U.S. first lady Laura Bush on Thursday dismissed as unimportant a comment by the wife of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry that Mrs. Bush was someone who had not held a “real job.”

She played down a controversy that blew up over the remark and expressed sympathy for Teresa Heinz Kerry for having to handle the pressures of being on the campaign trail and answer reporters’ questions.

“It doesn’t matter to me,” Mrs. Bush told reporters as she campaigned in the swing state of New Hampshire. “It was perfectly alright. She apologized and she didn’t even really need to apologize,” Mrs. Bush said.

“I know how tough it is. Actually, I know those trick questions, too,” she said.

Asked how she would be different from Mrs. Bush if John Kerry won the Nov. 2 election, Heinz Kerry told USA Today: “Well, you know, I don’t know Laura Bush. But she seems to be calm, and she has a sparkle in her eye, which is good. But I don’t know that she’s ever had a real job — I mean, since she’s been grown up.”

Heinz Kerry, a philanthropist and heiress to a Heinz ketchup fortune of more than $500 million, later apologized for her comment, saying she had forgotten Mrs. Bush’s work as a teacher and librarian, “and there couldn’t be a more important job than teaching our children.”

Bush campaign adviser Karen Hughes called Heinz Kerry’s remark “unfortunate” and said it was aimed at dividing women.

I’ll agree to disagree with MAS and route66 on the other points. I’ll depart the field of battle argument and you can declare victory. It’s not like I want to turn this blog into some kind of political site. I’ll let someone else set up a San Diego site like that. I don’t have the energy or inclination for that.

If one focuses on that previously referenced CAIR Wiki page from a few comments back, one will see the heading Criticism.

“…high
ranking members of CAIR have taken stances that many say belie its self-description as a moderate organization.”

Which leads in to Tim McVeigh/NRA reference??? You don’t judge an organization by the aberrant behavior of a single low-level individual. Let’s recognize the distinct possibility of a dichotomy between a rank and file member
and the leadership (and founders) of an organization.

As far as the links between THK and Tides/CAIR, maybe a local journalist attending that upcoming $5,000-a-ticket VIP (pre-reception) event at the El Cortez could ask her about it in person. As long as that reporter doesn’t mind “shoving it”.

If one focuses on that previously referenced CAIR Wiki page from a few comments back, one will see the heading Criticism.

“…high ranking members of CAIR have taken stances that many say belie its self-description as a moderate organization.”

Which leads in to Tim McVeigh/NRA reference??? You don’t judge an organization by the aberrant behavior of a single low-level individual. Let’s recognize the distinct possibility of a dichotomy between a rank and file member and the leadership (and founders) of an organization.

As far as the links between THK and Tides/CAIR, perhaps a local journalist attending that upcoming $5,000-a-ticket VIP (pre-reception) event at the El Cortez could ask her about it in person. As long as that reporter doesn’t mind “shoving it”.

2- The Black Panther Party is not equal to Hamas or Hezbula. If you think they are, I need to step away from this
conversation.

3- Haliburton? Read Coalition of the Billing by
Bruce Sterling. They’ve been around since 1919 and been utilized by our military under many different Presidents. They
are a legal company employing many people. It’s too bad you are outraged that a former Sec Of Defense would give
up a high paying job at Haliburton to return to public life for the thankless job of VP.

4- I agree with you that the links between THK and CAIR are not strong enough at this time to fuel outrage. Even if they
were strong, I doubt a super-wealthy person that gives to many organizations is fully aware of exactly who gets the
money and how it is spent.

The question for me is this — if this organization is so clearly terroristic, what’s it doing getting invited to the White House?

Also, were the actions those of the organization, or of members of it. Tricky, that. Tim McVeigh was a member of the NRA, no? So clearly, the NRA is a terroristic organization.

The links between THK and CAIR are not strong enough to push me over the edge to outrage. Whereas the links between Vice-President Dick Cheney and Halliburton are strong enough to get me outraged. I suppose it’s a matter of focus.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, three CAIR figures have been arrested by U.S. federal authorities on terrorist-related charges: Ghassan Elashi, a founding board member of CAIR-Texas; Bassem K. Khafagi, the community affairs director for CAIR; and Randall Todd “Ismail” Royer, former communications specialist and civil-rights coordinator at CAIR.

CAIR also has been criticized for its links to Hamas by various terrorist experts and scholars, including Matthew Levitt, senior fellow in terrorism studies at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

On Sept. 19, Levitt gave testimony before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism titled, “Subversion from Within.” Levitt addressed the issue of CAIR:

“For example, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which says it was ‘established to promote a positive image of Islam and Muslims in America,’ was co-founded by Omar Ahmed, the same person who co-founded the Islamic Association for Palestine – the Hamas front organization which first published the Hamas charter in English – together with Hamas leader and Specially Designated Terrorist Mousa Abu Marzouk. CAIR’s pro-Hamas and pro-Hezbollah positions should not surprise, given that it regularly rises to the defense of terrorism suspects and openly supports designated terrorist groups.”

Similar testimony has been given by various experts, including Sheikh Professor Abdul Hadi Palazzi, who said the following during a February 2000 address to the International Conference on Countering Suicide Terrorism sponsored by the Institute for Counter-Terrorism of the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzlyia, Israel:

“The Council for American-Islamic Relations is a Muslim Brotherhood front organization. It works in the United States as a lobby against radio, television and print media journalists who dare to produce anything about Islam that is at
variance with their fundamentalist agenda. CAIR opposes diversity in Islam: They are aggressive and closed-minded. Notwithstanding CAIR’s evident connection to Hamas, they are regarded by U.S. administrations as legitimate representatives of the Muslim American community.”

Masquerading as ‘mainstream’ , How extremist Muslims intimidate press, true moderates into silence.

Do you have any links (other than Pipes and Anti-CAIR) to sources of the “countless quotes and statements” demonstrating that CAIR is “a group of anti-Semitic terrorist sympathizers?