ThinkProgress Home
ThinkProgress
ThinkProgress Logo

Krauthammer: No one ever painted Islam with a ‘broad brush.’

Yesterday on Fox News Report, Charles Krauthammer complained that President Obama’s interview with Al-Arabiya was too “apologetic and defensive”:

KRAUTHAMMER: Conciliatory, but also apologetic and defensive, I thought needlessly. We heard him say that he we shouldn’t paint Islam with a broad brush. Who does? That’s a straw man.

Watch it:

Krauthammer’s objections are ironic given the fact he’s guilty of the sort of “broad brush” thinking that Obama was warning against. In December 2002, for example, Krauthammer characterized Islam as violent and “hate-driven”:

From Nigeria to Sudan to Pakistan to Indonesia to the Philippines, some of the worst, most hate-driven violence in the world today is perpetrated by Muslims and in the name of Islam.

Krauthammer and those who share his views are, in part, responsible for the propagating the myth that Muslims “hate” the West. During his interview, Obama was rightly arguing that the U.S. must discredit such notions.

By clicking and submitting a comment I acknowledge the ThinkProgress Privacy Policy and agree to the ThinkProgress Terms of Use. I understand that my comments are also being governed by Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, or Hotmail’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policies as applicable, which can be found here.