Unfortunately, what Graham says here is both a deliberate deceit and a clever political double-game to gain support from the prejudiced while simultaneously conciliating the unprejudiced. Smart politicians know that you don't have to denounce your opponent to score points on him. All you have to do is draw attention to anything that might cost him support from the public, while at the same time saying, "As a high-minded person, I have nothing against this." That is exactly what Graham is doing here, knowing perfectly well that many Americans are far more openly anti-Muslim than Bush or even Goode.
The deceit, on the other hand, comes down to a preposition. Lindsey Graham, who's taken the oath of office five times within the halls of Congress, knows perfectly well that Keith Ellison did NOT "swear allegiance to" the Koran. Nor did Graham, nor Goode, nor anyone else, swear allegiance to the Bible. The Constitution does not permit anyone to take office in the United States that way. Here is the actual Constitutional provision concerning swearing in, nothing omitted:
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
In other words:
1) You must swear allegiance to Constitution itself.
2) The one thing you don't do is swear allegiance to a religion.
The Framers put that in because religious "tests" used to be required to swear in members of the British Parliament, not letting them take their seats unless they swore to something that would contradict their consciences if they were not Christian, or not Protestant, or not Anglican, depending on how far back in history you go. Virgil Goodes have a long lineage.
In this country, you can swear your oath ON the Bible, ON the Koran, ON the Boy Scout Honor Code, or on anything else that ensures you're not mentally crossing your fingers. But you only swear TO the Constitution.
So when Graham says, "I'm glad [Ellison]'s swearing allegiance to a document that is consistent with his faith," this is a deliberate deception, designed to scare voters who fear that people with Islamic allegiances are out to get us. By pretending that Ellison took a different oath than the other members of Congress, Graham is trying to associate disloyalty with the Democratic party.
It's part of a systematic effort within the Republican party to make Americans forget what the oath of office really is. After all, the so-called War on Terror in the name of which Bush junks everyone's rights has never been a war on terrorists in general. I didn't see Bush go after the Columbian government, despite all the labor leaders they've been killing; and Saddam Hussein wasn't attacked for terrorism. No, the "War on Terror" is a war on Muslims who oppose the United States. By making that the new polarity in the world, questions of the Constitution fade away. Constitutionalism is pre-9/11 thinking--it's just a piece of paper, after all.
As long as Americans are convinced that the proper allegiance of office-holders is to Judeo-Christianity and the national security state, our secular Constitution really doesn't matter. Electees can go on with the formality of the Constitutional oath--you won't see it unless you O.D. on CNN, and you'll never see them uphold it. Few Americans will realize the illegality of the state they expect to save them from evil. In the New World Order, the polarity will not be between Constitution and lawlessness, but Christians and Jews versus Muslims, hawks versus traitors, with civil liberties as merely a fifth column.
The Republicans have been pushing that thinking ever since 9/11--and now they're upping the ante. Because if enough Americans remember what their oath of office really is, Bolton, Miers, and quite possibly their higher-ups could be headed straight for the slammer.
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