This is absurd.
On the December 21 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, host Wolf Blitzer attributed a "raging controversy" to Rep.-elect Keith Ellison (D-MN) for his reported intention to use a copy of the Quran as part of his swearing-in ceremony -- rather than attributing it to those who have denounced Ellison. Blitzer's comments came while reporting on a letter written by Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) attacking Muslims and Ellison. Blitzer stated that Ellison's "plans to use the Quran in the swearing-in ceremony have touched off a raging controversy." Blitzer also suggested that Ellison was "war[ring]" with Goode.
Blitzer's suggestion that Ellison was to blame echoed Republican strategist Cheri Jacobus, who, as Media Matters for America noted, said she thought it was "a little bit strange" that "we're focusing on" Goode instead of Ellison on the December 21 edition of MSNBC News Live.
Talk about blaming the victim. The far-right hysteria is Ellison's fault? Because he has the audacity to choose his own religious text in a ceremonial photo-op?
Ellison isn't the problem here.
