Xenophobic Virgil Goode Celebrates Election in a Racist Way

Virgil Goode (R-Rocky Mount) has proven once and for all time that he is a zenophobe and a racist. A letter which was sent to hundreds of constituents surfaced in the Charlottesville media, (C'ville Weekly) and it is without a doubt both the worst written letter, and the most misguided and foolish letter that I have ever read.

Many stories have been written today about this incident. Waldo has a story, stated with incredulity. There were also entries on national blogs, and a Republican blog in Virginia, to name a few. There is a sense of "oh my god, did he really say that?" quality to them all. I have seen universal condemnation of this letter.

What makes this letter so bad, you ask? Read for yourself and determine your own own conclusions:

Congress of the United States
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515-4605

December 7, 2006

Dear Xxxxxxx:

Thank you for your recent communication. When I raise my hand to take the oath on Swearing In Day, I will have the Bible in my other hand. I do not subscribe to using the Koran in any way. The Muslim Representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don’t wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran. We need to stop illegal immigration totally and reduce legal immigration and end the diversity visas policy pushed hard by President Clinton and allowing many persons from the Middle East to come to this country. I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America and to prevent our resources from being swamped.

The Ten Commandments and “In God We Trust” are on the wall in my office. A Muslim student came by the office and asked why I did not have anything on my wall about the Koran. My response was clear, “As long as I have the honor of representing the citizens of the 5th District of Virginia in the United States House of Representatives, The Koran is not going to be on the wall of my office.” Thank you again for your email and thoughts.

Sincerely yours,
Virgil H. Goode, Jr.
70 East Court Street
Suite 215
Rocky Mount, Virginia 24151

Let's look at this a little closer, shall we?

I do not subscribe to using the Koran in any way.

My first impression? Why would he use the Koran, he is Christian, is he not? Beyond that, it shows a fundamental lack of respect for the holy book of another religion. Predictably, Virgil is not so good at this part.

The Muslim Representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don’t wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran.

Sentence structure, please! What does Representative-Elect Ellison and the rest of the sentence have to do with each other? Is it an implied connection to the rest of the sentence, which states Virgil's racist view that if people don't listen to him, there will be lots more Koran-totin' heathens wanting to use the Koran, when they are legally elected to the Congress of the United States? By the way, 'demanding the use of the Koran' is on its face a racist statement, and by its nature deprives people of their Constitutional rights to practice the religion of their choice.

It also deprives people of any race or religion the right to run for elective office.

After that, there are some spectacularly run-on sentences and some more flag-waving bullshit. I am sad that Virgil won on Election Day. The problem for me is, do those people who voted for him really believe this kind of anti-constitutional, racist, bigoted anti-religous blather? If they do, that is the part that depresses me and scares me the most. I had thought better of the people in my Congressional District.

Also posted at DailyKos