"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Tuesday, August 02, 2016

Round Four

The anti-Khan campaign is ramping up, and it appears to be a concerted effort, if not coordinated by the Trump campaign. (But then, what has been coordinated by the Trump campaign? Anything?) Renowned dirtbag Roger Stone has jumped into the fray, relying on the Shoebats, who are disgusting but at least have the excuse that they're insane. Here's a good summary of the whole thing to date from Amanda Terkel at HuffPo:

Khizr Khan delivered one of the most moving speeches at the Democratic National Convention, captivating viewers with his story about losing his son, a U.S. service member who died in the Iraq War saving his fellow soldiers.

Khan, who is Muslim American, said that if it were up to Donald Trump, he and his family wouldn’t even be allowed in the country.

“Have you ever been to Arlington Cemetery? Go look at the graves of the brave patriots who died defending America,” Khan said. “You will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing and no one.”

And now, despite his family’s sacrifice to the country, Khan is facing accusations that so many other high-profile Muslim Americans face: that he is unpatriotic and a terrorist.

As far as I can tell, the Khans are a hell of a lot more patriotic than anyone who's criticizing them.

This had to happen eventually: Trump, being completely unable to deal with any sort of criticism without lashing out, finally managed, I think, to crystallize his bigotry and bombast into one easily perceived shot to the foot. Lots of people took swings at him during the Democratic convention, but this one went viral because the right-wing nutjobs jumped on it, taking their cue from The Hairpiece himself.

And let's face it, when you've lost the congressional leadership, you're not doing to well. Yes, McConnell and Ryan are doing a fast dance to try to distance themselves from Trump while continuing to support his candidacy, but what choice do they have? They have to support their candidate, but if they tie themselves to0 closely to him, their own political futures are in jeopardy. They, at least, are in enough contact with reality to realize that attacking the parents of a war hero is just not going to fly.


Boom.

John Aravosis has a somewhat lengthy (and a little dry) post on how this sort of thing becomes viral that's worth reading just to understand the whole process that's going on here.

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