Where Credit Is Due
By Mitch Berg
I gotta hand it to Keith Ellison; although I think he’s well on his way to being a terrible Congressional representative, this is a pretty smooth move. For his controversial swearing-in on the Qu’ran tomorrow…:
We’ve learned that the new congressman — in a savvy bit of political symbolism — will hold the personal copy [of the Qu’ran] once owned by Thomas Jefferson.
“He wanted to use a Koran that was special,” said Mark Dimunation, chief of the rare book and special collections division at the Library of Congress, who was contacted by the Minnesota Dem early in December. Dimunation, who grew up in Ellison’s 5th District, was happy to help.
Jefferson’s copy is an English translation by George Sale published in the 1750s; it survived the 1851 fire that destroyed most of Jefferson’s collection and has his customary initialing on the pages. This isn’t the first historic book used for swearing-in ceremonies — the Library has allowed VIPs to use rare Bibles for inaugurations and other special occasions.
I don’t personally care on which book, if any, a Congressman takes his/her oath; using the book, if any, that is most meaningful to them makes perfect sense to me.
Because the part that counts starts later this week. And oy, what a mess that’s going to be.
January 3rd, 2007 at 2:03 pm
You gotta love the fact that Jefferson’s home is in Rep. Virgil Goode’s district.
January 3rd, 2007 at 10:16 pm
Considering Keith’s, ahem, associations, I can’t help but wonder how long it’s going to be before large bundles of cash are discovered in his freezer. Ala another Jefferson (Democrat, Louisiana).
I’ll keep on saying it: The true face of the DFL.
Sorry, Rick (not really).
January 3rd, 2007 at 11:45 pm
As far as I know the following idea is new meme:
Does not the Koran espowse sharia law? Is not sharia law in direct contradiction to the oath to protect and uphold the US constitution? Doesn’t that make the oath and this the office holder invalid? Just asking.
January 3rd, 2007 at 11:45 pm
Wait a minute. Wasn’t Jefferson a slave owner? Wasn’t the wealth that allowed Jefferson to amass a library that included a copy of the Koran derived from the blood and sweat of the slaves who worked his estate? Don’t even modern muslims claim that the Koran justifies the keeping of slaves?
I imagine the strib will put a team of reporters on this koran-slavery-jefferson connection as soon as the staff returns from their diversity training seminar.
January 4th, 2007 at 8:12 am
I heard the NPR interview with the head librarian for the congressional library. According to him, Jefferson’s Quoran was probably picked up with his other law books, as they would have occasional compare and contrast references that book along the line of “this is our tradition, but for a different point of view look at how its stated in the Quoran”.
Well, I hope he turns out OK. I didn’t vote for him – for reasons of parking tickets and back taxes mostly, and he rubbed me as someone who’d work his way into an ethics scandal eventually.
Well, I welcome in the new congress, hope they stay out of trouble long enough to have a chance to work with a president who’s not in such an insular bubble of his own beliefs. In the meantime, here are some parting words for the 93rd congress, whose absence will be … noted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG1g4uZL0tI
January 5th, 2007 at 8:25 am
Well, Kerm, Angryclown will agree that the odds of a Democratic Congressman getting busted have gone up. There’s so many more of ’em now, dontcha know.
January 5th, 2007 at 10:14 am
There’s so many more of ‘em now, dontcha know.
For now.
January 7th, 2007 at 12:25 am
Gloat Gloat Gloat