Republicans Pin Terror on Islam, Democrats Don’t

CAIR whined A divide is emerging on the presidential campaign trail over battling terrorists: how exactly to label the fight. While Democrats tend to talk about terrorism in general, Republicans increasingly pin the threat directly on Islam.

Which says if you want to be safe, elect the Republicans that know what the source of the problem is.

All the major Republican candidates regularly weave some form of the phrase "Islamic extremism" into their stump speeches. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has taken the rhetoric to a new level, running a television advertisement about "this century's nightmare, jihadism." Democratic candidates generally don't emphasize linking Islam and terrorism. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton talks more of "global terrorism," while Sen. Barack Obama refers to "stateless terrorism."

At least they know it exists, even though they are clueless on where it comes from.

"In four Democratic debates, not a single Democratic candidate said the word 'Islamic terrorism,'" former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said at a Republican debate. "Now that is taking a political correctness to extremes." Those who like the Republican candidates' choice of language say it reflects the reality of who threatens America the most. "Everybody ought to call an ace an ace," says Jim Gorsh, a 62-year-old retiree who heard Mr. Romney speak in Clinton, Iowa, earlier this month. Others, including some Arab-American groups, say the constant references to Islamic terrorists, even if meant to refer only to a single radical strand of Islam,

It is not restricted to on strand. There are both Shia and Sunni terrorists.

may end up tarring the entire religion. After a group of conservative academics declared last week "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week," David Halperin, a senior vice president at the Democratic-leaning think tank Center for American Progress, criticized the effort. "To continue to harp on the idea that Islamo-fascism is the source of terrorism is to suggest that all Muslims are terrorists," Mr. Halperin said.

No, but most terrorists are Muslims.