“As Jamelle Bouie noted recently in The New York Times, liberals ‘should be appalled by a man who, when he was entrusted with the power of the state, used it to terrorize innocent people on the basis of race and religion.'”
I’m sure they are, but Bloomberg didn’t do this to “terrorize innocent people on the basis of race and religion.” He did it to keep New Yorkers safe from jihad attacks. No one was terrorized, unless surveillance is itself a form of terrorism. This is yet another example of what I’ve pointed out many times, that now even the slightest opposition to jihad violence and realistic appraisal of its ideological roots is dismissed as “Islamophobia.”
Bloomberg shouldn’t apologize for this, but given what it takes to win the Democratic presidential nomination these days, he probably will.
“Bloomberg’s Democratic debate rivals must push him on Islamophobia ahead of South Carolina,” by Jalal Baig, NBC News, February 25, 2020:
In the opening minutes of last week’s Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg was filleted by his rivals. Bloomberg’s galactic funds and rising poll numbers made him a predictable target, and most likely will again at Tuesday night’s debate in South Carolina. But though Bloomberg’s expansion of the New York Police Department’s use of stop-and-frisk and allegations that he has used profane and misogynistic language about women are certainly deserving of indignation and collective censure, Democrats have thus far missed the opportunity on prime-time television to confront him on one of his most damning mistakes: Muslim surveillance.
Bloomberg’s anti-Muslim activism provided a blueprint for Republican presidential candidates like Donald Trump, who said he wanted to establish a Muslim registry, and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who pledged to “patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods.” During Bloomberg’s tenure as mayor, the NYPD’S covert Demographics Unit cataloged mosques, eavesdropped on conversations and spied on Muslim neighborhoods, in order, as he has said, “to keep the country safe.” Unlike stop-and-frisk, however, which Bloomberg has apologized for, the now-Democratic presidential candidate remains unapologetic for this violation of Muslim civil liberties.
The silence from the current pool of Democratic presidential candidates is equally alarming. As Jamelle Bouie noted recently in The New York Times, liberals “should be appalled by a man who, when he was entrusted with the power of the state, used it to terrorize innocent people on the basis of race and religion.”