Goode Riddance in VA-5
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the 2008 election is the overdue retirement of Virgil Goode, from the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District. Goode will be replaced by Tom Perriello, assuming his current lead of 750 votes holds. For updates on that race, check out Raising Kaine. For more on Perriello, check out this write up at Slate.
I volunteered in VA-5 on election day and met several spirited volunteers who were fired up about Perriello. I’m excited about the Congress gaining Perriello’s intellect, his international perspective and his commitment to service, but frankly, I’m also excited about the forced retirement of the good-for-nothing Virgil Goode.
Perhaps the most notorious incident involving Goode was his islamophobic ravings in 2006 opposing the use of the Qur’an by newly elected Congressman Keith Ellison. Here’s an abbreviated Wiki entry on that incident:
In 2006, Keith Ellison was elected as the first Muslim to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. Some criticized Ellison’s intended use of the Qur’an for his unofficial swearing-in ceremony; among them, Goode was vocal in his opposition to Ellison’s plan. One of Goode’s constituents posted a letter online from the congressman regarding Ellison. The letter says in part:
“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.”
Ellison criticized Goode for this letter, stating that he is not an immigrant and that Goode does not understand Islam. He has also offered to meet with Goode to discuss the matter. The copy of the Qur’an used by Ellison in his private swearing-in ceremony was once owned by Thomas Jefferson, the nation’s third president and author of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. Jefferson was actively involved in advising Congress at the time on the matter of Muslim-backed pirates and their philosophical position in the run up to the First Barbary War. Monticello, Jefferson’s home, is located in the congressional district that Goode represents.
