Contessa Brewer Channels Evan Thomas

MSNBC's Contessa Brewer is rightly getting raked over the coals for being "frustrated" that Faisal Shahzad, the man apparently responsible for attempting to car bomb Times Square over last Saturday is a Muslim.

While appearing on Stephanie Miller's radio show today, Brewer said, "There was part of me that was hoping this was not going to be anybody with ties to any kind of Islamic country."

It comes as no surprise that such a sentiment would be expressed. Because the moment I heard about Brewer's frustration I was reminded of Evan Thomas' cringe last November following the Fort Hood Massacre. While appearing on the PBS program Inside Washington, Thomas, the assistant managing editor at Newsweek, said, "I cringe that he's a Muslim."

Frankly, Thomas and Brewer are two peas in a pod. Consider Thomas' reasoning:

But with that label attached to him, it will get the right wing going and it just -- I mean these things are tragic, but that makes it much worse.

Brewer is basically reading from the same script:

There are a lot of people who want to use terrorist intent to justify writing off people who believe in a certain way or come from certain countries or whose skin color is a certain way. I mean they use it as justification for really outdated bigotry.

Has it occurred to either Brewer or Thomas that conservatives have no quarrel with an individual religious beliefs, their country of origin or their skin color? If it hasn't then they obviously know little or nothing about conservatism in this country.

Conservatives are angry at Nidal Malik Hasan because he killed his fellow soldiers in the name of jihad. Conservatives are angry at Faisal Shahzad because he wanted to kill innocent civilians in one of the busiest places in the entire world in the name of jihad. Frankly, liberals should be angry at Hasan and Shahzad for the same reason. But the fact that Thomas can only cringe and that Brewer can only express frustration towards conservatives rather than express anger towards those who would kill their fellow human beings is very troubling indeed.