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Tuesday, Jun 19, 2012 8:18 PM UTC

Oh, look at that: National Review publishes racist nut

David Yerushalmi, anti-Shariah crusader, also once had some interesting thoughts on slavery

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Topics: National Review, Race, Islam,

Oh, look at that: National Review publishes racist nutDavid Yerushalmi

Remember how we were all so proud of the National Review for eventually firing or cutting ties with most of the outright white supremacists who occasionally or regularly wrote for that fine publication? Well, there is maybe still some work to be done, as it seems that there’s still room at the Corner for David Yerushalmi.

It seems like a simple rule of thumb, that if someone has once defended American slavery, that you should probably not publish things they write, because people will think you believe that sort of thing to be a perfectly acceptable point of view. So, in case the editors of the National Review Online were simply unaware, let’s point out that Yerushalmi has written that one cannot, these days, describe “blacks as the most murderous of peoples” without someone for some reason calling you a “racist.” And then he wrote: “There is a reason the founding fathers did not give women or black slaves the right to vote.”

Of course, Yerushalmi is not writing about black people for the Corner. He is, instead, writing about Muslims, because he is a professional Islamophobe. A few NR contributors have lately begun writing sensible things pushing back against the hysterical claims of the “creeping Shariah” lunatics, who claim that the tiny and largely politically powerless American Muslim Community is attempting, with terrifying success, to supplant the Constitution with conservative Koranic Law. The people who make this argument and believe it are generally insane. Most of the rest are simply scumbags who make a living scare-mongering and exploiting distrust of Muslims.

Yerushalmi, an Arizona (of course) attorney, might be both. He is so virulently bigoted against Muslims that the ADL has a file on his statements and activities. He is the head of a group whose charter calls for the deportation of all non-citizen Muslims in the U.S., and the criminalization of “adherence to Islam.” He’s a complete, raving nut, and so the NRO decided to give him space to rebut claims made by a non-nut contributor. It’s Yerushalmi’s fourth bylined contribution to the NR, though all the rest happened in 2009. Apparently this came about because last Friday, torture enthusiast and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew C. McCarthy invited Yerushalmi to respond to a National Review essay attacking his anti-Shariah crusade. McCarthy wrote:

“I asked my friend David Yerushalmi, who is the principle author of the model legislation, and whom I know to be a careful lawyer who has navigated the competing concerns with characteristic diligence, to weigh in. “

Again, this is a guy who wants to criminalize the practice of a religion and openly “declare war” on a billion of its adherents, and he also thinks liberal Jews are “parasites” and blacks are genetically inferior to whites, and he is Andrew McCarthy’s “friend” and a National Review contributor. Yes.

Alex Pareene

Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon and is the author of "The Rude Guide to Mitt." Email him at apareene@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @pareene More Alex Pareene.

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