Mona Eltahawy has interviewed a series of Muslim Republicans and summarized their struggles this election cycle. In sum, it's not a good scene; one doctor described it thus:
"I am truly having an identity crisis as a Muslim Republican. I really don't want to abandon the party, but I really feel the party has abandoned me," he said.
Eltahawy comes clean on her own party affiliation in this passage:
Despite an appearance by Bush at a mosque to show he didn't hold all Muslims responsible [for the 9/11 attacks], his administration proceeds to do exactly this: use "secret evidence" and behave in ways that make me wonder if they were taking notes from the dictatorial regime I suffered in Egypt when I moved to the United States in 2000.
So, she clearly has her own thoughts on the Bush administration; her interviews, though, bear out the disenchantment of some Muslims with the Republican party over the last eight years. It remains to be seen what impact the Muslim vote will have in the 2008 election.
