Renee Ellmers, North Carolina Congressional Candidate, Defends Controversial Anti-Mosque Ad (VIDEO)

Renee Ellmers, a Tea Party-backed congressional challenger to Rep. Bob Etheridge in North Carolina, spoke with CNN's Anderson Cooper on Friday to defend a controversial campaign ad that sought to connect her opponent to the building of an Islamic community center near Ground Zero.

The ad at issue drew heavy criticism for its interchangeable use of "Muslims" and "terrorists," a complaint that Ellmers explained to Cooper:

"Well, to be honest, I think that you could make that assumption, but that's not giving me the benefit of the doubt," Ellmers said. "I am not intending to say that all Muslims are terrorists. Basically what I am saying, sir, is that there were terrorists who attacked us -- they were Islamic jihadists. And, as a result of that, we have seen the devastation on 9/11."

Pressed by Cooper over the contention that the planners of the Park51 Islamic center near Ground Zero were actually terrorists, Ellmers appeared unready to walk back the potential connection.

"Do you know that [they aren't terrorists], sir?" Ellmers asked. "We don't even know who is the donors to that."

Asked by Cooper if she thought Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the Imam behind the project, was a terrorist, Ellmers appeared equally uncertain.

"Well, I don't know that much about the Imam, I don't think any of us know that much about the Imam, that is where the uncertainty is," Ellmers said. "I don't know what his intentions are."

The conversation then shifted to the point in Ellmers' ad about the construction of "victory mosques" in lands conquered by Muslims centuries ago, a clear comparison that was being made to the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque." Ellmers didn't take kindly to Cooper's questioning over a similar Christian practice that he said took place in Rome after it was seized from the Pagans.

"You are wrong in your assumptions," Ellmers said. "I guess what I could ask you is, are you anti-religion, are you anti-Christian in your thinking?"

"That's like the lowest response I have ever heard from a candidate, I gotta tell you," Cooper responded.

As for the response by the Etheridge campaign last week that accused Ellmers of "desecrating this hallowed ground with her obvious and offensive attempt to raise her profile," Ellmers maintained that the issue was indeed relevant in her district.

"All we're doing is reflecting what we've seen in the district and the people that I have talked with who are so concerned with where this country is going," Ellmers said. "I am running for the people of District 2, North Carolina, who are good, hardworking, Christian people, who just want to turn this country around."

The latest analysis on the race shows Rep. Etheridge poised to hold the seat despite Ellmers' support from Sarah Palin, Tea Party groups and conservative 527 Americans for Job Security, which has announced that they will spend $800,000 on advertising against Etheridge.

WATCH:

Comments

[huffpostsquare]

11:48 PM on 10/01/2010

I live in NC, a Catholic and a female but I have to admit that Ellmers' comments are really embrassments. NC is a leaning red state but a lot of people there are well educated with real common senses. Her extremely comments (and many of the tea baggers) are really problems of the country. If Ellmers is really care about this country, I would suggest her to put her time and resources to help those who are poor and needed instead of creating those untrue nonsense comments.

[maxwelldog]

07:48 PM on 10/01/2010

Renee Ellmers, a Tea Party-backed congressional challenger, challenging NYC from the state of North Carolina.
TeaBaggerette extraordinaire.
So, by denying any religion in another state, I reckon that means that she feels she can demand theocracy in any other state?
What arrogance and political pandering.
For a louder voice she uses her challenge against the upright people in North Carolina.

[JBS]

03:08 PM on 10/01/2010

You know this woman ain't even FROM North Carolina don't you?

She's just another carpet tea-bagger.

[maxwelldog]

08:44 PM on 10/01/2010

so historically accurate I just had to fan you.

[BigAbner]

09:16 PM on 09/28/2010

Don't we know that 'Believing in Santa Claus' is still Legal in North Carolina as well as the rest of the USA? And don't we know that its okay to LIE about current events and passing them on as 'Fact', like FOX News does? So, why should it surprise anyone to hear an obvious grownup rattle on about a 'History' that never existed? And if she can collect enough followers she can have her very own 'Movement'?

Brick

[Scent]

02:53 PM on 09/28/2010

There is a law that says someone who disrupts our peace and safety has to go to jail.

I say people revving up hatred for political gain PEREFCTLY match that category.

[maxwelldog]

08:45 PM on 10/01/2010

#125 (maybe. Might be 126,7, or 8, though...seems to be more pending comments a'coming)

[Devin1818]

01:40 PM on 09/28/2010

This woman is so righteous about her ignorance! Don't bother her with the facts; she already knows the truth.
There's an old adage: "Never insult an idiot, life beat you to it."

[UmberLamp]

01:36 PM on 09/28/2010

"but that's not giving me the benefit of the doubt,"
"Do you know that [they aren't terrorists], sir?"

That's why you don't deserve the benefit of a doubt, Ms Ellmers.
You are a bigot, it what I'm saying.

[juhar]

01:16 PM on 09/28/2010

Just how many cousins does this woman candidate, Renee Ellmers have? The answer is not enough. And I doubt if she has any North Carolina Cousins because my North Carolina cousins would have stopped me making a political idiot of myself long before they brought in the cameras for this commercial.

Amazing is her denial of history, not Muslim history, the history of her own Catholic faith. Correct me if I'm wrong but now "I don't know" means I can stay ignorant of facts and say anything I want and claim I'm not deceptive because I don't the fact I choose not to know.

How long will the Tea Party choose to not know anything and using the "Tea Party's 'I don't know'" Card. So instead of being a hyprocrite their defense is staying ignorant of facts. The Tea Party candidates distort history because their goal is to repeat history - when they say they want their country back the was to re-conquer every group of Americans that they had suppressed generations ago - African Americans, Mexican Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans and last but not least Muslim Americans.

[libertasdon]

01:33 PM on 09/28/2010

I commend you for offering an argument based on facts and reasons. Could I ask for a clarification? What was it Ellmers did not know about her faith? Thank you for a reply.

[anandblr]

01:40 PM on 09/28/2010

For one, she didn't seem to wrap her head around the fact that christianity hasn't always been around. Other religions preceded it, and in some cases were replaced by christianity.
christians built "victory churches," just like everyone else.

[maxwelldog]

08:00 PM on 10/01/2010

You're going on some rather loose information yourself, libertson.
While the Vatican is indeed a state NOW, it started out as a headquarters fo rthe POpe (one of thwo, actually) and in time bore down on any religious practice that did not specifically adhere to the Catholic faith.
In fact, they relentlessly hunted Jews throughout Europe for several centuries, and...(this is quite interesting) the Jews were being hidden by Islamic faith practitioners.
Amazingly, Muslims were saving Jews, primarily in Spain and in other sites around the Mediterranean.
Repayment? The Jewish settlements ousting Palestinians from various lands around Jerusalem. Oddly, about that, when held by the Islamic followers around the years 1000, ALL faiths were allowed in and around the city and country.

Further, the Missionaries who populated the Americas all built "churches" among the lands they conquered. Most with prisons.

So, in history, there have been only a very few idealists who have let others practice their own belief systems.
Atheists being one of them.
No "victory churches" ever from an atheist.

[Belle Starr]

01:05 PM on 09/28/2010

Elmers is yet another tragic example of what happens when babies are dropped on their heads

[capt ayhab]

01:57 PM on 09/28/2010

#375

[maxwelldog]

08:03 PM on 10/01/2010

HA!
I knew it was wise to fan you the other day, Belle. Humor goes way far to absorb hatred and quench the soul!
Thanx!

[Gumby69]

12:04 PM on 09/28/2010

Moral decline? How about IQ decline? Man your country doesn't have a chance with candidates like this, and this bigotry is unbelievable. Ignorance seems to be the only thing the U.S. is exporting these days.

[cargofuzz]

01:40 PM on 09/28/2010

And if candidates like this start winning, you may see an 'up tick' in Americans emigrating to Canada!

[Gumby69]

11:31 AM on 09/30/2010

We'll take only the nice and smart ones! :)

[Roman1]

11:35 AM on 09/28/2010

And these are the people Dems will stay hone and not vote against?

Tragic. Just tragic.

[maxwelldog]

08:06 PM on 10/01/2010

You must be mistaken, Roman1
Plenty of us will be voting.
Plenty of us.

[hackerblaster]

09:09 AM on 09/28/2010

I didn't know there were only xtians in North Carolina. Very interesting.

[Jaxy]

01:41 PM on 09/28/2010

Ellmers obviously takes issue with anyone who doesn't subscribe to her narrow, insular, bigoted view of those are entitled to the protections and goodwill of government.

The Scriptures strongly suggest that if Jesus Christ walked the Earth today, he would absolutely REJECT loathesome pharisees like Ellmers, who claim to be His followers.

[BlueFloyd]

07:59 AM on 09/28/2010

So there isnt one Jewish person (about whom she cares) in her potential district?

Wow, she is frightening. If she is NOT endorsed by palin, I would be shocked.

[libertasdon]

07:49 AM on 09/28/2010

After weeks of trying, no one has been able to make a single substantive argument that anyone related to this project is . . . a radical [or] a practitioner of the "evil Sharia law" -- bradinsouth

Imam Rauf is a proponent of sharia law. He is the founder of the Sharia Law Index Project. The Cordoba Initiative website states the Project is part of the proposed mosque/community center. The project will conduct surveys of sharia compliance in 44 Muslim nations. It will analyze acceptance of 74 tenets of sharia and publish a yearly report of the survey's results. Sharia law is antithetical to Western jurisprudence, although Muslim groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and the Muslim Americans Society are dedicated to replacing American jurisprudence with sharia. It is well-know for defining women as inferior to men and relegating non-Muslims to an inferior status in Muslim society. Its physical punishments make headlines each time they are imposed.
Recently press acounts revealed Imam Rauf, as recently as 2006, was an associate of Faiz Khan, a Muslim American who views the 9/11 attack an inside job. He views militant Muslims as "patsies" unfairly charged with the attack.
If the mosque is built at the proposed site, it is easy to foresee radical Muslims, terrorists and terrorist-wannabees flocking to the mosque in search of like-minded individuals. There is no reason to doubt that it will become an American Mecca, not only for terrorists, but for sharia advocates everywhere.

[pgwodehouse]

09:03 AM on 09/28/2010

Are you a complete dimwit, or merely a liar? The project(http://www.cordobainitiative.org/?q=content/shariah-index-project) is the Shariah Index Project - there is no 'law' in the name, but you doubtless had to manufacture that to lie convincingly. It is a methodology of how closely (or not) Muslim-majority countries stick to Islamic teachings in governance and daily life. It is NOT any kind of Shariah law advancement program, and you completely made that up.

An "associate" of someone? Is that the best you can come up with? What are you, the new McCarthy?

You should be ashamed that you have to lie so much and so diligently to make your case.

[libertasdon]

09:23 AM on 09/28/2010

The imam must have changed the name then. But it does not matter. What do you think sharia is? You give away your argument when you state the project will study how Islamic teaching is adhered to in GOVERNANCE and DAILY LIFE. My emphasis. Sharia law is indeed the subject-matter of the now-named Sharia Index Project. Make no mistake about that. Thank you for bringing the abridged name to my attention. You need to rexamine your post and consider dropping the name-calling. I am probably not much different than you. Calling me a liar and a neo-McCarthyite says more about you than it does me. Especially when your own post reveals that you have no idea what sharia is.

[libertasdon]

09:48 AM on 09/28/2010

A second comment, please. PG, the imam certainly plans to promote sharia law by making his Index Project studies available to all nations, Muslim or not, and to everyone else -- including anyone who wants a copy. Now let me tell you that I have made nothing up. I have posted more than several times links to web pages that were taken down from the Cordoba Initiative web site after the project became controversial. I would post the links again, but if you check my posts in this comment section, you will see that my attempts have resulted in long strings of code attached to the link. It is not something I posted, but it's there anyway. All the links failed when I tried them. I have attached the link anyway. Hopefully it works. But you can google Carel Brendal or Christine Brim, or both together, and you should get their articles about the imam's sharia law index project. I mean sharia index project. The imam was for a time very open about his project. Now, not so much. But if you locate the missing web pages, you will find a lot of information including reports about the first couple of years of the project. As Brendel points out in his article, if these pages were a clever forgery, the imam and the MSM, including HuffPo, would have an expose (exposay) of the whole affair.
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/why-cant-the-msm-investigate-raufs-shariah-index-project/

[iamnotthestupidone]

12:06 PM on 09/28/2010

DAMN YOU ARE FUNNY! BET THAT TINFOIL ON YOUR HEAD MAKES YOU SWEAT LIKE CRAZY TOO....

[Prankster]

07:23 AM on 09/28/2010

Yea, so ........... What's your point???