you talk about the anti-muslim hate that s sort of ramped up. the message specifically that you re not welcome. you specifically mention this mosque in murfreesboro, tennessee, actually the subject of a cnn documentary airing over the weekend. we re going to watch a clip. this is kevin fisher, one of the oints of the building of the mosque. officially we have filed a lawsuit to stop the building of the mosque. so from bits and pieces of the documentary there s quite a bit of vitriol against the building of this mosque. overall here, is that the exception or the norm in america in 2011? well, our concern is, as senator graham said, one case is one too many. i think what we heard today reiterated from both republicans and democrats was that religious freedom is an important core value of who we are as americans, and it wasn t just political leaders. but i was so gratified to hear
capitol hill team is keeping an eye on the negotiations. what do americans think? they are divided on who has the better approach to the budget. 46% say president obama and the democrats have the better ideas and better plans. 45% say the republicans in congress. they are divided. i guess americans are divided. we ll see if we can get a deal done by the end of next week. brooke. what else do you have, president gearing up towards a re-election bid? reporter: fund-raiser in chief. the president is in new york city and caps off his visit to the big apple with two events for the democratic national committee. one is a fund-raiser and one is a thank you to supporters. brooke, this brings to four the number of events the president has done for the democratic national committee this month alone. you know what? yesterday we reported and confirmed that when he sets up his re-election campaign it s going to be headquartered in chicago in a skyscraper right downtown. i think we re getting pr
and professionals. verhana, how did it go today? was it productive? well, hello, brooke, and thank you for having me. you know, let me quote senator lindsey graham, the highest ranking republican on the committee when he said, we need to have this hearing. this hearing was an important step forward. since 9/11, over the last several years, unfortunately there s been a growing climate of anti-muslim hate and bigotry in our country. and over the last several months in particular it seems like this anti-muslim hate has reached new levels. and it has grave consequences on the day-to-day lives of muslim, arab, sic and southeastern americans. whether it s hate crimes, harassment of children in school, discrimination in the workplace. it has real-life consequences. let s give a real-life example. this is one you cited today.
mike huckabee for one called this unconscionable, so i asked some experts how does it really work, and i was told that americans serving at the unit level always answer up to another american and that the president himself never can give a direct command over american units. allies, i m told, can set the operation or direct american units to conduct missions, but they never actually have direct command. i even went to the allied commander s office, the head guy who is running the overall nato mission, and he said the president always retains and cannot relinquish national command. americans can even opt out of assignments if they think it doesn t square with u.s. rules of engagement. that s on that point. another political story related to 2012. u.s. ambassador to china, jon huntsman, a lot of speculation he might run for president next year and that s super interesting because as a republican he s serving under
cardinal mckerik on catholic bishops speak eloquently about the importance of religious freedom. this is something i think all americans from all walks of life can come together on. i know you say one case is one too many. you ve been quotes as saying you ve seen a rampant increase in anti-muslim experiences. this is from 2009. 8.4% anti-islamic bias versus some 72% anti-jewish bias. when you look at the numbers, anti-islamic bias is quite small. what do you make of that number? because some people say that the instances of anti-muslim hate is small. and also, is it tough even collecting some of the data? well, a couple of things. number one, the hate crimes data that you were referencing doesn t pain the complete picture. in fact, the attorney general himself has said that the department s system for collecting hate crimes data is