Israel Matzav

The Candidate from CAIR

Power Line publishes an email sent by a reader to reporter Rochelle Olson and 'reader's represenative' Kate Parry of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Olson was covering a debate that took place last night in a synagogue in St. Louis Park, Minnesota between Republican Alan Fine and Democrat Keith Ellison. Ellison is a Muslim, who was involved in Louis Farrakhan's anti-Semitic Nation of Islam, and is currently a member of CAIR.

Alas, Rochelle's constant digs at Alan Fine and bias against him are getting a bit too obvious - she takes care to note that Alan Fine didn't show up at the first debate and "moderators were unable to provide a reason." Why not just say that Alan Fine was unable to attend for unknown reasons, rather than "he didn't show up and nobody could give a reason." There are several ways to write sentences, but Rochelle constantly errs on the side of writing her sentences to make Alan Fine look bad. Interesting, really interesting. Then, later in the article, in discussing Alan Fine's negative comments about the StarTribune, she once again reveals her bias by following the paragraph about Fine's expunged arrest with a quote from Alan Fine talking about the importance of character. Nice juxtaposition. Once again, Rochelle's plainly obvious bias shines through - she is clearly saying to her readers "Alan Fine says one thing but does another." (Never mind the fact that Fine's record was expunged and he was given custody of his son - something a judge would never do if he truly believed that Alan Fine was a domestic abuser)

But, even if Mr. Fine is guilty of some hypocrisy here (I don't believe he is, but for the sake of argument...) - isn't Mr. Ellison also guilty of hypocrisy? He repeatedly insists that he has rejected groups that work against the best interests of Israel and the Jews (like the Nation of Islam) but continues to associate with groups like CAIR which also work against the best interests of Israel and the Jews? Where is Rochelle Olson pointing out this hypocrisy on the part of Ellison? Ellison claims an "18-month" involvement in the Nation of Islam but the record clearly shows nearly a decade of involvement. Ellison claims he didn't realize the "extent to which anti-Semitism" was present in the Nation of Islam, which is akin to a Klansman claiming he didn't realize the "extent to which racism" played a role in the Ku Klux Klan. But no, Rochelle never mentions these things - much better to take aim and fire again and again at Alan Fine, I guess.

Read the whole thing.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:29 PM