"When Hillary Clinton threw Arab and Muslim Americans under the bus"

[Mufaddal]

This one hits home for me, and it's depressing as hell that Hillary has a wide margin of support among American Muslims. Frankly, I've never met another Muslim who will admit to supporting Hillary, whereas I know a number who support Bernie. That being said, this is an important article by a great writer, and I hope it gets some traction.

I'm posting it here because I don't feel like getting trolled by Kool Aid drinkers in GDP over something that touches an especially personal nerve.

When Hillary Clinton threw Arab and Muslim Americans under the bus
Rania Khalek

Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton has been under intense scrutiny for accepting political contributions and speaking fees from an assortment of unsavory special interests, ranging from Wall Street firms and drug companies to weapons industry giants.

Clinton, in turn, has stood by her donors with energetic and at times bizarre rationalizations.

But that hasn’t always been the case.

Back in 2000, during a heated US Senate race in New York, Clinton came under attack for accepting political contributions from Muslim groups whose members were targets of a smear campaign generated by one of the Islamophobia industry’s most discredited operatives.

Without hesitation, Clinton condemned her Muslim supporters, returned their donations and refused to meet with Arab and Muslim Americans for the remainder of her campaign, all in the spirit of “wooing Jewish voters,” as The New York Times put it.

You can read the whole story here: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/when-hillary-clinton-threw-arab-and-muslim-americans-under-bus

Clintonism of the 90s and now has been a disaster for Muslim communities and lives around the world, especially in Iraq and most recently in Libya. And, of course, there's that Saudi money that flowed into the Clinton Foundation that resulted in (sorry, was "coincidentally followed by&quot massive arms sales to Saudi that are being used to wage a brutal, savage war in Yemen. This is a person who has talked blithely about literally "obliterating" the entire country of Iran. When Hillary talks about Islamophobia being wrong, it's always in the context of being bad mainly because it alienates Muslim communities who are important for anti-extremism reporting. We're just tools to her.

With the exception of a sort of mixed record on Palestine, Bernie has an excellent record on issues impacting not only the American Muslim community, but the global Muslim community. If he wanted to lock up a huge bloc of Muslim voters at once, all he needs to do is go public with what I think he actually believes anyway (and certainly used to espouse) on the Palestine issue. His brother already does this in the UK, and if Bernie did it here, it is one gesture that would have a massive impact. But even apart from that, he is just better on the issue after issue for our community, and overall our values align best with his. I hope his campaign puts a little effort into campaigning more among American Muslims.

[Fairgo]

1. Everyone, every value

is fungible

[thereismore]

2. Hillary's very own Sister Souljah moment. nt

[starroute]

3. Steve Emerson? That sleazebag? She took his smears seriously?

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/08/31/308537/steve-emerson-investigative-project/

Steven Emerson directs the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT), a group dedicated to exposing the dangers of Islamist infiltration in America through investigative journalism. But his career, as discussed in CAP’s new report “Fear, Inc.,” is marked by shoddy reporting and suspicious financial arrangements between private companies, in some cases listing him as the sole employee, and the nonprofit foundations which collect tax-exempt contributions to support his work. . . .

But Emerson’s supposed expertise in researching terrorist networks have frequently been questioned due to his propensity for making false accusations against Muslims and his sloppy approach to investigative reporting. Most notably, in 1995, Emerson claimed that the Oklahoma City bombing showed “a Middle East trait” because it “was done with the intent to inflict as many casualties as possible.” And in 1998, Emerson was tied to a false report that Pakistan was planning a nuclear first strike on India.

Emerson’s weak credibility hasn’t stopped him from building a mini-empire from his offices at the well-funded IPT. But his penchant for secrecy — his office location is secret, employees refer to it as “the bat cave,” and journalists who visit it have been blindfolded en route — has raised serious questions about management of IPT’s finances.


https://www.cair.com/press-center/press-releases/12804-steven-emerson-falsely-claims-uk-city-is-muslim-only.html

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 1/12/15) -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on Fox News to stop using Islamophobiccommentators after self-proclaimed terrorism "expert" Steven Emerson was forced to apologize online for falsely claiming that a city in the United Kingdom is "totally Muslim, where non-Muslims just simply don't go in." . . .

Emerson is viewed by many as one of the nation's most notorious Islamophobes who has made a career out of promoting anti-Muslim conspiracy theories.

"Steven Emerson's long history of inflammatory and inaccurate claims should disqualify him as a commentator on any legitimate news network," said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. "He has made a career out of bashing Islam and Muslims."

[Mufaddal]

4. Yeah, she really did

Look: the Clintons swim around in sleaze like a fish in water. After a while, they just don't notice it anymore.

[roguevalley]

5. it never ends.