First you had the raucous comparison to scantily-clad women as “cat’s meat”, then the comments on a Egyptian chat show that Muslims are more entitled to be in Australia than “lying” Anglo saxon convicts and now- the Hilaly circus has seen another tragic turn- the Sheikh wants to run for office.
The Sheikh intends to run as an Independant for the safe labour seat of Lakemba- heart of Sydney’s Lebanese-Muslim community and home base for the Sheikh’s supporters . It is also the standing seat of the NSW Labour Premier Morris Iemma.
Iemma has declared he is confident that electing public will reject “lunacy” (*coughs* Exhibit 1- George Bush). It is unlikely that the Sheikh will win, but even if he makes Iemma a bit nervous that’s laughs enough.
The media once outraged by the Shiekh, now seems to think of him as a kind of oddity. I don’t know whats worse for the Muslim community saddled with this touted “leader” - being condemned or now just dismissed as crazy and irrelevant.
Forget trying to contribute to Australian culture and intellectual discourse in a meaningful way- just recovering from the embarassing gaffes and racial statements of pseudo “Sheikh’s” seems to tar the community with constantly being on the offensive.
The goldmine in all this of course is the irreplaceable Keysar Trad- with spin that could put a tobacco company representative to shame.
Forget the Islamic Friendship Society, after having *defending Muslim representatives from bad press* on his resume, Trad’s skills could spark a bidding war among major corporations.
Trad has remained doggedly loyal to the Sheikh despite his obvious lunacy, treks to rescue hostages, outbursts and fainting spells. Either he is a bit mad himself- or like the character in “Thank You for Smoking” very good at his job.
In which case his name deserves to be transformed into a noun.
i.e. to “Trad”: the ability in the face of overhelming evidence to straight-facedly continue to argue the same denial ad nauseum in a convincing manner.
It’s the least homage we can pay the man for his efforts.
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