Nidal Hasan: Conservative?

Huh — I must have missed him on the National Review Cruise last November. But as Allie Duzett of Accuracy In Media writes, America’s fourth-ranked cable news channel “is now claiming that Nidal Malik Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter, is a conservative”:

On November 10, 2009, CNN Special Investigations Correspondent Drew Griffin called Hasan “conservative,” and now that talking point is being spewed again on today’s front page online story.  The story, about Hasan’s search for a wife, discusses how two imams told CNN “about [Hasan’s] conservatism.”  The story also mentions Hasan’s “conservative” clothing choices.

However—what exactly about Hasan is conservative?

Fact: Islamofascism is not conservative, in any way.  Hating America is not conservative—conservatives tend to love their country.  Wanting to blow up America is not conservative—again, conservatives tend to love their country.  Hating people for their religion (or lack thereof) is not conservative—conservatives are not the ones trying to remove other people’s religions from the public sphere.

What Hasan did was not conservative.  Murdering men and women in the armed forces is not conservative—conservatives are traditionally the ones most supportive of our men and women in the armed forces.  Murdering fetuses is absolutely not conservative—conservatives tend to oppose abortion, and Hasan murdered a pregnant woman and her unborn child. And of course, wearing traditional clothing—even Islamic clothing—does not make you a conservative.  While I don’t believe the story meant to imply that Hasan’s clothing linked him to a conservative ideology, I believe the writer could have picked a better word for it.  Hasan may have been religious, but religiosity never makes one conservative, even if that person is a traditionalist within the religion.

This is just another case of CNN’s reporters creating a link to conservatism where there really is none.

Meanwhile, as Kathy Shaidle notes, for a “conservative”, Hasan sure knew his leftwing psychobabble.

Update: Karol Sheinin of the Alaming News blog notes that Wolf Blitzer has also taken to calling Hasan “conservative”:

Wolf Blitzer just described Ft. Hood shooter as “Conservative Muslim Major”. Was he for low taxes? Smaller govt? Tell me more, Wolf.

And of course, CNN is the go-to source for expert opinion regarding conservatism in general. Just ask Anderson Cooper and Rick Sanchez.

Update: Meanwhile, over at MSNBC, it’s “Maddow at Most Orwellian: Murder of Abortion Doctor ‘Terrorism’ — But Not Ft. Hood Massacre by Jihadist.”