Just now on MSNBC, I saw Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) make his way over to introduce himself to Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA), whose back is to the camera. And that's Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) looking on as the Muslim-fearing Goode shakes hands with the House's first elected Muslim.

We'll probably be hearing more about how the introduction went later in the day.

Update: We'll have the video of this up soon.

Late Update: Here's the video:

In an unsubtle rebuke to Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA), Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) will be sworn in on an English translation of the Koran once owned by another Virginian... Thomas Jefferson.

"[W]e are leaving ourselves vulnerable to infiltration by those who want to mold the United States into the image of their religion, rather than working within the Judeo-Christian principles that have made us a beacon for freedom-loving persons around the world."

-- Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA), in an op-ed published in today's USA Today, explaining why he believes the United States should refuse immigrants from the Middle East.

Christmas may be saved.

On ABC's This Week, Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) took issue with Rep. Virgil Goode's (R-VA) recent comments urging a curtailment of immigration to the United States by Muslims from Middle Eastern countries.

Graham said he didn't think Goode's comments, prompted by the furor over whether newly-elected Muslim congressman Keith Ellison (R-MN) would use a Koran in a private swearing-in ceremony, were "the appropriate line for a congressman to take," according to a transcript by Raw Story.

"We need immigration reform, but not for the reasons that Mr. Goode cited," Graham added later.

Update: Josh has the transcript of the exchange here.

Forget strategery. Time's short, so it's quantity of calls over quality. I've been calling GOP congresspeople alphabetically, starting with Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL), to get their thoughts on Virgil Goode's anti-Muslim immigration comments.

Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL): "I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to help you. We haven't seen the letter." (I offer to email a copy of the letter.) "I appreciate that but my boss is back in the district for Christmas, and I don't think this is going to be something he would want to address."
Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO): Offices closed.
Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-LA): Offices closed.
Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL): "I think the odds of me tracking down Mr. Bachus this afternoon are very low."
Rep. Richard Baker (R-LA): Offices closed.
Rep. J. Gresham Barrett (R-SC): Offices closed.
Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD): "Congressman Bartlett has not commented on it. . . I'm afraid I can't help you out there."
Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX): Offices closed.

All GOP presidential contenders have been called for comment on the Goode affair, to no avail: McCain, Giuliani, Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney (R) (left a message), Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) (left a message). I called the Republican National Committee, too -- no answer, but I left a message.

A couple readers suggested calling Sen. Gordon "This War May Be Criminal" Smith (R-OR), so I did. His Hill office was closed, but his Oregon office suggested I leave a message for his D.C. spokesman anyway.

It's coming up on 2 p.m. and I'm starting to get worried. Will I know it's Christmastime at all?

A barrage of calls from our D.C. bureau to GOP lawmakers' offices, asking for a comment on Rep. Virgil Goode's intemperate remarks about Muslims, have yielded no solid results. I just finished striking out -- for the moment, at least -- with the Virginia GOP delegation.

Sen. George Allen: Hill office closed; state office closed.
Sen. John Warner: see earlier post.
Rep. JoAnn Davis: Left a message.
Rep. Thelma Drake: Hill office closed; district office closed.
Rep. Randy Forbes: Hill office closed; district office closed.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte: Spoke with press aide who promised to look into the matter.
Rep. Eric Cantor: Hill office closed; district office closed.
Rep. Frank Wolf: Left a message.
Rep. Tom Davis: Hill office closed; district office closed.

Having exhausted the list of usual suspects who might address a controversial issue like Goode's comments, I had to get creative.

Presidential hopefuls usually like a chance to get quoted. I tried Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and former New York city mayor Rudy Giuliani, and left messages at both offices.

Next, moderate GOP senators. Let's try the women from Maine, Sens. Olympia Snowe (R) and Susan Collins (R). Snowe's D.C. and Maine offices were closed; I left a message for Collins. She should have something to say: she's the outgoing chair of the Homeland Security committee.

What about Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN)? There are Muslims in Minnesota, right? Plus he's spent time on Collins' Homeland Security committee. Alas, his D.C. office was closed. I left a message at his St. Paul office.

A thought struck me -- I ought to call Rep. Bobby Jindal (R-LA). He's Catholic, but he's one of the few (if only) members of Congress with immigrant parents. He'd have a position on curtailing immigration to a particular religious or ethic group, wouldn't he?

Maybe he does, but I don't know it. I left a message for his spokesman; here's hoping he calls back.

I continue to work the phones here in the TPMmuckraker D.C. bureau, anxious to find a Republican who's willing to address the substance of Rep. Virgil Goode's now-infamous Fear-of-a-Muslim-America letter.

But I wanted to take a moment to note two cases in which Republicans have spoken about the letter while declining to directly address Goode's anti-Muslim-immigration policy suggestions.

First, Sen. John Warner (R-VA) released a statement yesterday in which he offered that he respects the right of all members of Congress to freely "exercise the religion of their choice, including those of the Islamic faith utilizing the Quran." No mention of Goode's proposed immigration restrictions on Muslims.

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Still not talking.

Noting that Goode is a member of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, I tried the group's chairman, Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO). his spokesman was out of the office, so I sent him an email. Did Goode's anti-Muslim immigration stance square with the position of the Caucus?

(If it does, it doesn't square with Tancredo's personal position on the issue: "The immigration issue has nothing to do with race, ethnicity, religion, or country of origin insofar as I am concerned," he says in an Oct. 3, 2005 policy statement on the site.)

I also left a message with the office of Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), who's incoming chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). Keep your fingers crossed!

Since news of anti-Muslim comments by Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) surfaced a few days ago, a number of public figures and groups have cried foul. But so far, we haven't spotted a single Republican making a comment on the topic.

Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell (NJ) called Goode's remarks, made in a letter to several hundred constituents, "personally offensive." Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) also said she found Goode's invection against Muslim immigration "offensive." And two prominent organizations -- one Islamic, the other Jewish -- have both spoken out against Goode.

So I got to dialing. First I tried Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), incoming minority leader. His spokesman wasn't available; I left a message and sent an email.

Next I rang Rep. Roy Blunt's (R-OH) office. He's the House Republican whip. A spokeswoman promised to let me know if his office planned to make a statement.

I'll keep calling. Surely, on this holiday eve, there is one Republican who wants to speak publicly for goodwill towards others, even if they're Muslim.

Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) is refusing to back down from his incindiary anti-Muslim comments, but opposition to his position is swelling.

In a letter to the congressman yesterday, the Anti-Defamation League called on Goode to reconsider his "ill-conceived remarks" about how he fears an influx of legal Muslim immigrants and its effect on American culture and politics. His comments were earlier condemned by the nation's most prominent Islamic political organization, the Council on American Islamic Relations.

"To suggest Muslims should be viewed with fear, based solely on their faith, demonizes millions of people living in our communities," wrote ADL's Washington, D.C. director, David L. Friedman. "This is of special concern at a time when the stereotyping and disparate treatment of communities as part of debates over immigration or counterterrorism policy impacts those people in very tangible ways, including making them more vulnerable to bias-motivated violence."

Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) gave an interview to Fox News just now to respond to the public outcry against his publicly-voiced fear of a Muslim congressman.

Appearing on Fox's "Your World" program with guest-host David Asman, Goode insisted he does not want to forbid Keith Ellison from using the Koran outright. "But," he said, "I am for restricting immigration so that we don't have a majority of Muslims elected to the United States House of Representatives."

To block the invading hordes, Goode wants to curtail legal immigration for Middle Easterners, and end Diversity Visa programs that were created to increase the immigrants from non-European countries.

Goode chose his words carefully:

David Asman: So you do believe there're too many Middle Easterners here now?

(brief pause)

Rep. Virgil Goode: No, I — I said there were — and the Diversity Visa program needs to be ended. It shouldn't have been adopted to begin with, in my opinion.

Asman: But do you think there are too many Middle Easterners in the United States right now?

(brief pause)

Goode: Uh — I'm not gonna say 'yes' or 'no' on that. I'd like to know the exact number. I don't have the exact numbers.

Two days after Rep. Virgil Goode's (R-VA) letter to constituents expressing his fear of "many more Muslims in the United States" came to light, he's finally going to talk to the press.

He's chosen the friendly environs of Fox News: at 4 P.M. today, he'll appear on Neil Cavuto's show to address the swelling controversy.

First reported in Charlottesville's local C-Ville Weekly, the story is now everywhere: The New York Times, CNN, and the AP all had stories out today. Goode has repeatedly refused to apologize for the letter and has said nothing more than that he stands by what he wrote. So it'll be interesting to see if he goes anywhere beyond that this afternoon. We'll be watching.

More on Rep. Virgil Goode's (R-VA) warning of "many more Muslims" flooding over the nation's borders.

Last night, The Council on American-Islamic Relations called on Goode to apologize for his "bigotry" against Muslims. Predictably, he's so far refused.

But like the menacing Muslim hordes in Goode's feverish dreams, the story's spreading. Two national outlets (AFP and McClatchy) picked up the story today, so the pressure continues to build.

Still not trembling at the prospect of "many more Muslims" coming to the U.S.?

The good people at C-Ville Weekly were kind enough to fax over a copy of Rep. Goode's letter (click here for a larger version).

In a letter sent out to select supporters earlier this month reacting to the controversy (among certain extreme conservatives, at least) over Muslim representative-elect Keith Ellison's (D-MN) decision to be sworn in on the Koran, Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) warned that the U.S. must close its borders to guard against the influx of still more Muslims. In it, he also proudly recounts his retort to a Muslim student who asked him why he did not include the Koran with The Ten Commandments on his wall. "As long as I have the honor of representing the citizens of the 5th District of Virginia in the United States House of Representatives, The Koran is not going to be on the wall of my office," he says he told the student.

The letter, which by some horrible error in Goode's office was sent to the chair of the local Sierra Club chapter, was obtained by Charlottesville's C-Ville Weekly. Goode's spokesman, after correcting my pronunciation of his boss' name (it rhymes with "food") refused to expand beyond Goode's comment to the Weekly of “I wrote the letter. I think it speaks for itself,” although I was invited to fax in a question to the congressman.

"[I]f American citizens don’t wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran," the letter reads. "I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America and to prevent our resources from being swamped."

The text is reproduced below. (Thanks to Waldo Jaquith)

Update: We've posted a copy of the actual letter here.

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It's official: the Virginia defense facility run -- on taxpayer dollars -- by one of the central felons in the Duke Cunningham scandal is closing Monday.

The news comes just days after the Pentagon announced it would not renew the contract for the Martinsville-based Foreign Supplier Assessment Center, which was created and sustained largely through earmarks from Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA). Goode received over $90,000 in contributions from Mitchell Wade, who's spilling his guts to federal investigators in an attempt to dodge jail time.

Who's it bad news for? Just about everyone involved. Goode's getting slammed for bringing MZM to town, winning the company unusually generous financial perks and sending the bill to the city. "Rep. Goode forgot whom he should represent when he brokered a deal favorable to campaign contributors at the risk of his district," the Roanoke (Va.) Times opined Saturday.

It's bad news for MZM -- now Athena Innovative Solutions. Sources tell me this is not the only one of their contracts getting cut. The Pentagon trimmed more than 30 positions from an Athena contract to provide employees to the Counterintelligence Field Activity office (CIFA), according to two former MZM employees who are in touch with current Athena staffers.

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Last week we learned the Feds have hit up Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL) for information about her dealings with Mitchell Wade, the fraudster who's confessed to giving fraudulent "straw" donations to Harris, former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA), and a third lawmaker: Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA).

Bad news hit Goode's re-election campaign this weekend, when an employee of Wade's old company, MZM, pleaded guilty to making fraudulent contributions to Goode's campaign, and agreed to cooperate with investigators. To date, Justice has stated only that they do not have any indication Goode was aware the donations were fake. But the plea deal from senior MZM exec Richard Berglund raises the question: what if he knows something?

Duke's in jail, of course; and Harris is clearly an object of scrutiny for the Feds. But Goode, who took something close to $90,000 from Wade and other employees of his company, MZM -- and helped win them a sweet deal for a Defense Department facility in Goode's district -- insists the Feds have yet to reach his doorstep.

"He has not been" contacted by the DoJ, Goode spokesman Linwood Duncan told me this morning. That's about as flat a denial as one could ask for. Duncan had been more shaded in his comments to reporters this weekend, saying only that "as far as I know, nothing has changed" since March, when Goode had that he hadn't been contacted by investigators.

Is former top intelligence official James King under pressure from federal prosecutors?

If not, it looks like he should be. As we reported several weeks ago, King -- the former head of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency -- twice aided the bribery schemes of Mitchell Wade, making $12,000 in illegal campaign donations to help Wade buy favors from lawmakers.

At the time, King was a top executive at Wade's defense contracting firm, MZM. He took over the company, which is now named Athena Innovative Solutions, after Wade's felonies became public.

King could be a dangerous fellow to go down -- for many folks. He was a trusted aide to Michael V. Hayden, former NSA chief and now head of the CIA, who employed him as a contractor from MZM. While at MZM, King also played a key role in developing the Pentagon's troubled domestic spying operation, CIFA. And as a senior MZM executive, he was likely a witness to many of Wade's hijinks.

As the Washington Post reported Friday, Feds have convinced another MZM executive, Richard Berglund, to plead guilty to making the same kind of fraudulent donations. (Check out our guest-blogging TPM Reader DK's thoughts on this.)

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Anybody remember the Foreign Supplier Assessment Center? That's the operation MZM spent so much time and money trying to win a contract to run. Mitchell Wade bundled thousands of dollars in illegal contributions to Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA), who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make sure MZM got the deal. (Wade is also the top briber of Duke Cunningham.)

Until recently, a fellow named Joe James was MZM's number-two in charge of the center, the Martinsville (Va.) Daily reports. He recently stepped down "voluntarily."

Now, the paper tells us that James' wife -- FEC records identify her as May James -- worked at the Pentagon office which oversaw MZM's contract. (MZM has since been renamed Athena Innovative Solutions.)

Last year, May James joined the staff of Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone, which has authority over the FSAC, her husband's outfit, the paper reports.

If you recall, MZM/Athena has a pattern of hiring relatives of Defense officials, apparently as a strategy to win -- or keep -- contracts. The company signed on the son of National Ground Intelligence Center manager Robert Fromm; months later they picked up an NGIC contract. (They eventually hired Fromm himself.)

MZM also hired William Rich III, the son of NGIC Chief William Rich, two months after receiving their first NGIC contract. As well, MZM employed the wife of Rich's longtime chief of staff, Robert Canar, as a secretary.

I wrote yesterday about how former NSA Director Michael Hayden's aide, a top MZM executive, participated in an illegal campaign donation scam run by the head of his company, Mitchell Wade. (Wade, of course, has confessed to bribing Duke Cunningham, and is cooperating with prosecutors.)

I was wrong, as my colleague Paul gently noted to me. The executive -- James C. King, on contract to the NSA from MZM -- appears to have participated in two illegal campaign donation scams.

In addition to faking $8,000 in personal contributions to Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL) on his company's behalf, government records indicate King faked several thousand dollars in donations to Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA), also.

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While director of the National Security Agency, Gen. Michael V. Hayden contracted the services of a top executive at the company at the center of the Cunningham bribery scandal, according to two former employees of the company.

Hayden, President Bush's pick to replace Porter Goss as head of the CIA, contracted with MZM Inc. for the services of Lt. Gen. James C. King, then a senior vice president of the company, the sources say. MZM was owned and operated by Mitchell Wade, who has admitted to bribing former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham with $1.4 million in money and gifts. Wade has also reportedly told investigators he helped arrange for prostitutes to entertain the disgraced lawmaker, and he continues to cooperate with a federal inquiry into the matter.

King has not been implicated in the growing scandal around Wade's illegal activities. However, federal records show he contributed to some of Wade's favored lawmakers, including $6000 to Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) and $4000 to Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL).

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