How do you, if you’re a Leftist, get away with not condemning Muslim attacks?

Easy.  Claim the attackers are not Muslim, as Howard Dean does.

First, the attack: from SkyNews.com:

French police officer shot dead by Muslim attackers.

The bodies of victims are being removed from a Paris building as police conduct a major manhunt for gunmen who killed 12 at the headquarters of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Three masked gunmen stormed the offices of the controversial publication, which has previously been attacked for its portrayal of the Prophet Mohammed.

They were armed with Kalashnikov rifles and a rocket-propelled grenade during the attack on Wednesday morning.

The editor and a cartoonist for the newspaper, who went by the pen names Charb and Cabu, were among those killed.

Two police officers were also among the dead, including one assigned as Charb’s bodyguard after death threats were made against him.

Another 11 people have also been injured, at least four seriously.

The gunmen opened fire after bursting into the offices of Charlie Hebdo, which had long outraged Muslims with cartoons of the prophet Mohammed.

Police said witnesses heard the attackers shout “we have avenged the prophet” and “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest).

A police officer was shot in the head as he pleaded for his life.

It would seem to me that, all things considered to this point, one can readily and easily conclude the attackers were not Catholics or Buddhists.

Then, Howard Dean weighs in.  From the CanadaFreePress.com:

Howard Dean: Paris killers aren’t ‘Muslim terrorists’ – oh and ISIS isn’t Islamic, either.

by Robert Laurie

This morning, Dan and I were wondering what it will take to shake radical Islam’s apologists out of their ridiculous haze. I argue that nothing will ever do it, since the “all religion is equally bad” argument is central to the ideals and goals of the left-wing political ideology. After all, when you worship government and bureaucracy, no mere “God” can ever be allowed to horn in on the spotlight.

Still, we wondered: Will Islamist attacks on the media – which the left allegedly holds sacred – finally be enough to wake them up?

As if anticipating the question, Howard Dean appeared on MSNBC.  …And the answer is “no.”

“You know, this is a chronic problem. I stopped calling these people Muslim terrorists. They’re about as Muslim as I am. I mean, they have no respect for anybody else’s life, that’s not what the Koran says. Europe has an enormous radical problem.”

Howard Dean says the terrorists are “as Muslim as I am.”  They’re just common criminals engaged in some hijinks for the day.

Better yet: “I think ISIS is a cult. Not an Islamic cult. I think it’s a cult.”

Oh my God.  Who let Howard Dean out in public again?

Robert Laurie, however, absolutely nails it here:

So, this is the new strategy. Since defending radical Islam is a losing political battle, the left is going to pretend that the people carrying out these attacks simply “aren’t Muslims.”

In the leftist world view, Islam doesn’t have a problem with terrorism, because they’ve decided that anyone who’s a terrorist is clearly not a Muslim. 

Conveniently circular logic.

This is insanity writ large, in both instances.

When will Muslims begin to shut down the First Amendment here in the United States and, when there is pushback, when will killings like this begin?

BZ