Ed Brayton is a freelance writer and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
Stop the presses! The right wing media and blogosphere is all abuzz over Barack Obama meeting with Shiite Imam Hassan Qazwini while he was in Michigan the other day. The Worldnutdaily declares it "breaking news" that "Shiite leader met privately with Obama." Ann Coulter wannabe Debbie Schlussel, who thinks every Muslim in the universe is an agent for Bin Laden, declares that the visit "says a lot about the company Obama keeps...and why he shouldn't be President."
Here's what neither the Worldnutdaily nor Schlussel bothers to tell their readers: Qazwini met with President Bush as well, both during the 2000 election and innumerable times over the last 7 years. Ironically, when they met in the 2000 election, Qazwini and his brother both asked about the possibility of removing Saddam Hussein from Iraq and Bush said that while that would be nice, he couldn't make it part of his official policy.
Even more irony: Qazwini also asked Bush about his views on racial profiling and the use of secret evidence to detain suspects indefinitely. Bush issued a written statement denouncing the use of secret evidence and racial profiling. He also promised Qazwini that Spencer Abraham, who is of Lebanese descent, would be their liaison to the White House and that he would work on the issues they cared about.
Qazwini did not officially endorse Bush, but he strongly encouraged his followers to vote for him and that is exactly what they did. He met with Bush at least 4 times during and just after the 2000 election and he was a guest at the White House many times over the last 7 years. Not a word from the right wing press. But one meeting with Obama and it's proof that Obama is out to appease the Muslims. The stench of hypocrisy is overwhelming.
Politics
Comments
A poltician going to the Dearborn area and not meeting with a local Muslim would somewhat be like a poltician going to Boston and not meeting with a local Catholic leader.
I guess I'm more curious as why Obama seems to be the first canidate to have done this.
Posted by: SpotWeld | May 19, 2008 9:58 AM
You really can't compare Bush and Obama here, Ed. Bush was merely getting his orders from the Saudi government, the same as Bush men have been doing for generations.
Obama, on the other hand, is the vanguard for the World Muslim Conspiracy. He is getting brazen now, and apparently doesn't need to hide his identity as a Muslim any more. I don't think I need to remind everyone that Obama's father was from Kenya and he spent his childhood in a madrassa.
Vote Ron Paul!
Posted by: kehrsam | May 19, 2008 10:38 AM
Oops, I neglected to put random words in ALL CAPS. Preview, Kurt, preview.
Posted by: kehrsam | May 19, 2008 10:40 AM
I declare a Poe's Law violation on Kersham. Sorry it took so long to post - laughing too hard to type...
Posted by: Blaidd Drwg | May 19, 2008 10:46 AM
Posted by: Tegumai Bopsulai, FCD | May 19, 2008 12:22 PM
After reading so many outraged and dismissive reviews of WorldNetDaily articles, here and elsewhere, my curiosity got the better of me and I had a look for the first time.
Wow, better than I had hoped!
The first story about a clerk in England that refuses to perform gay weddings begins with the tag line "Queerly Beloved".
It looks to be a tabloid site for semi-literate Christian fundamentalists. I can see the fun in going there to leer at the scribbled musings of the wacko brigade once in a while, but continuously answering these loons seems to be paying them too much attention.
Posted by: Lance | May 19, 2008 12:22 PM
Nah. They NEED to be taken down by simple logic every once in a while. Otherwise, they think everybody agrees with them...
Posted by: gwangung | May 19, 2008 12:39 PM
Yes, but when you attack them they feel affirmed because the devil wouldn't be after them if they weren't doing something right!
I vote for taking them down just for fun. We need light entertainment every so often.
Posted by: Henry Neufeld | May 19, 2008 3:31 PM
If you can't laugh at the hopelessly inane, you just might have to cry instead.
Posted by: Sadie Morrison | May 19, 2008 3:40 PM
Daily Kos has a front page story by DHinMI:
And then there are these great pictures when Bush Embraces Qazwini
Posted by: drdave | May 19, 2008 5:23 PM
Oh wow! Horrors! The world is coming to an end! Obama met with a Muslim! And a Muslim cleric at that! And furthermore, he's a Shiite! So he must be in league with Evil Iran! Which is Shiite too!
Jeez. These wingnuts get whackier and whackier every day. It never seems to occur to any of them that the vast majority of Muslims in the US are here because all they want to be able to do is practice their religious beliefs in peace and without interference.
Anne G
Posted by: Anne Gilbert | May 19, 2008 6:10 PM
You're being too hard on Debbie Schlussel. At least she's easy on the eyes. Ann Coulter's face gives me nightmares, even if I didn't know who she was. Debbie can hate speech me all night long...
Posted by: Brandon | May 19, 2008 8:38 PM
Schlussel actually showed up in the "comments" section of another blog (oliverwillis.com) that made the exact same point as Ed is doing here in response to her criticism of the Obama-Qazwini meeting.. She wrote that she has criticized Bush in the past for meeting with Qazwini and another commentator provided the links that she indeed has done this; however, in her blog posting that Ed links to, she doesn't mention Bush's contacts with this guy. She could have written something like, "Obama, like President Bush before him, is making a mistake in meeting with Qazwini"...but she didnt. This omission is important because it leads her readers who are not aware of past Bush-Qazwini contacts to believe that only Obama has meet with this supposedly heinous individual.
Posted by: daniel rotter | May 19, 2008 9:15 PM