August 13, 2003
White House to Appoint Controversial Scholar Amid Criticism
The man is Daniel Pipes, a scholar who warned in advance of 9/11 about the threats of extremist Muslim groups and festering hatred in the Middle East. Pipes is being appointed to the board of the U.S. Institute of Peace directly by the Bush Administration. Several vocal Democrats and Muslim groups have denounced the appointment, claiming that Bush is stacking the committee with partisan politics that would cripple peace initiatives.
Pipes has backed ideas such as racial and religious profiling and surveillance of mosques. He has been derided by Democrat Sen. John Kerry, who said Pipes’ “record and experience do not reflect a commitment to bridging differences and preventing conflict” and urged Bush to “find someone better.” The Council on American-Islamic Relations chastised Bush and called the appointment “a defeat for democracy and an affront to Muslims, Arab Americans and all those who seek peace.”
While the critics are against the appointment in general, the disturbing aspect is Bush slighting Senate approval by making the appointment during a Senate recess (the Reuters article mentioned that Bush has done this with most of his controversial nominations). Bush is also on vacation during the month of August.
Posted by Stephen VanDyke at August 13, 2003 03:22 PMOnce again, Democracy and process defeated by Backdoor Bush.
Posted by: Robbie D at August 13, 2003 04:03 PMWow, good news. I hope he has the courage to do the right thing and not give in to politically correct lemmings when they refer to “racial profiling”. Bush must have read my column on Moral relativity and took heed to it. ;>
Pete, I was trying to draw attention to the fact that he is making appointments on the sly instead of getting the approval that he should. This is a big no-no in my book (I want to say that this guy does seem very qualified and knowledgable on the subject and I think some of the criticism is over-the-top). That said, I can only suspect bad things about this guy because of Bush’s behavior. if he is qualified, why backdoor it? This reeks of skunk politics from both sides.
Posted by: Stephen VanDyke at August 13, 2003 06:04 PMWell you do have quite a good point there Steven. I don’t think it should be done by either side. I do think that it could have something to do with the obstructionism that Bush has seen with every political appointee he has tried to push through. I wonder what the figures are for obstructionism from the right wing to the Democrats and more specifically Clinton appointees. This would be an interesting article to write, you think?
Posted by: pete at August 13, 2003 09:29 PM
