Kudos to Jake Tapper for pointing out that Mazen Asbahi, the coordinator for Muslim affairs of the Obama campaign until he stepped down after 10 days, did nothing that Karen Hughes did not do.
This resignation is in some ways a fallout of the witch hunt against American Muslims conducted by the Department of Justice under Ashcroft and Gonzales (those paragons of probity). Especially egregious was the naming of the Islamic Society of North America and the Muslim Brotherhood, among other perfectly peaceful organizations as ‘unindicted co-conspirators’ in the case against the charity, Holy Land Foundation– a case the government did not win and which was always a waste of time.
So a trumped up and failed case against Muslims generates unsubstantiated allegations that in turn can be cited by Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal to smear Muslims. You wonder if in Rupert’s mind, Muslim = a kind of Aborigine.
Basically the Right has it set up so that Muslims who have connections to *gasp* Muslim organizations can be smeared at will.
In the meantime, rightwing Jewish-Americans with connections to settler extremists on the West Bank are supported by the GOP.
Truth in advertising: Mazen studied with me.