Barnette’s tweets about Muslims, including implying religious freedom doesn’t apply to Muslims and that Islam should be banned from the US >>
Mastriano not only has a double digit lead but his supporters are also by far the most committed. Just 31% of his supporters say they may change their mind. For most other candidates, ~half of their supporters say they might switch.
Things are heating up in Alaska's House special election.
Three candidates began advertising on broadcast TV this week: Republicans Nick Begich III ($2760) and Tara Sweeney ($7445) and Democrat Mary Peltola ($7521). All on KTUU in Anchorage.
Here's Sweeney's ad:
Sweeney was Trump's Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. An Iñupiaq (and a Cornellian!), Sweeney would be the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress.
So would Peltola, who is Yup’ik and a former state legislator. She is one of six Democrats in the race. Here is her ad:
Another interesting AK tidbit is this post from the Alaska Democratic Party savaging their own 2020 Senate nominee, Al Gross.
He is running in the special as a nonpartisan candidate and has worked to distance himself from the Democratic brand. Six Democrats are running.
In the grand scheme it’s insignificant but between this and:
-“Russian warship, go fuck yourself”
-“There is no purgatory for war criminals, Ambassador. They go straight to hell”
-“Put seeds in your pockets so at least sunflowers grow when you all die”
…they’re batting 1.000.
Throw “I need ammunition, not a ride” on the list too
Biden would have carried 9 of 17 districts in this map selected by the PA Supreme Court (4 D Justices in favor, 2 R + 1 D Justice dissenting). He carried 9 of 18 on the old map.
Glancing over it, the map double-bunks GOP Reps. GT Thompson and Fred Keller in the big ole 15th District (though Keller could also conceivably go for GOP Rep. Dan Meuser's 9th District, which has a lot of his old territory too).
Some other takeaways:
-PA1, 8, 10 still highly competitive
-Susan Wild's PA-7 gets more Republican, from Biden+5 to Biden +0.6. 2020 GOP nominee Lisa Scheller is already back for the rematch
-Conor Lamb's open PA-17 gets more Democratic (Biden+3 to Biden+6)
NEWS: New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu will NOT run for Senate against Democrat Sen. Maggie Hassan next year.
This is a big blow to GOP plans to take back the Senate. Sununu was the #1 potential recruit for Republicans, a top tier contender who would have been an early favorite.
Look to former Sen. Kelly Ayotte, who Hassan ousted in 2016, to run now that Sununu is a Su-no-no.
I wish I still had it but I was on a British radio show, away from the TV, when this happened and @nathanlgonzales walked in and handed me a napkin with “Fox called AZ for Biden” written and underlined on it, and I got to announce that to the UK.
Rare photograph of @arnonmishkin putting that check mark in the election toolkit