Two Democratic congressmen have invited members of the terrorist-supporting organization the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to the president's State of the Union speech tonight.

The Hill:

Reps. Zoe Lofgren (Calif.) and Alcee Hastings (Fla.) will both be hosting representatives from CAIR chapters in their respective states, the group announced Monday.

Lofgren will be bringing Sameena Usman, a government relations coordinator in the San Francisco office, while Hastings will host Nezar Hamze, the chief operating officer of the nonprofit's Florida branch.

he announcement comes days after Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the first Muslim elected to Congress, challenged Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to bring a Muslim American as one of his guests to the speech.

"This is an opportunity to really drive the point home that there are no Americans who are suspect just based on their religious identity, that all Americans are welcome in the people’s house," Ellison said in an interview with The Hill.

Demoratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) has also urged Democratic lawmakers to bring Muslims to the speech as a rebuke to what she sees is anti-Islamic language from the right.

Yes, there's some of that.  But inviting CAIR representatives to the SOTU proves that if some on the right are bigots, most of the left are idiots.

Joe Kaufman at Frontpage Magazine explains:

CAIR or the Council on American-Islamic Relations was created in June 1994 as a part of a terrorist umbrella organization led by then-global head of Hamas, Mousa Abu Marzook. In 2007 and 2008, CAIR was named a co-conspirator by the US Justice Department for two federal trials dealing with the financing of millions of dollars to Hamas. In November 2014, along with ISIS and al-Qaeda, the UAE government named CAIR to its list of terrorist organizations.

CAIR-Florida reflects the same extremism as its parent organization. In July 2014, CAIR-Florida co-sponsored a pro-Hamas rally in Downtown Miami, where rally goers shouted, “We are Hamas” and “Let’s go Hamas.” Following the rally, the event organizer, Sofian Zakkout, wrote, “Thank God, every day we conquer the American Jews like our conquests over the Jews of Israel!” In August 2014, CAIR-Florida Executive Director Hassan Shibly wrote, “Israel and its supporters are enemies of God...”

CAIR-SFBA too epitomizes CAIR. The Executive Director of CAIR-SFBA Zahra Billoo has written that “one amazing reason to get married” is to “raise fighters” to attack Israel. She wrote that “to celebrate Columbus [Day] is… the same as having Jews celebrate Hitler and the Holocaust.” She refers to US troops as “scum.” Billoo proudly announced on her blog that her younger brother, Ahmed, was quoted in an article voicing support for suicide bombings. Billoo wrote that she, herself, contemplated suicide, after viewing a pro-Israel ad on a San Francisco train.

Besides CAIR, both Nezar Hamze and Sameena Usman are involved with Islamic Relief (IR). For the past three years, Hamze has helped coordinate a nationwide annual event run by Islamic Relief USA (IRUSA) called ‘Day of Dignity.’ IRUSA is the American affiliate of Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW). Usman is a Disaster Assistance Response Team member for IRUSA.

Islamic Relief, like CAIR, has been named by the UAE government as a terrorist organization.

Islamic Relief’s ties to terror are well known. The Russian government has accused Islamic Relief of supporting terrorism in Chechnya. Israel has banned the group, labeling it a Hamas front and arresting the organization’s Gaza Program Manager, Ayaz Ali, in 2006, for providing assistance to Hamas. At the end of 2014, Britain’s HSBC bank cut ties with Islamic Relief over concerns about “terrorist financing.” Reports show that Islamic Relief has sent millions of dollars to and received tens of thousands of dollars from groups related to al-Qaeda.

Discover the Networks has a long, detailed entry about CAIR that shows not only their extremism, but the daffy idea that they represent all American Muslims:

According to a June 2007 Washington Times report, CAIR's membership had declined more than 90 percent since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, from approximately 29,000 in the year 2000, to fewer than 1,700 six years later. As a result, CAIR’s annual income from dues dropped from $732,765 in 2000 (when yearly dues cost $25 per person), to $58,750 in 2006 (when dues cost $35). As of 2007, the majority of CAIR’s $3 million annual budget derived from about two dozen individual donors.  

M. Zuhdi Jasser, Director of the American-Islamic Forum for Democracy, said in June 2007 that the decline in CAIR’s membership contradicted the organization’s claim that it represents the interests and concerns of 7 million American Muslims. “This is the untold story in the myth that CAIR represents the American Muslim population,” said Jasser. “They only represent their membership and donors.”

What politician in his right mind would invite people who support extremism and misrepresent themselves to the media to a prestigious event like the State of the Union?  Liberal Democrats – some of whom support CAIR's radical agenda – are more enamored of portraying themselves as tolerant rather than prudent.

I have no problems with inviting Muslims to the SOTU – just as long as they don't represent organizations that support Hamas or al-Qaeda.  I would recommend inviting Muslim American military personnel who have proved their loyalty by serving honorably.  Anybody but the rancid Hamas stooges from CAIR.