John Deady, the co-chair of New Hampshire Veterans for Rudy, is standing by the comments he made in the controversial interview with The Guardian we posted on below, in which he said that "the Muslims" need to be chased "back to their caves."
In an interview with me, Deady confirmed that when he made the comments, he was referring to all Muslims.
"I don't subscribe to the principle that there are good Muslims and bad Muslims," Deady told me by phone from his home in New Hampshire. "They're all Muslims."
When a mere campaign volunteer to Hillary got caught forwarding the madrassa email about Barack Obama, it was national news for days and she had to quit the campaign. While the parallel isn't perfect, Deady's comments are more explosive than the act of forwarding the email is, and Deady is more than a mere volunteer to Rudy's campaign.
Indeed, Deady was designated by the campaign in a press release as the co-chair of Veterans for Rudy. The release describes him as a surrogate, saying: "Veterans for Rudy will continue to build this coalition to help communicate Mayor Giuliani’s optimistic vision for America and his proven track record of real results to New Hampshire voters."
While I'm not suggesting at all that Deady was speaking for the Rudy campaign, the question is whether these comments -- which again are arguably more controversial than the Hillary volunteer's forwarding of the madrassa email -- will garner anywhere near the same level of attention and whether the Rudy camp will have anything to say about them.
Asked if he stood by his comments in the earlier Guardian interview, Deady said:
"I most assuredly do. I've been very concerned about this Muslim thing for quite awhile. The average American does not know beans about what the Muslims are about. I am talking about the Muslims in general. I don't subscribe to the principle that there are good Muslims and bad Muslims. They're all Muslims."
In the earlier interview with The Guardian, Deady said of Muslims: "We need to keep the feet to the fire and keep pressing these people until we defeat or chase them back to their caves or in other words get rid of them."
When I asked Deady to elaborate on his suggestion that we need to "get rid" of Muslims, Deady said:
"When I say get rid of them, I wasn't necessarily referring to genocide. What I was referring to is, stand up to them every time they stick up their heads and attack us. We can't afford to say, `We'll try diplomacy.' They don't respond to it. If you look into Islamic tradition, a treaty is only good for five years. We're not dealing with a rational mindset here. We're dealing with madmen."
When I asked Deady if this was also a reference to all Muslims, he said: "I am talking about Muslims in general."
I asked Deady if he thinks Rudy shares his views of Muslims. Deady replied: "Does he see the Muslim problem [this way]? I can't honestly say that he does. I've heard him make statements that approach this type of thing, that we've got to stand up to these people. I don't think he's a cowboy, but I think he understands what he's up against."
At another point in our talk, Deady came out in favor of racial profiling when, for instance, searching airline passengers before boarding. "Instead of goosing every little old lady," Deady said, "why not take a look at those people who are between the ages of 18 and 38 and are acting strange?"
Deady also said at one point: "I'm not a bigot really. I may sound like one. But I'm only quoting what's factual."
The Rudy campaign didn't immediately return a request for comment.
Late Update: Finally! A big news org gets it right on Rudy's alleged advantage on terror.