One more thing on Rashid Khalidi. Eric Alterman and Adam Serwer make good points about the McCarthyism at work with smearing a noted Palestinian scholar as a "neo-Nazi." (Adam: "In fact, if you are Palestinian, I would suggest that you stay away from other Palestinians so no one thinks that you’re doing something suspicious. Don’t bunch up in a group or anything.") But there’s something else worth adding. In short, the assimilation of Muslims into American society should be properly seen as a national-security issue.

Perhaps the biggest strategic disadvantage Al Qaeda faces in attacking the U.S. "homeland" (how I hate that word) is the fact that the terrorist movement doesn’t, by and large, have any appeal for American Muslims. Al Qaeda gets a more robust hearing in European countries that feature Muslim diasporas that feel like second-class citizens. That sense of discrimination and alienation is a true breeding ground for murderers like Mohammed Siddique Khan, the Leeds-born mastermind of the July 2005 London Underground attacks. The U.S., by contrast, provides the greatest measure of integration and economic opportunity for Muslims of any Western country.

And that’s where Khalidi comes in. Rashid Khalidi is a distinguished scholar who is not and has never been an extremist. His views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as John Judis points out, are fairly congruent with those of the Israeli left. McCain is analogizing him to a "neo-Nazi" simply because he is an Arab, and he knows that millions of right-wingers around the country harbor racist beliefs about Arabs. That’s the true meaning of the "Vote McCain, Not Hussein" chants. And America goes there at its peril: to alienate American Muslims is not only to betray American values, it’s to deprive America of one of its most important national-security protections. And these people have the nerve to say they’ll keep America safe?

Crossposted to The Streak.