"Nothing has hurt the GOP more than Republican candidates who appear senseless or racist," writes Muhammad Ali Hasan in a guest column in the Colorado Statesman today. "Jane Norton... has managed to appear as both."
The video, a shameless evocation of the 9/11 attacks in the service of a hyper-paranoid campaign, has been sharply criticized in many quarters, including here and here. But Hasan's take is particularly worth a read, since it points out the divergence of Norton's fear-mongering from the actual Bush doctrine she suggests we need to get back to.
Hasan, the brash scion of wealthy Pakistani parents who has occasionally run for state office, is a supporter of Norton's rival, Ken Buck. His family foundation has recently been in the news because of the generous $300,000 fellowship it arranged for gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis in exchange for some truly dreadful "musings" on Colorado water issues. And he's a staunch defender of Bush's terror policies, which is one reason he's so offended by Norton's video. While the candidate herself talks about a war on terror, the video opens with a reference to Obama's failure to declare "war on Islam" -- as if that would be the right thing to do.
"One waits for an explanation why all Muslims should be slaughtered, but Norton offers nothing," Hasan observes.
Fighting the war on terror, he continues, involves building alliances in the Muslim world as well as tracking down Osama bin Laden. Obama's decisions on drone attacks, troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan, and other issues hardly suggests he's a weak sister who's "forgotten" about the jihadists, either.
"Obama's hawkishness could make Dick Cheney blush," Hasan claims.
Now if only someone could make Jihad Jane blush.
