Who is boycotting whom?

Mohammed Elmasry, the Jew-hating president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, has announced that he's stopped lobbying Stephen Harper.

"We gave up on having a constructive dialogue with the current government on any foreign policy issue," Elmasry told CanWest News.

Yeah, I guess that's one way of looking at it. Another way to look at it might be to remember that Stephen Harper has continually refused to meet with Elmasry, as part of Harper's policy decision to marginalize radical Muslims and apologists for terrorism.

Elmasry's insane spin that he is the one breaking off a dialogue -- a dialogue that never existed! -- demands Baghdad Bob-style credulity to believe. And CanWest -- a newspaper chain owned by Zhoos, as Elmasry likes to point out -- believed it.

That's what bothers me more than the nutty ramblings of Elmasry. Does Mike Blanchfield -- and the editor who wrote his headline -- really believe that the CIC speaks for all Muslims?

At least Blanchfield didn't repeat the CIC's slogan that it's the largest Muslim group in the country. Other than a handful of media spokesmen, it's an empty shell -- and Elmasry himself only works as its president-for-life on a part-time basis.

News stories like this only serve to normalize nuts who should be marginalized, as Harper has tried to do. Reporters like Blanchfield should add a few more numbers to their "Muslim spokesman" rolodex. Tarek Fatah, Irshad Manji, Salim Mansur and a dozen other moderates could credibly speak for more Canadian Muslims than Elmasry, and none of them have legitimized suicide bombings.

hat tip: Rob Breakenridge