Hotdish Friday – One Last Dollup of Oath-taking

The dish is still hot on the Keith Ellison oath of office story, and we have a few more servings inside.

more insideDennis Prager’s words have taken a life of their own, and the reverberations can be heard all the way to…Colorado?

From our sister site at Colorado Confidential:

Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, has found an unlikely ally in Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo who once hypothetically suggested that bombing Islamic holy sites would be an appropriate response to a domestic nuclear attack by “extremist, fundamentalist Muslims.”
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However, the Littleton Republican’s theologically-enlightened comment resonates quite a bit less when contrasted with his ongoing public feud with the Bible-thumpin’ Catholic Church and mainstream Christian denominations whom he claims are radical activists who employ smear tactics and impugn the motives of his anti-immigration-border-sealing-fence-building supporters with ties to white supremacist groups.

Prager’s also brought conservative radio host Michael Savage into the media scrutiny, as well:

SAVAGE: Keith Ellison won’t swear to uphold the oath of office on the Bible, but on the Quran instead. This is unbelievable to me. So what’s next? A witch gets elected, and she says she’s gonna only be sworn in with her hand over a pentagram? Where does this end? Tell me when this ends, the tyranny of the psycho, whacked-out minority. Tell me when it ends.

And, as many readers have written in to point out, all of this controversy is for nothing, since Congresspeople don’t actually take an oath on anything:

[T]he swearing-in ceremony for the House of Representatives never includes a religious book. The Office of the House Clerk confirmed to ThinkProgress that the swearing-in ceremony consists only of the Members raising their right hands and swearing to uphold the Constitution. The Clerk spokesperson said neither the Christian Bible, nor any other religious text, had ever been used in an official capacity during the ceremony. (Occasionally, Members pose for symbolic photo-ops with their hand on a Bible.)

For those of you who prefer video to reading, here is Dennis Prager on Hannity and Colmes, and another Prager Fox News Interview.