The Ellison hustle

Although Minnesota Fifth District Rep. Keith Ellison claims to have converted to Islam as an undergraduate, he appears to have arrived in Minneapolis for law school as an acolyte of the Nation of Islam. Betweeen 1989 and 1998 Ellison adopted names including Keith Hakim, Keith X Ellison, and Keith Ellison-Muhammad while promoting Nation of Islam doctrine, representing the Nation of Islam, and holding himself out as a member of the Nation of Islam running for office. When Ellison first ran for office in 1998 he did so as a self-proclaimed member of the Nation of Islam under the name Keith Ellison-Muhammad.
Insofar as one can observe in the public record, the Farrakhan shtick was Ellison’s hustle at least until 1998. Today it’s his Muslim faith combined with his radical politics.
I think I’ve had Ellison’s number for a while. I took a shot at sizing him up for Weekly Standard readers in “Louis Farrakhan’s first congressman,” just before Ellison was elected to Congress in 2006.
Ellison is a Democrat and was of course the first Muslim elected to Congress. We await his identification of the branch of Islam that is aligned with Democratic Party doctrine on gay rights, abortion, feminism, and the other articles of the liberal faith.
Last night Sean Hannity broadcast an interview with Ellison in which you could see a bit of the Ellison hustle on display. In the segment below, Ellison shows what an ecumenical guy he is. Ellison explains: “We are at war with violent extremists who would kill Americans. And some of those people might be Muslim, they might be white supremacists, they might be people who would kill at abortion clinics. They might be of any description.”
Lest you feel left out, Ellison added: “We don’t stop at one particular group. We are trying to stop Americans from any extremist group; Muslim, Christian, Jewish, any kind.” This kind of clarity is only one of his many contributions to our public life.

Part 2 of the interview is posted here. In it Ellison is questioned about his Academy Award-worthy performance before Peter King’s subcommittee. Responding to Hannity, Ellison dances as fast as he can.
Via RealClearPolitics.