THIS IS HUGE. Electors are the people who represent their congressional district or Senator and vote the electoral points towards the 538 needed to win the presidency. The WA state liberals couldn't wait to bring this guy in and fall for his taqiya about understanding and that he has Christian children. That's not possible if he's truly a Muslim. He also just moved to this country in 1986 so he gets more representation than US army veterans who were born here. I curse all these Dennis Kuchinich loving, conspiracy believing, evil pieces of scum beneath my shoe.
If this man is so moderate, why did he go down to the electoral college to protest the Iraq War and say the government is behind saying bad things about Muslims?
Also, this reporter says Obama is not a Muslim. Did she ever mention that he was raised as a Muslim??? Wouldn't that be relevant to this story???
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/373598_elector05.html?source=rssLynnwood man may become first Muslim presidential elector in U.S.
Native of Pakistan among those chosen by state Democratic Party
By GREGORY ROBERTS
P-I REPORTER
If Democrat Barack Obama carries Washington state and the nation to win the White House in November, he won't become the first Muslim president of the United States.
That's because, despite Internet rumors, he's not a Muslim.
But Jeff Siddiqui is – and an Obama victory in the state and nation would give Siddiqui a small but possibly historic role in choosing the next president.
Siddiqui, a real estate agent who lives in Lynnwood, is one of 11 presidential electors designated by the state Democratic Party.
If Obama wins Washington, those 11 – one for each of the nine congressional districts in the state, and one for each of the state's two seats in the U.S. Senate – will assemble to cast their ballots for Obama on Dec. 15, when the electors from each of the other states and the District of Columbia also will meet.
If Republican John McCain wins Washington, the state's 11 GOP electors will cast ballots instead.
Whoever gets the majority of the 538 electoral votes nationwide becomes president.
With Obama leading in the polls in Washington state, Siddiqui is poised to become possibly the first Muslim presidential elector in U.S. history. And his religion has played a key role in shaping his path to the Electoral College.
A native of Pakistan who gained U.S. citizenship in 1986, Siddiqui, 56, is a relatively high-profile representative of the Muslim community in and around Seattle, giving speeches at schools, churches and community organizations, writing Op-Ed pieces in newspapers and providing guest commentary on radio and TV. His mission is to counteract the image of Muslims as fanatical terrorists and extremists that, he believes, is propagated in the media, popular culture and even the government.
"My basic message is that Muslims are no different from Christians, atheists, Jews, anyone," he said last week. "We're human beings. We should be treated just the same."
Siddiqui never participated officially in the political system until this year, when – drawn partly by curiosity, and partly by his concerns about Muslim bashing and the war in Iraq – he showed up at his precinct's Democratic presidential caucus in February.
"I went there to cast my ballot initially" – for Obama, who, Siddiqui contends, was the only candidate in either party not engaged in demonizing Muslims. "I had no intention of being a delegate. And while I was there, I thought, 'This could be the first step toward making our opinions known.'
"I raised my hand to be a delegate, and the next thing I knew, I was a delegate."
That led to successive rounds of caucuses and ultimately to the state party convention in Spokane. There, the Democrats settled on their delegates to the national convention in Denver in August and also held votes to pick their presidential electors.
Elector was not a position Siddiqui had intended to seek, but again, he wound up doing just that.
"I stood up and said, 'I want to tell you: I will use every opportunity I can as an elector to bring attention to the hate and bigotry that are being promoted in this country, and to fight against it,' " he said. "To my surprise, they loved it, and they said, 'All right, you're an elector.' "
Siddiqui – whose given name is Jafar – grew up in a family headed by a military officer in Pakistan. He was taught by nuns in Catholic missionary schools – "I had to go to catechism every day and if I didn't, I'd get whacked with a cane, and they weren't gentle" – until seventh grade, when the government forbade Muslim children to attend Christian schools.
He came to the U.S. in the mid-1970s to earn a master's degree in engineering at the University of Washington.
While serving as executive director of the Foundation for International Understanding Through Students, a campus group that placed foreign students with host families during the students' first week in Seattle, he met a third-generation Washingtonian (and Christian) named Kathy who was on the organization's board. They recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary and are raising two teen-agers.
Kathy Siddiqui is still a Christian; as for the children, Jeff Siddiqui hopes they'll choose Islam, but he knows enough not to force the issue.
Siddiqui recognizes that his role as an elector is strictly functional – electors in Washington state are legally pledged to support their party's candidate, and cannot vote otherwise –
but he is not oblivious to its wider implications."You're entering history when you're an elector," he said.
P-I reporter Gregory Roberts can be reached at 206-448-8022 or
[email protected].
Topic: ***Obama to bring in First Muslim PRESIDENTIAL ELECTOR*** (Read 982 times)