McCain v. Bachmann on Abedim

[WhyteRain]

Hmmm ... I'm reading the story linked in the OP and something bothers me.  McCain keeps using the word "unsubstantiated", not the word "false" or "untrue".

First, the charge (at least what's quoted in the story):

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I'd like to know what "connected to" means in that charge -- and what's the point of the "and/or organizations"?  The Muslim Brotherhood is an organization, so "and/or organizations" seems superfluous.

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Hmmm ... I guess I'd have to look at the report.  Though I have to say, I doubt the MB dreamed it could have been so successful in such a short time -- with US backing** -- just a few short years ago.

OK, now let's see Sen. McCain's complaint:

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I'm always bothered when the "defense" to charges of wrongdoing is that they are "unsubstantiated" or "baseless".  That's far from saying "they're untrue".  It makes me think that, with some investigation, maybe we could determine if there is any "substance" or "basis" for the charges. 

But that's just me.

I see that Bachmann's response was to encourage "everyone" to read the pertinent documents.  Sounds reasonable.  I think I will.

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** From the LA Times a few days ago:

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[WhyteRain]

What, did you want her to condemn the democratically elected leader?

That's a red herring.

Of more interest is how Obama (or Hillary, acting on his instructions?) did what was necessary to ensure there would be no secular, non-Mubarek-connected opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood in the elections.

Ask me if I'm surprised we witnessed the spectacle of an American Sec of State being pelted with eggs for the first time ever in Egypt -- and for the first time in memory anywhere else.

Good grief.  I just googled for "when was the last time a U.S. secretary of state was pelted with eggs" and learned -- thanks for covering this MSM! -- that protestors in Manila did the same thing to Hillary's limo just last Fall.  Other than CNN and, of course, some rightwing internet media, it looks like the news was completely suppressed here in the States.

No wonder the Obamabots think he's "made us more respected around the world".

[WhyteRain]

Of more interest is how Obama (or Hillary, acting on his instructions?) did what was necessary to ensure there would be no secular, non-Mubarek-connected opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood in the elections.

Oh, you mean presenting a puppet candidate and funding him, while hiding that to voters?

I've not heard that information, but I'm interested in learning more.  Do you have a link?

[WhyteRain]

What, did you want her to condemn the democratically elected leader?

That's a red herring.

Of more interest is how Obama (or Hillary, acting on his instructions?) did what was necessary to ensure there would be no secular, non-Mubarek-connected opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood in the elections.

Simple. They didn't. Why on Earth would they have, unless they wanted Shafik?

Why wouldn't the Obama Admin want the MB to win?  They seemed happy enough when it did.

And, yes, by calling for Mubarek's immediate resignation they ensured there would be no "breathing room" between the Jan 2011 anti-Mubarek uprising and the already-scheduled Sep 2011 elections for a secular, non=Mubarek opposition to get organized.

[WhyteRain]

Of more interest is how Obama (or Hillary, acting on his instructions?) did what was necessary to ensure there would be no secular, non-Mubarek-connected opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood in the elections.

And why would they have done that?

Good question.  Maybe that's what Bachmann's trying to get after.  Unfortunately it's late for me.  I'll try to come back to this tomorrow.

[WhyteRain]

Of more interest is how Obama (or Hillary, acting on his instructions?) did what was necessary to ensure there would be no secular, non-Mubarek-connected opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood in the elections.

And why would they have done that?

Good question.  Maybe that's what Bachmann's trying to get after.  Unfortunately it's late for me.  I'll try to come back to this tomorrow.

I think you might have arrived at a conclusion first and then tried to work backward from there and run into some roadblocks. I know people in my Asian Languages and Literatures department who occasionally think this way. I think we all do sometimes. I know I have.

Yes, good point.  I've done that before as well.

Here's the thing about the Abedim case:  I was in the Army.  I had a security clearance.  It was a pretty high one, but not nearly as high as the one they had to give to a top aide of the U.S. Secretary of State. If when they were investigating me they had found any connection between me and the Albanian Peoples Organization or the Northern Bucovinian (it's a real place) Freedom Front, there's no way I could've gotten that clearance.  And that's just for being connected to a tiny nationalist organization that Congressmen paraded with on "Captive Nations Day".  If my closest family members were all connected to an organization as big and as powerful and as anti-American as the Muslim Brotherhood, there's no way on Earth I could've gotten any security clearance at all.

I've read, so far, only one of the "Bachmann letters" (actually signed by her and four other GOP congressmen).  In it she cites Abedim's connections to the Muslim Brotherhood and asks -- reasonably in my opinion -- what one has to do to not get a top security clearance at the State Department.  (Reading the letter reminded me of the book Unlimited Access, written by a FBI agent at the Clinton White House who complained about the lax security measures when Hillary was there.)

Another thing that bothers me is that the Abedim situation is only one of the potential problems with U.S. security matters that Bachmann and Co. point to -- and it's the only one that the D.C. Establishment is attacking.  I've seen this trick before:  They aim at the weakest item with the aim of claiming that if Abedim really is a loyal American then every other question raised by Bachmann must also be meritless.

[modify:]  The latest news is that top State Department official and darling of the D.C. Establishment Alger Hiss was still a Soviet spy.

[WhyteRain]

McCain is a numbnut for disagreeing with Bachmann.

Yep, it looks like McCain -- like a few people here -- didn't read any of the documents before going off on his tirade.  That was the scariest thing about him when he was running for President -- that he would "shoot first, aim later".

[WhyteRain]

Secular and non-Muslim Arabs are terrified by the new Hillary-Muslim Brotherhood alliance:

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For Obamabots:  Don't worry, it's not like this news is likely to reach the American people through coverage by the MSM.  Here's a list of outlets that covered it:  http://article.wn.com/view/2012/07/16/Secretary_of_State_Hillary_Clinton_has_motorcade_pelted_with/

Now back to the Two Minutes Hate for Michelle Bachman.

[WhyteRain]

Bachmann is an idiot... and she's once again proved it.

How so?

It's easy to say "Bachmann is nuts" or "Bachmann is an idiot" because that's the MSM meme on her.  But have you ever asked yourself how, other than with pictures deliberately chosen to make her look "nuts", the MSM has ever made the case for its meme?



I don't think anyone can find anything crazier said by Bachmann than I can find said by Nancy Pelosi.

[WhyteRain]

So, Bachmann teams up again with Gohmer, of "terror baby" fame, to take an argument she has picked with Larry Ellison, to the next level by kicking it up to the State Department.  It's all sheer guilt-by-association stuff.

One of the things I've found interesting is that, in the BYU Law Review article repeatedly cited by Bachmann, where Abedin's father is said to have received "quite but active support" from an NGO associate of the Brotherhood, it is reported in the same paragraph that Abedin argued for a more abstract and inclusive modern understanding of shari'a, according to which it refers to all of the diverse ways in which the divine truth appears among the many different religions and civilizations of the world (see pp. 365-66)  The reference to Abedin in the piece comes in the context of extolling the writings of Muhammad Salim al'Awwa, Kamal Abi al' Magd and Rashid al' Gannushi, who did have Muslim Brotherhood associations, but who advocated for sidelining traditional shari'a classifications of religious communities and adopting modern constitutions that guaranteed religious freedom for all citizens (pp. 362-364).  The point, that is, of the article cited by Bachmann's letter was to highlight and praise intellectuals in modernist Islam who argued that religious pluralism and freedom for all should be at the core of contemporary Islam, against the political goals of traditionalist Muslims in many Arab countries today. Abedin was one of these modernists.  The article can be read in its entirety here:

http://www.law2.byu.edu/lawreview/archives/2002/2/Nie8.pdf

The irony in all this is that, in wishing to cast aspersions at pretty much every Muslim in Congress and in the State Department that they can name, Bachmann and her pals are actually singling out Muslim advocates of modernism and constitutional democracy for scrutiny, all in the interests of fanning winds of support from a very ill-informed constituency.

In other words, three cheers for Senator McCain.

I'm not sure I've ever read such a factually-challenged post here.  I can't even begin to respond.

Anyway, to repeat Bachmann's simple, elegant question about Abedim:  "How does anyone get denied a top-level security clearance in the Hillary State Department?"

And in the News:  Alger Hiss is still guilty.  The Rosenbergs, too.

[WhyteRain]

Bachmann is an idiot... and she's once again proved it.

How so?

It's easy to say "Bachmann is nuts" or "Bachmann is an idiot" because that's the MSM meme on her.  But have you ever asked yourself how, other than with pictures deliberately chosen to make her look "nuts", the MSM has ever made the case for its meme?

It doesn't take a spoon feeding from the media to determine that Bachmann is not operating on a full deck and isn't an effective Congressperson as a result. Most of what she does is counterproductive and self-defeating and as a result she is more of a hinderance to conservatism then the passionate fighter she likes to think of herself as.

Do you have some examples?

Because while looking for that Newsweek "Crazy Eyes" picture, I came across, among other things, a complaint from Bachmann's enemies that her district rakes in more federal cash than it pays in taxes.  So I'm wondering what you mean by "isn't an effective Congressperson", "counterproductive", "self-defeating", and "a hinderance".  I mean, compared with whom?

[WhyteRain]

Huma Abedim doesn't even wear a headscarf.

Also married to a jew.

She did it for the Ikhwan to maintain her cover. There's a deep game being played with Weiner, sheeple.

LOL -- ok, now that's funny....  Unless you are serious?