Clinton accuses Trump of 'degrading comments about Muslims'

[webfact]

Clinton accuses Trump of 'degrading comments about Muslims'

By LISA LERER and JONATHAN LEMIRE

ASHLAND, Ohio (AP) — Hillary Clinton said Sunday that Donald Trump repaid the "ultimate sacrifice" of a U.S. Army captain killed in Iraq with insults and degrading comments about Muslims, as the soldier's bereaved father pressured Republican Party leaders to distance themselves from the GOP presidential nominee.

Clinton's comments came after Trump refused to back down from his criticism of the Gold Star parents' remarks.

"Am I not allowed to respond?" Trump had tweeted. "Hillary voted for the Iraq war, not me!"

It was the latest bitter rhetorical volley between the defiant Republican candidate, Clinton and the family of a fallen soldier since the two parties concluded their major conventions last week and the nation looked ahead to a close election this November.

Trump's stand has once again left Republican leaders facing demands to denounce their party nominee and overshadowed Clinton's campaign message with controversy.

"He is a black soul," said Khizr Khan, whose son Humayun received a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart after he was killed in Iraq in 2004. "And this is totally unfit for the leadership of this beautiful country."

Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," he said, "It is majority leader's and speaker's moral, ethical obligation to not worry about the votes, but repudiate him, withdraw the support."

Likewise, Clinton told Republicans on Sunday: "This is a time to pick country over party."

In statements released Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan condemned any criticism of Muslim Americans who serve their country and rejected the idea of a Muslim travel ban — an idea proposed by Trump earlier in the campaign. But neither statement mentioned Trump by name or repudiated him.

McConnell praised Capt. Khan as an "American hero," while Ryan noted that many Muslim Americans have served "valiantly" in the U.S. military.

"Captain Khan was one such brave example. His sacrifice — and that of Khizr and Ghazala Khan — should always be honored. Period," Ryan said.

Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic minority leader, issued a blistering statement of his own, saying anything short of revoking their endorsements of Trump was "cowardice" on the part of McConnell and Ryan.

"This shouldn't be hard," Reid said. "Donald Trump is a sexist and racist man who insults Gold Star parents, stokes fear of Muslims and sows hatred of Latinos. He should not be president and Republican leaders have a moral responsibility to say so?."

On a post-convention bus tour through Ohio and Pennsylvania, Clinton said Trump has a "total misunderstanding" of American values and has inflamed divisions in American society.

"I don't know where the boundaries are. I don't know where the bottom is," she told reporters during a campaign stop at a cheese barn in Ohio.

"I do tremble before those who would scapegoat other Americans," she told parishioners in a Cleveland church on Sunday morning. "That's just not how I was raised."

At last week's Democratic National Convention, Pakistan-born Khan told his son's story and questioned whether Trump had ever read the Constitution and said "you have sacrificed nothing."

During the speech, Khan's wife, Ghazala, stood quietly by his side.

"If you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say," Trump said, in an interview with ABC's "This Week."

Ghazala Khan responded Sunday in an opinion piece published in The Washington Post, saying talking about her son's death 12 years ago is still hard for her. When her husband asked if she wanted to speak at the convention, she said she could not.

"When Donald Trump is talking about Islam, he is ignorant," she wrote.

At one point, Trump had disputed Khan's criticism that the billionaire businessman has "sacrificed nothing and no one" for his country.

"I've made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard. I've created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures," Trump said.

Trump, who had no campaign events scheduled this weekend, released a statement late Saturday night calling Humayun Khan "a hero" but disputing his father's characterization.

"While I feel deeply for the loss of his son, Mr. Khan who has never met me, has no right to stand in front of millions of people and claim I have never read the Constitution, (which is false) and say many other inaccurate things," said Trump.

Trump's rebuke was unusual in the world of politics where officials only speak well of families whose loved ones die in service to their country. When Cindy Sheehan, who lost her son in Iraq, staged prolonged protests on the war, then-President George W. Bush responded by saying that the nation grieves every death.

When asked about the mother of a State Department official killed in Benghazi, Libya, who blamed Hillary Clinton for her son's death, Clinton told "Fox News Sunday" that her "heart goes out" to the families and that she didn't "hold any ill feeling for someone" who has lost a child and recalls events differently.

Across the country, veterans and their families closely watched the political back-and-forth.

"It was inappropriate on both sides," said Mark Farner of Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, as he stood a few feet from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. "For one to use it as it as the Democrats intended it to be used, and I don't think Trump handled it the way he should have on his end."

Farner had just made a rubbing of the name of his cousin, Calvin Wilson, who was killed in action in February 1967.

Romell Short of Washington, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, said he has no problem with veterans' families being politically active and speaking about their experiences.

"America should know the suffering and the cost of war and part of that is the sacrifice of American troops and the sacrifice of American families," Short said.

But he cautioned that the views of families should be read separately from their family member who served.

___

Associated Press writer Chad Day in Washington contributed to this report.

-- AP 2016-08-01

[mtls2005]

"Have you no sense of decency, sir"?

In Trump's case this is obviously a rhetorical question.

 

 

[jesimps]

Trump speaks the truth in general terms about Islam, of course what he says doesn't apply to every Muslim. I think Islam is evil but it doesn't mean that I haven't met some good people of that faith. It's just "lefties" trying to stir up trouble again.

[Jingthing]

trump has made some big sacrifices!

 

 

Quote

Ghazala Khan: Trump criticized my silence. He knows nothing about true sacrifice.Trump said he would like to hear from me about my son. Here’s what I have to say.

https://twitter.com/hashtag/trumpsacrifices

http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Internet-mocks-Donald-Trump-s-TrumpSacrifices-8845080.php

 

[Jingthing]

9 minutes ago, jesimps said:

Trump speaks the truth in general terms about Islam, of course what he says doesn't apply to every Muslim. I think Islam is evil but it doesn't mean that I haven't met some good people of that faith. It's just "lefties" trying to stir up trouble again.

trump is all about stirring up irrational hatred towards all Muslims and other groups. He is trying to be the great divider. 
He's the greatest INTERNAL threat to American democracy we've had since Joseph McCarthy. Enemies of the USA (like Putin) are licking their chops.

[Skywalker69]

[Skywalker69]

[Usernames]

Okay, it's official now.  Clinton is the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood.  If you want the US to look like Syria and Pakistan, vote for Clinton.

[White Christmas13]

Yeah

Mother of slain American Muslim soldier pens powerful rebuke after Donald Trump insult; #TrumpSacrifices hashtag goes viral.html

[mtls2005]

Everyone's ganging up on tiny fingers, he's going to lose it soon.

 

[ClutchClark]

Well Hillary DID vote for the War and that meant she knowingly was sending brave men & women to their death.

Trump does have that correct.

Is Trump's mouth his greatest liability? Yes.

Should he pay this mother an apology? Yes.

But I am voting for the GOP--I am not voting for Trump.

 

 

[mtls2005]

Days without an accident...

[dunroaming]

So Trump says that the gloves are off.  I guess what he means by that is that his lunacy now knows no bounds!.  Keep digging Donald, you are doing a great job  burying your chances

[dunroaming]

10 minutes ago, ClutchClark said:

But I am voting for the GOP--I am not voting for Trump.

 

What other GOP candidates are there?

[mtls2005]

So Trump says that the gloves are off. 

He must have a hard time buying gloves?

"Do you have these in women's sizes?"

[Johnpound46]

17 minutes ago, ClutchClark said:

Well Hillary DID vote for the War and that meant she knowingly was sending brave men & women to their death.

Trump does have that correct.

Is Trump's mouth his greatest liability? Yes.

Should he pay this mother an apology? Yes.

But I am voting for the GOP--I am not voting for Trump.

 

 

No, you're voting for Trump, simple as that. You can not vote for the GOP, because the end result is that your vote goes to Trump. And if he wins the president of the USA will be a petty, big-mouthed, ignorant, boorish and immature bully of a man who has a hissy fit every time anyone looks at him funny. Do you want that on your head?

Edited August 1, 2016 by Johnpound46

[ClutchClark]

1 minute ago, Johnpound46 said:

No, you're voting for Trump, simple as that. You can not vote for the GOP, because the end result is that your vote goes to Trump. And if he wins the president of the USA will be a petty, big-mouthed, ignorant, boorish and immature bully of a man who has a hissy fit every time anyone looks at him funny. Do you want that on your head?

Trump on his worst day is still a better choice than 4 more years of the obama WhiteHouse and that is what Hillary has promised voters.

I am not voting for Trump. I am voting for the GOP platform.

I do not think little boys who want to pee in the little girls bathroom is an important concern.

I do not think stirring up a race war to win votes is a patriotic thing to do.

I do not think giving unemployed Americans free healthcare and forcing the working Americans to pay for it is a good idea.

About the only thing I like about the obama agenda is that he kills alot of bad Muslims with Drones.

[Usernames]

4 minutes ago, ClutchClark said:

Trump on his worst day is still a better choice than 4 more years of the obama WhiteHouse and that is what Hillary has promised voters.

I am not voting for Trump. I am voting for the GOP platform.

I do not think little boys who want to pee in the little girls bathroom is an important concern.

I do not think stirring up a race war to win votes is a patriotic thing to do.

I do not think giving unemployed Americans free healthcare and forcing the working Americans to pay for it is a good idea.

About the only thing I like about the obama agenda is that he kills alot of bad Muslims with Drones.

And just wait until you see the body count Hillary racks up.  She'll bomb anybody that moves and then invite their relatives into the US.

[Thakkar]

Mr. Khan who has never met me, has no right to stand in front of millions of people and claim I have never read the Constitution, (which is false) and say many other inaccurate things," said Trump.

"Sure I've read the Constitution, especially Chapter 11; know it back to front. Great chapter. Beautiful."

[thaibeachlovers]

It was inappropriate on both sides," said Mark Farner of Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, as he stood a few feet from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. "For one to use it as it as the Democrats intended it to be used,

For the Dems to use the parents of a killed son in a war HRC voted for to bait Trump shows how despicable they are. We already know that from the e mails about Bernie, but to use grief stricken parents for political gain is below pond scum.

[arjunadawn]

These people are pure s^%}t! They are afforded all deference, benefit of the doubt, and even tolerance under the American more of accommodating the survivors of our dead soldiers. However my it is total BS once they politicize their own sons death. No, the rules change. 

They did this to his memory as sure as the mother of the Benghazi men invite circumspection. Amb Stevens mother demanded Trump refrain from using her sons name. Why? Because SHE is a Hillary supporter. She seeks to use as a wedge that sanctified 'Gold Star Mother' symbol to capitalize, solely, on her son. That's a big difference from the common and joint ownership that Anerica holds of her son. Once he took public money, became ambassador, and was murdered on foreign soil- and she politicized his death uniquely- she forever lost a voice in the crafting or sustaining of his memory. She simply defines...herself. 

Likewise for Khan. He and mom no longer own the rights to their sons memory. Period. However, most Americans have always acted in unison in jointly caring for the a political memories of our heroes. What the parents did specifically DEMANDS scrutiny and push back- at them. Why?

soldiers are inculcated every single day "non-political." It's as ingrained into a soldiers psyche as surely as kill the enemy. Shut up, never political speak in uniform, etc. but the parents offered their son in second sacrifice when they parade him like a Hillary (or Trump) for President placard. It's not just him, them. When congressional Medal of Honor recipients mouth off at a political event they do not call their service into question but certainly and for the first time, he announces the gloves are off. I can now be attacked. 

The parents of this solider are entitled nothing, except sympathy at the loss of their son. We do not see anywhere the parebts of Desd Christian soldiers telling us that "he died fighting Islamic terror because...most terror is...Islamic." But incredibly, worked into this piece of refuse's comments are "Islam has nothing to do with terror." Of course he's a piece of garbage. It dies not matter if it's true or false, only that he said it. 

They debase his memory. They invite attack. They are fair game. It's taqiyya. They peddle their politics on the corpse of their son. Can't get sicker. 

[Chicog]

15 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

It was inappropriate on both sides," said Mark Farner of Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, as he stood a few feet from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. "For one to use it as it as the Democrats intended it to be used,

For the Dems to use the parents of a killed son in a war HRC voted for to bait Trump shows how despicable they are. We already know that from the e mails about Bernie, but to use grief stricken parents for political gain is below pond scum.

I do wish you'd use your faux indignation where it's really needed.

 

Ambassador Steven's sister:

Quote

 

After years of congressional investigations, do you feel that your brother’s death has been politicized in Washington?

Yes! Definitely politicized. Every report I read that mentions him specifically has a political bent, an accusatory bent. One point that seems to be brought up again and again is the accusation that the attack was a response to the video. I could understand why that conclusion would be made, because it was right after the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Egypt. But, frankly, it doesn’t matter that that was the thinking, that night, about why the attack occurred. It’s irrelevant to bring that up again and again. It is done purely for political reasons.

 

And his mother:

Quote

Mother of slain Benghazi diplomat tells Trump to stop the 'opportunistic and cynical' use of his name and death for political attacks
U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens was among four Americans killed in 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya
His mother, Mary F. Commanday, objects to any mention or use of her son's name by Trump and the Republican Party
She wrote: 'I know for certain that Chris would not have wanted his name or memory used in that connection'

 

Perhaps if Trump stopped insulting all Muslims, the parents of ones who died serving the United States would not feel angry enough to respond to his vile rhetoric.

 

 

Edited August 1, 2016 by Chicog

[thaibeachlovers]

5 minutes ago, Chicog said:

I do wish you'd use your faux indignation where it's really needed.

 

Ambassador Steven's sister:

And his mother:

 

Perhaps if Trump stopped insulting all Muslims, the parents of ones who died serving the United States would not feel angry enough to respond to his vile rhetoric.

 

 

If Islamic terrorists stopped blowing up and beheading innocent western people Trump wouldn't need to use the rhetoric.

[Chicog]

Just now, thaibeachlovers said:

If Islamic terrorists stopped blowing up and beheading innocent western people Trump wouldn't need to use the rhetoric.

Yeah, call me Mr. Muddled, but I don't think Capt. Humayan Khan was an Islamic terrorist.

And I'm pretty sure most Muslims aren't either, and I live in a Muslim country.

[JHolmesJr]

I wish mr trump had left the khan question to one of his reps....future presidents arent supposed to deal with every small issue from disgruntled immigrants.....american parents have lost a lot more children  

It is clear that khan never wrote that speech....its all just bait dreamed up by devious hillarys staff for trump to react to....and sadly he dignified khan with a response. 

I dont recall khan ever gettng on a podium and denouncing islamic terror....

for every immigrant muzzlim in the us army who has died in the line of duty, thousands of american lives have been taken by muzzlim terrorists ....

if khan feels so strongly about the american constitution, how about doing a nation wde tour explaining it to homegrown muzzlim radicals?

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

1 minute ago, Chicog said:

Yeah, call me Mr. Muddled, but I don't think Capt. Humayan Khan was an Islamic terrorist.

And I'm pretty sure most Muslims aren't either, and I live in a Muslim country.

And I'm pretty sure most Muslims aren't either, and I live in a Muslim country.

 

I lived in an Islamic country and I would dispute that they wouldn't try to kill us all given the order by the mullahs or whatever version of them desired it. Islam has always been spread by the sword.

[Scott]

Off-topic post and reply removed.  

[Johnpound46]

47 minutes ago, Usernames said:

And just wait until you see the body count Hillary racks up.  She'll bomb anybody that moves and then invite their relatives into the US.

Question: after WW II, how many wars were started by Republican presidents? And how many by Democrat presidents? Republican presidents win that hands down, by about a gazillion to one. And which president exactly was it who is mostly responsible for the utter mess that the Middle East (and the world in general) is in now? It's not Obama, you know, but that Republican nincompoop that came before him. Who was voted in not once, but twice, which says it all about right-wing America and their wish to self-destruct and take the whole world down with them. And now millions and millions of those same Americans can't wait to vote in an even worse candidate than Dubya, "The Donald", who will most likely start three wars the day he gets sworn in just because a few people piss him off. The mind boggles .......

[Andaman Al]

49 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

It was inappropriate on both sides," said Mark Farner of Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, as he stood a few feet from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. "For one to use it as it as the Democrats intended it to be used,

For the Dems to use the parents of a killed son in a war HRC voted for to bait Trump shows how despicable they are. We already know that from the e mails about Bernie, but to use grief stricken parents for political gain is below pond scum.

What, like using the grieving Mother of one of the fallen at Benghazi?

[Johnpound46]

15 minutes ago, JHolmesJr said:

I wish mr trump had left the khan question to one of his reps....future presidents arent supposed to deal with every small issue from disgruntled immigrants.....american parents have lost a lot more children  

It is clear that khan never wrote that speech....its all just bait dreamed up by devious hillarys staff for trump to react to....and sadly he dignified khan with a response. 

I dont recall khan ever gettng on a podium and denouncing islamic terror....

for every immigrant muzzlim in the us army who has died in the line of duty, thousands of american lives have been taken by muzzlim terrorists ....

if khan feels so strongly about the american constitution, how about doing a nation wde tour explaining it to homegrown muzzlim radicals?

 

 

What a load of BS.

"and sadly he dignified khan with a response".  That's a funny way of saying he insulted the crap out of Khan.

"american parents have lost a lot more children".  So the lives of kids born from American parents are more valuable than the lives of American kids born from immigrant parents, is that it? Or are they just more American?

"I dont recall khan ever gettng on a podium and denouncing islamic terror...." Really? Because I don't recall many Republicans (none, actually) denouncing Bush's state sponsored terror. All they can do is shout that Hillary should be put in jail, but not a peep about the great war criminal from their own party.

"for every immigrant muzzlim in the us army who has died in the line of duty, thousands of american lives have been taken by muzzlim terrorists .... ". You clearly don't know a lot about recent history. How many thousands of American people do you think died because of Muslim terrorism? And how many innocent Iraqi people do you think died because America bombed them to pieces? If I'd had my family wiped out because of American imperialism, I'd also have a bone to pick with the good old US of A and probably be more than willing to take up arms against it.

And do you have to call them "muzzlims"? That's really mature ....