Remember when USA Today refused to publish Ann Coulter’s take on the the Democratic National Convention? Well, the folks who thought Coulter was beyond the pale apparently have no problem printing the ravings of a radical Islamic imam approving of the murder of a dozen people in Paris.
In an op-ed entitled “People know the consequences,” UK imam and terror sympathizer Anjem Choudary rejected the notion that Islam was a “religion of peace,” as is so often repeated. “Contrary to popular misconception, Islam does not mean peace but rather means submission to the commands of Allah alone. Therefore, Muslims do not believe in the concept of freedom of expression…” (RELATED: USA Today On Day Of Ottawa Shooting: Beware Of ‘Christian Extremists’)
Choudry opines that the murder of Charlie Hebdo employees after the French paper published cartoons mocking Mohammad was justified under Islamic law. “The strict punishment if found guilty of this crime under sharia (Islamic law) is capital punishment implementable by an Islamic State. This is because the Messenger Muhammad said, ‘Whoever insults a Prophet kill him.'”
“So why in this case did the French government allow the magazine Charlie Hebdo to continue to provoke Muslims, thereby placing the sanctity of its citizens at risk?” he asks, “It is time that the sanctity of a Prophet revered by up to one-quarter of the world’s population was protected.” (RELATED: Radical Islamic Cleric Defends Paris Shootings)
But back in 2004, USA Today did exercise some editorial discretion to spike a column by conservative commentator Ann Coulter. The paper had commissioned Coulter to give a conservative take on the 2004 Democratic National Convention, but ultimately ended the arrangement when the column ending up sounding like, well, an Ann Coulter column.
Here, for example, was the first paragraph: “Here at the Spawn of Satan convention in Boston, conservatives are deploying a series of covert signals to identify one another, much like gay men do. My allies are the ones wearing crosses or American flags. The people sporting shirts emblazoned with the ‘F-word’ are my opponents.”
Another conservative commentator, Jonah Goldberg, was called in to comment on the DNC instead. The following month, liberal firebrand Michael Moore was called in to write about the Republican National Convention.
Evidently, calling Democrats the “Spawn of Satan” goes to far for USA Today’s editorial standards, but not calling for the death of those who insult Mohammad. It should go without saying, by the way, that USA Today has decided not to print the offensive images of Muhammad. (RELATED: The (Ever-Growing) List Of Cowards Refusing To Publish The Mohammad Cartoons)
