Jake Tapper of ABC has a story up w/ John McCain firing one of his fundraiser people b/c of the finance person's sympathy to Hezbollah.
Now, we know old man McCain tried to stupidly connect Obama and Hamas just because some idiot from Hamas said something positive about Obama. Here, we actually have someone who's a Hezbollah sympathizer that was EMPLOYED by John McCain. I doubt we'll see any coverage of this. I know one thing, if this was Obama, it would get 24 7 coverage.
ABC's Jake Tapper
Here's an excerpt:
The campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., removed a man from his Michigan Finance Committee today.
It started after conservative writer Debbie Schussel called Michigan businessman Ali Jawad not only a supporter of Hezbollah -- a group the US State Department labels a "terrorist organization" -- but also claimed he was a "key agent of the terrorist group in the Detroit area."
After Schussel started asking questions the McCain campaign removed him from the finance committee for a May fundraiser.
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Yes, that's right, the McCain campaign said they removed him because of "rumors."
Here's more...ABC's Jake Tapper
In this 2002 story, Jawad is quoted saying he "rejects talk that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization that should be shunned by the United States and other governments. 'Killing innocent people -- we reject that,' he said. 'Hezbollah does not fit this category. It has protected its people.'"
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This all seems a little odd to me.
Is there anyone out there who thinks McCain supports Hezbollah? Was McCain truly offended by the notion that an Arab-American businessman with sympathy for Hezbollah supports him? Or was today's move just to deprive Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, of some future rebuttal?
As I said, I highly doubt the media will cover it. So far, no coverage of it anywhere. Let's do emails, and phone calls.
A few people who may post on their blogs if enough email...
EMAIL, EMAIL, EMAIL...
That's the only way this get's out. A lot of Ben Smith's postings go on Drudge. We need as much media coverage as we can.
Marc Ambinder - Atlantic (and CBS political guy) - marcambinder@theatlantic.com
Ben Smith - Politico - bsmith@politico.com
Jonathan Martin - Politico - jmartin@politico.com
Also, our own Josh Marshall from TPM...
talk@talkingpointsmemo.com
It's not that this is Serious news, it's that the media has covered it when it was Obama... We know what would be breaking on Drudge right now.
UPDATE.... This story does 2 things...
- It shows how McCain has very poor judgment. Why would he have someone as a fundraiser who has made these statements years ago. Also, remember, this was discovered from a conservative writer.
- We know well that if it was Obama, he'd be on Drudge Report, and all the MSM would be going crazy, doing interviews w/ Army Generals how this will give troops low morale, doing interviews w/ victim's of 9-11, interviews w/ former FBI and CIA agents saying how this is going to put our men in danger... you get the point. But if it's McCain, he gets a free pass? Why? This is what John Kerry did in 2004. We can't let it happen. If they define Obama, we have to do our job and make sure the MSM at least gives EQUAL coverage to 'like' stories.
ANOTHER UPDATE...
How could I forget. Obama would be hammered by guests saying he's an ANTI-SEMITE. He's a far-left, Farrakan-loving, Israel-hating, terrorist. You get the drift....
LATEST UPDATE...
People in the comments have been saying that the source is Debbie Schussel. Well, yes, that's who ABC is quoting. I have no doubt she's a venom spitting, toxic right-winger. We're ONLY pointing out that the media's stupid guilt-by-association game is ridiculous. By having the media cover this, maybe they will then realize that this kind of petty stuff makes no sense, and associating Obama w/ Hamas was very stupid thing by John McCain.
Another UPDATE...
Looks like the Detroit Free Press picked up the story as well.
http://www.freep.com/...
Crooks and Liars...
http://www.crooksandliars.com/...
Another Update...
Let's not forget what McCain said about Obama and Hamas.
Huffingtonpost - McCain on Obama and Hamas
Barack Obama's foreign policy plans have even won him praise from Hamas leaders. Ahmed Yousef, chief political adviser to the Hamas Prime Minister said, "We like Mr. Obama and we hope he will win the election. He has a vision to change America."
We need change in America, but not the kind of change that wins kind words from Hamas, surrenders in Iraq and will hold unconditional talks with Iranian President Ahmadinejad.
LATEST UPDATE - RESPONSE TO DHinMI
DHinMI, I see your point. The intention of this post wasn't to say this guy is scary, or that this guy is some kind of an anti-American. It was merely to expose the media's complete double-standard when it comes to guilt-by-association stupidity. Look, do I think the media should cover this? NO - it makes no sense, and it has nothing substantively. But do I think the media should have covered it IN LIGHT OF McCain's despicable connection of Hamas and Obama - ABSOLUTELY, UNEQUIVOCALLY YES. They should cover it NOT to show that McCain is some Hezbollah sympathizer. Instead, they should cover it to show McCain's obvious hypocrisy and stupidy.
The more important point was that had this been Obama, he would have been painted as an anti-semite, anti-American, Hezbollah-loving, terrorist sympathizer, and whether he has good judgment. That was the point of the post.
Lastly, being extremely cautious and extremely naive doesn't cut it either. We know the right-wing noise machine is going to throw every bit of dirt. We shouldn't replicate them but we should fight back hard. For example, next time McCain connects Obama w/ Hamas, I hope the reporter asks him about this. It will simply show that this whole guilt-by-association thing is extremely stupid. Unfortunately, the media seems to be obsessed w/ guilt-by-association, and they ONLY seem to be obsessed w/ Democrats.
Thanks for all the RECS!