Who or What is CAIR?

Mark Steyn shares some interesting facts that I did not know:

Over at Commentary, Lisa Schiffren raises an interesting question: At what point does a particular minority group become large enough to be a significant domestic political constituency? She notes that the oft-cited figure of "eight million Muslims in the US" may, in fact, be only three million and then adds:

Moreover, of these, only a minuscule 4,761 are dues-paying members of CAIR, which presents itself as the community’s authoritative voice.

And yet everybody (including some of my wobblier editors around the map) jumps when CAIR complains about this or that. 4,761 members of the Ladies’ Aid Society can’t command that kind of instant deference. So why do 4,761 members of CAIR have a prominence out of all proportion to their numbers?

For the answer, read the rest...