The Pathetic GOP Smear Against Muslims

I'm glad to see Colin Powell confront this ugliness*:

I'm also troubled by, not what Sen. McCain says, but what members of the party say, and it is permitted to be said such things as: "Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct answer is: he is not a Muslim. He's a Christian. He's always been a Christian.

But the really right answer is: What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is: No, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some 7-year-old Muslim-American kid believing he or she can be President?

Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion: he's a Muslim, and he might be associated with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

*In an appearance where he also endorsed Obama.

UPDATE: I should note that this bit of overall decency in no way absolves Powell for his lies in the run-up to the Iraq war. Chris Floyd lays out the case for Powell as a war-criminal here.