White House Plea for Bipartisanship Blown After President Invents Muslim 'Victims' in Condemns Egypt New Year's Bombing

Here's yesterday's report from WSJ, "Obama Strikes Tone of Bipartisanship, Hope at Dawn of New Year."

But 21 Christians were killed in the New Year's Day car bomb attack on a Coptic church in Alexandria, Egypt, and the president has sent poorly conceived condolences on the "reported deaths and dozens of injured from both the Christian and Muslim communities." Gateway Pundit and Israel Matsav report. Also at Memeorandum. You can't strike a bipartisan tone when you refuse to even consider the fact of Islamist extremism. It's only been one day and the administration's already blown its calls for bipartisanship. See also Cold Fury: "They Can't Handle the Truth."

Added: The Los Angeles Times has an update, "Egypt calls for calm after church bombing; death toll at 25," and this morning's background report, "Coptic church bombing in Egypt is latest assault on Mideast Christians":

All but eight of the injured and all of the fatalities in Alexandria were Christians, according to Egypt's Ministry of Health. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which was being described as a suicide bombing. The explosion, which appeared designed to inflict maximum civilian casualties, bore the hallmark of Al Qaeda militants.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak accused unnamed foreign elements of being behind the attack.

"This act of terrorism shook the country's conscience, shocked our feelings and hurt the hearts of Muslim and Coptic Egyptians," he said in an emergency address to the nation. "The blood of their martyrs in the land of Alexandria mixed to tell us all that all Egypt is the target and that blind terrorism does not differentiate between a Copt and a Muslim."

The attack in the ancient Mediterranean coastal city was the latest in a wave of violence against once-resilient Christian communities in the Muslim world, some of which date back to antiquity.

Christmas Eve assaults by Muslim extremists killed dozens of Christians in the Nigerian cities of Jos and Maiduguri. And Iraq's Christians have endured a relentless campaign of attacks and intimidation by the local branch of Al Qaeda.

An Oct. 31 siege on a Baghdad church that killed at least 58 parishioners and staff members sparked a new Christian exodus from the Iraqi capital and the northern city of Mosul. About 1,000 families sought refuge in Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish enclave afterward, according to the United Nations. Further threats of violence by Islamic militants caused many Christians in Iraq to tone down Christmas celebrations, and attacks Thursday against 10 Christian targets left an elderly couple dead.

Officials across the Middle East, including the ultraconservative Muslim governments of Iran and Saudi Arabia, condemned Saturday's attack, which was widely covered in television news broadcasts. In an annual New Year's speech at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI urged the faithful to stave off despair over such violence, but also demanded that governments do more to protect religious minorities.

"In front of the current threatening tensions, in front of especially the discrimination tyranny and religious intolerance, that today hit in particular the Christians, once again I deliver the pressing invite to not cave in to the depression and resignation," Benedict said, adding that officials' "words are not enough" in confronting religious intolerance.

"There must be a concrete and constant effort from leaders of nations," he said.

Christians are under assault throughout the Middle East and the administration refuses to identify the aims of the attack in Alexandria: to slaughter as many Christians as possible. More at Astute Bloggers, "OBAMA FINALLY CONDEMNS THE JIHADIST ATTACKS AGAINST CHRISTIANS IN NIGERIA AND IRAQ... ER UM... SORT OF."