Time Warner's Carol Melton and Huma Abedin at the Washington, DC "Argo" party, October 12, 2012
---
As some readers will recall, a few months ago, in the spirit of columnist-bites-editor, I "spiked" the Washington Examiner after editorial page editor David Freddoso refused to run my column "Outing the Muslim Brotherhood." The column reported on a written request, then making gigantic media waves, from Rep. Michele Bachmann and four House colleagues to inspectors general at five government agencies asking them simply to investigate alarming evidence of Muslim Brotherhood penetration of US government decision-making. One of the members' exhibits was SecState Clinton's top aide Huma Abedin, whose family members, in a nutshell, have been tightly, deeply and demonstrably involved with groups and movements dedicated to the destruction of Western civilization.
A patriotic and responsible and, indeed, urgent request, I thought and still think -- although the MSM and political class, left, right and center (with valiant few exceptions) saw fit to demonize Bachmann et al for daring to care about national security. Meanwhile, Abedin's family ties at the very least had to have made it difficult for her to fill in her Form 86 security clearance form truthfully without 1) being turned down for the job or b) being "waived" into place, no questions asked.
Which leaves a lot of questions unasked. Anyway, that whole sorry Examiner story is here, and another national security scandal burns on.
My own column aside, the episode revealed the Examiner's general failure to report on Abedin's place in what was arguably the major news "scandal" of the summer. Even with Sen. John McCain praising Abedin and denouncing Bachmann on the floor of the Senate, I never found the story covered in the paper. Meanwhile, Cal Thomas' Examiner column on the general subject ran without including Abedin's name.
I mention all this today because the recent Abedin taboo has been broken at the Examiner now what the paper considers real news has broken out.
The Washington Examiner, October 11:
Hot off making "Argo," a film set during the Iranian hostage crisis, director and actor Ben Affleck mused over what present day political figure he'd like to see on the big screen. "I think David Petraeus -- I don't know if you'd call him a political figure -- is one of the most remarkable living Americans and if you got a sense to actually know what his life was like and what's he gone through, I bet it would be a spectacular movie," Affleck told reporters at the D.C. premiere of "Argo" Wednesday night. "But the paradox is because he's got such a great character I doubt very much he'd welcome some movie that was aggrandizing him." As for casting, Affleck's answer was obvious. "Well, it would either be me or Matt [Damon] -- it depends on who can get in better shape."
Petraeus was actually on hand, attending an event at the Canadian Embassy and then watching the film alongside other prominent Washingtonians at the movie theater in Chinatown. Also in the crowd were "Argo" cast members John Goodman and Bryan Cranston, along with former Rep. Anthony Weiner and his wife, State Department official Huma Abedin. Affleck explained why he invited his "good friend" Abedin, who in turn brought along her husband. "The reason why she is here, is she was instrumental in helping us shoot at the State Department," Affleck said. "As you noticed, we shot at the real State Department ... our production designers were allowed to go inside and look at the seventh floor and recreate it."
I guess Abedin is taking her show on the road.