Mickey Kaus writes Oct. 30, 2007:
Do you sense there is some large mass of dark matter, an unseen Scandal Star, the gravitational pull of which is warping the coverage of what seems, on the surface, a pretty dull presidential race? I do. So does Ron Rosenbaum. I thought the Dark Star was the Edwards affair allegation. But Rosenbaum says "everyone in the elite Mainstream media" knows about another juicy scandal that the LAT is supposedly sitting on. I guess this is proof that I'm not in the elite, because I don't know what he's talking about. ... My vestigial Limbaugh gland tells me it must involve a Democrat, or else the Times would have found a reason to print it. ... P.S.: If it's just Richardson, that will be very disappointing.
I'm placing my money on the lesbian-Hillary angle.
If you examine the candidates connected by the gossip columnists to current sex scandals, Hillary leads the way with her Huma connection (and Bill with his connections).
Within a couple of hours of reading Mickey Kaus's report above, I blitzed more than 30 sources (most of them journalists) for what they know about this matter. None of them could identify the purported LA Times story.
My dialogue with my sources left me with no doubt Tuesday night (Oct. 30) that Hillary's made passes at women and that Muslim Huma Abedin is Hillary's most likely source of romantic and sexual love.
Michelle Cottle writes in the Aug. 13, 2007 New York magazine: "Huma Abedin, Hillary's beautiful, enigmatic "body person," spends nearly every waking minute with Hillary and so has the best sense of her daily rhythms and routines."
Even if the Ron Rosenbaum report is complete nonsense (as LAT's editorial assistant editor Matt Welch asserts below), the mainstream media will come under increasing pressure (as Hillary waltzes to the Democratic nomination and assumes front runner status in the general election) to probe Hillary's love life (or lack of it) and to examine the numerous assertions (by such persons as Dick Morris, Edward Klein, etc) that she bats for the other team.
Like the rest of us, Hillary needs love. Unlike the rest of us, Hillary is powerful enough to get what she wants.
Like any woman, Hillary needs hugs and comfort and solace. She's not had that regularly from Bill for many years. Where's it coming from? Huma is the source that makes the most sense.
Sull emails: "You say everyone needs love, hugs etc. Definitely true, and I started wondering about Condi. Where is she getting her love and hugs?"
From Wikipedia: "Abedin was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan to an Indian father and Pakistani mother, both Muslims. When she was 2 years old, the family relocated to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Abedin returned to the United States to attend George Washington University.[1]"
We're still a bit incredulous on this one, but a top level U.S. Department of Justice official is telling Big Head DC that Michael Musto's rumor about Hillary Clinton fooling around with one of her top female aides Huma Abedin is based in reality!"I am close enough to Hillary and Huma to tell you that this ‘rumor' is true," the official says. "It is well known inside her campaign that Hillary and Huma are an item.
"If you call Hillary's residence in DC first thing in the morning, Huma answers the phone," the official continues. "Same thing late at night and on the road. It's a closely guarded secret that Hillary's inner circle guards at all costs."
From the April 1, 2007 New York Observer on Huma Abedin:
According to a friend, her favorite designers are Mr. de la Renta, Catherine Malandrino, Charles Nolan and Prada. "And she has a weakness for Marc Jacobs bags," said the friend. "She is known for her bags."
Robert Barnett, the Clintons' longtime attorney, said that in 11 years of knowing her, he has never seen her wear the same outfit twice. He also said he holds Ms. Abedin's intellect in the highest regard. "She has extremely good instincts and extremely good judgment," he said. "She is also gorgeous and the most terrifically dressed young woman you will ever encounter."
Chaim Amalek writes:
As I see it, this can only help her with the very demographic she is most in need of help with: white men.White men love lesbian stories. And because we believe that butch dykes are meaner and tougher than any five sissyfied liberal democratic men put together, we imagine that a bull like Hillary who has managed to turn a hot young Muslima (Luke - PICTURES, please!) into her body slave is just the sort of woman who can drive the Muslim world insane to the point of impotence. So the bottom line is that true or not, this rumor helps her, because it helps her with regular joes like us who wear pants and grumble about Mexicans.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: next to her, Hillary's political rivals look like a bunch of women.
Otherwise, the various rumors of rumors (is there a word for a rumor about a rumor?) speculated about any of the Republicans would doom them, unless they are simple cases of heterosexual men in positions of power acting like heterosexual men in positions of power.
I believe the story is about Hillary Clinton having a lesbian affair with her "Right Hand Woman" Huma Abedin. Who is Huma you ask? Follow this link to read all about her.Here is a list of reasons I think the story below is about Hillary and Huma.
- I have been receiving emails about Huma - one came for a Department of Justice computer (ISP) stating this: "I am close enough to both Hillary and Huma to know that it is an open secret on the campaign that those two are romantically involved. It is something you will never get them to verify though."
- If you've noticed recently the Mainstream Media has been churning out stories about how "romantic Bill Clinton is when he returns" to visit Hillary. How feminists have great relationships. Some gay organization flat out asked Hillary IF she was gay. She denied it, but wouldn't you follow that question up with "Hillary, if you are not gay, are you Bi-sexual?" Etc, Etc Etc. Why all of the fuss about Bill and Hillary's marriage? At first I was guessing that the Polling Data was showing that voters were indicating they were having problems with Bill and Hillary's strange marriage, that voters might have thought she was Gay or anti-marriage. But after connecting the dots here - I am thinking that all of this media attention to the Clinton marriage is about crises control about this story that the LA Times is surpressing.
- According to my limited research the Clinton camp has tried to keep Huma's existence real quiet. I at first suspected it to be because of her nationality and Hillary's creepy relationships with India and Pakistan.
To read up on these strange connections view these links: Gupta and Jinnah- Huma according to information sent to me is possibly living with Hillary at her house in DC
- It is common knowledge that Hillary is bi-sexual. According to Bill's long-time ex-girlfriend Gennifer Flowers, Hillary enjoyed performing oral sex on other women. On p.41 of Flowers' autobiography "Gennifer Flowers: Passion and Betrayal", Gennifer asked Bill if there was any truth to the rumor that Hillary was having an affair with another woman. Bill laughed and said (referring to Hillary): "Honey - she's probably eaten more p--y than I have."
having a lesbian affair with her "Right Hand Woman" Huma Abedin. Who is Huma you ask? Ace of Spades reports:
This is already out there, of course.Billionaire Belinda Stronach insists there is nothing true about the rumors she and former President Clinton are having an affair, adding that it's all a Republican plot.The ultra-wealthy member of Canada's parliament, who switched from the Conservative to the Liberal party, told the Montreal Gazette that the rumors upset her and she doesn't know whether to laugh or cry about the global hullabaloo over her alleged role as Cinton's latest squeeze.
Echoing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's famous allegation of a "vast right-wing conspiracy," Stronach told the Gazette she suspects the rumors have been spread by Republicans.
But it wasn't Republicans who reported last year that she was spotted all over New York with Clinton last year - it was the media.
New York Daily News columnist Ben Widdicombe told ExtraTV.com: "She's blonde, she's ambitious and she's in politics, but she's not Bill Clinton's wife. It's Belinda Stronach, his friend from Canada who's been visiting Bill in New York this week.
...Wrote ExtraTV.com: "And Belinda is no stranger to the limelight either. She's divorced from Olympic champion speed skater Johan Olaf Lass and currently has romantic ties to another politician. Still, there have been rumors of a romance between Belinda and Bill since they met five years ago at a charity event."
So there's that. What could be the not "in this form" twist? Well, I hate to speculate (ahem) but it could be They're in love and Bill and Hillary plan on divorcing as soon as the elections are over.
It should also be noted Clinton has been linked to socialite Lisa Belzberg. Against this rumor: It seems to have been over for a while. In favor of this rumor: She's reportedly "busty."
From the Michael Musto gossip column linked in the above article:
As I recently said on MONICA CROWLEY's radio show, whisper campaigns are claiming that HILLARY CLINTON is GAYLE KING--ing her aide de camp, the glamorous HUMA ABEDIN, an Indian/Pakistani goddess from Kalamazoo, Michigan. In other words, Hillary may be putting Huma out there in the press and purposely making her more visible as a pre-emptive strike that amounts to her hiding in plain sight. This way, no Republican can later say, "Who is this gorgeous babe who spends so much intimate time with Hillary that the Observer called her Hill's 'body person'? Was GENNIFER FLOWERS's book right about Hillary's sexual taste?" And does either of this couple have the balls to bottom?Of course that whole scenario can't possibly be true, since Bill and Hill have been so lovey-dovey lately for the cameras, and besides, whenever he's been serviced by an intern--or by anyone--he's clearly been thinking of his wife. (They're that close.) But suddenly, Huma--a sort of Muslim SALMA HAYEK--has that spread in Vogue and the accompanying write-up notes that she "oversees every minute of Senator Clinton's day." Every single minute? Even Gayle King takes a break now and then! (PS: If I called for comment, Hillary's camp would surely say, "Just because two powerful women are closer than sardines doesn't make them dykes." And that's so true. Look at MATT and BEN. But now that Crowley has dubbed me the head of Huma Resources, I'm going to pursue this story with every cojone I've got.)
Matt Welch of the LA Times tells Patterico:
I can tell you the following -- I have never, ever, ever, never, ever, ever, ever heard anything about this. And I spent last week in Washington DC, worked in the LAT bureau, went to parties with LAT muckety-mucks, and gossiped with dozens of people who cover presidential politics; none of whom ever so much as mentioned anything about it. Rosenbaum's single, anonymous source is most certainly wrong, at least about the "everyone knows" part. He also most certainly is wrong that the same "everyone" apparently "doesn't know what to do with it" -- seasoned political journalists are not helpless bystanders in the face of juicy rumors, they are specifically trained to go out and investigate them, and report when relevant.As for Rosenbaum's agonizing over "reporting" such a thing, I don't have much respect for it. Either report or don't; save us the handwringing about stooping to "Web 2.0″ whateverthehell.
TBogg summarizes my blog post: "If I was Hillary Clinton and I was a lesbian (but I repeat myself) this is totally who I would be making out with. Here's another picture of her. And another. And another. And anoth- Unnngh!.....Cigarette?"
Paul Sperry's book, Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives have Penetrated Washington sounds like it is worth a read.
From the April 1, 2007 New York Observer:
Assistant Secretary of State Dina Habib Powell, a 33-year-old who was born in Cairo, also speaks fluent Arabic and is also uncannily stylish--she says she has been told on many occasions that she is Ms. Abedin's Republican doppelgänger--had some insights into what her colleague is really passionate about."[Huma] certainly feels a deep responsibility to encourage more mutual understanding between her beliefs and culture and American culture," said Ms. Powell. "I think you will see Huma coming out of that role in the background."
"I think she's going to emerge as a woman to watch," she added.
It may have happened in the background, but Ms. Abedin has indeed become a trusted advisor to Mrs. Clinton, especially on issues pertaining to the Middle East, according to a number of Clinton associates. At meetings on the region, they say, Ms. Abedin's perspective is always sought out.
Huma's father was Syed Zainul Abedin.
Huma's mother's name is Saleha Mahmood Abedin. (Picture) She's a sociologist based in Saudi Arabia.
According to this online bio: "Dr. Saleha Mahmood Abedin is a professor of sociology from Pakistan and a specialist in the affairs of minority Muslim groups in non-Muslim countries. Her knowledge of Islam and its role in different cultural contexts around the world has made her a sought-after scholar in inter-religious forums for world peace. Dr. Saleha is currently a peace councilor for the International Committee for Peace, an institute wherein religious leaders are working together to relieve suffering in different parts of the world. Peace councilors provide a positive, alternative example to the popular images of religious division perpetrated by so many. Dr. Saleha is also director of scholarly institutes in London and Saudi Arabia, and is chairperson of the Islamic Committee for Women and Children in Jordan."
Google informs us that Abedin's mother is Saleha Mahmood Abedin, Vice-Dean of Institutional Advancement, Dar Al-Hekma College, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Here's the official description from the Dar Al-Hekma website:Dar Al-Hekma College is a unique, four-year college, built upon a strong and stable foundation of Islamic faith, Islamic wisdom, academic excellence and intellectual curiosity. It was founded when prominent members of the Jeddah community recognized an urgent need for sophisticated higher education for young Saudi women, with high quality academic programs enriched by Islamic values and morals. The Founders engaged the Texas International Education Consortium to work with local and international experts to plan the college and design its curricula. In September, 1999, Dar Al-Hekma College opened its doors to its first freshmen class.
How does the child of two university professors [one of them deceased], who is single, never married, and living on a clerical salary, in one of the most expensive cities in America, afford to "never... wear the same outfit twice"?Much less purchase from the likes of Oscar de la Renta, Catherine Malandrino, Charles Nolan, Prada, and Marc Jacobs? Not to mention Yves Saint Laurent?
How does the child of two university professors [one of them deceased], who is single, never married, and living on a clerical salary, in one of the most expensive cities in America, afford to buy her own "apartment in the vicinity of 12th and U streets"?
What would such an apartment cost? $500,000? $750,000? $1,000,000?
Where is she getting that kind of money? Who is the co-signor on her loan?
And as bad as the financials of the Observer piece are, the psychological profile it paints is even worse:
"It was like 110 degrees outside," recalled the source, a political aide who asked to remain anonymous. "We were all just pouring down with sweat. But I have this distinct memory of Huma traipsing in in this blue pantsuit--it was like this wool pantsuit--not a bead of sweat on her brow, not a hair out of place, with everything perfectly organized in her Yves Saint Laurent handbag."That sort of fantastical, supernaturally tinged tale is not unusual. Indeed, in the insular world of New York and D.C. politics, Huma Abedin has become a sort of mythical figure...
"I think she has special powers," said public-radio broadcaster Katia Dunn, who recently crossed paths with Ms. Abedin and Mrs. Clinton at a café on Capitol Hill...
Representative Anthony Weiner, a swingingly single Brooklyn Democrat who has known Ms. Abedin since before Hillary Clinton was elected to office, talked about her ability to perform under pressure "preternaturally"...
"Have you seen Huma?" asked James Carville, the former advisor to President Clinton. "Her appearance is just like, ‘Hoh my God!' She takes your breath away. She's an unbelievably, stunningly gorgeous woman. Nobody in that position can be that good-looking; it just doesn't happen." He added that she is also "damn smart."
"She is a person of enormous intellect with in-depth knowledge on a number of issues--especially issues pertaining to the Middle East," said Senator John McCain, in a statement relayed by one of his aides.
"Huma is an example of why more people, particularly in Washington, need to understand the rest of the world, need to recognize what an asset it is to have cross-cultural experiences," wrote Queen Noor of Jordan in an e-mail...
"I'd call Huma one in a million," said Mrs. Clinton's press secretary, Philippe Reines, "but that would mean there are 5,999 others in the world just like her, and there simply aren't. She is truly one of a kind, one in a billion. We are all in awe of her poise, grace, judgment, intellect and her seemingly endless reserve of kindness, patience and energy."
People get nervous & flighty & anxious in life when they CARE.
People are unflappable when they DON'T CARE.
Just from a purely psychological point of view, the fact that she seems to be unflappable within the confines of the biggest pressure cooker in American politics suggests to me that she doesn't care about American politics - that, instead, she cares about something else - something other than American politics.
And certainly the easiest way to not care about a set of circumstances in life is when you aren't actually participating in those circumstances, but rather are merely ACTING THE PART of someone who is participating in those circumstances.
The very fact that she spent 15 or 16 years in Saudi Arabia [from roughly the age of 2, until roughly the age of 18], and then showed up in the Clinton Whitehouse, as an intern, in 1996, at roughly the age of 21, is, in and of itself, a massive security breach.
That she then spent another five years in the Clinton Whitehouse, and, for most of the last seven years, has been wedded at the hip to Mrs. Clinton, night and day [whether or not they are engaging in acts of sodomy], is an unthinkable compromise of national security.
And even if it wasn't an "unthinkable compromise of national security" on Monday, September 10, 2001, it damned sure became an unthinkable compromise of national security on Tuesday, September 11, 2001.
As a thought experiment, reverse the roles, and suppose that Huma Abedin was a Jewish girl, with supermodel looks, and that her parents had left America when she was 2, and had emigrated to Israel [even though NEITHER of her parents had been born in Israel], and that her mother was an Israeli professor, and that her father had founded his own institute devoted to Israeli-American and interfaith understanding and reconciliation and published a journal focusing on Jewish minorities living in the diaspora.
And suppose that she had worked her way into the Clinton Whitehouse, in 1996, at the age of 21 [after spending 15 or 16 of her formative years in Israel], and that she had become wedded at the hip to Mrs. Clinton, night and day, for the next 11 years.
[We'll leave out the part about the 19 Jews - 15 of them from Israel - who hijacked a bunch of jetliners and flew them into the World Trade Center & the Pentagon, back in 2001.]
And suppose that she was spending money way beyond her apparent station in life.
And suppose that she was unflappable in pressure-cooker situtations.
Now suppose all of those things, and then come to the logical conclusion.
People would be screaming "Mossad" at the top of their lungs.
David Remnick writes in The New Yorker July 4, 2005:
On the strength of name recognition and a solid freshman term in the Senate, Hillary Clinton appears to lead all other potential candidates for the Presidential nomination of the Democratic Party in 2008. But Senator Clinton cannot become President of the United States. The reason, as her latest pornographer, Edward Klein, makes plain, is the lesbian situation. It is entirely possible, Klein allows, that the junior senator from New York is not herself a Sapphic practitioner. But she imbibed the "culture of lesbianism" as an undergraduate at Wellesley College in the nineteen-sixties; she has certainly known a few lesbians in her time (many names are unearthed); she definitely read a Methodist magazine called motive that published, among others, Rita Mae Brown, the author of a "lesbian novel"; and once, at a White House reunion of her Wellesley classmates, she rubbed the "butch cut" hairdo of one Nancy Wanderer, remarking, lesbianically, "Maybe I'll get a haircut like this and really shock everyone."Reading "The Truth About Hillary," one can easily envision Klein's wellappointed desk in mid-composition, an antique lamp casting a lambent beam on his files of political smut. The evidence of Senator Clinton's moral turpitude (beginning, but not ending, with her contact with known lesbians) is girded by a historian's sense of enterprise--interviews with disgruntled West Wing footmen, gratuitous political "analysts," and the "clinical sexologist" Dr. Claudia Six. And the craft? Ask yourself whether Samuel Eliot Morison could reel off sentences on the order of "But Hillary's celestial ambitions were thwarted by a catch-22."
And so "The Truth About Hillary" has, despite critical demurral on both the left and the right, been launched into the upper reaches of the Amazon best-seller list, where it now does lonely battle with "1776," "Freakonomics," and advance orders for "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." Unlike the disgruntled G-men, disgraced pollsters, and spurned lounge chanteuses who usually write these books, Klein is said not to be an interested party. He is not an ideologue. He is an experienced freelancer, a former editor of the Times Magazine and a former foreign editor of Newsweek. He begins his story with a White House butler making his way across the West Sitting Room to an eat-in kitchen where "the Big Girl"--a staff nickname for the First Lady, we are informed--and the President take their breakfast. Then, in lieu of cornflakes, we are served a bowl of innuendo:
...[Dick] Morris defined the foul lines in January, 1998, when he said, on KABC talk radio, "What I'm about to say isn't necessarily a fact. . . . But let's assume, O.K., that his [Bill Clinton's] sexual relationship with Hillary is not all it's supposed to be. Let's assume that some of the allegations about Hillary sometimes not necessarily being into regular sex with men might be true."
Nov. 25, 2007
The TIMES of London starts 'The Ugliest Month' with a full page photo takeout on Hillary Clinton and her beautiful aide.
"Hillary Clinton has been accused of having an affair with Huma Abedin," reads the caption.
MORE
The splash stunned British readers and angered campaign insiders.
"This does not even qualify as tabloid trash... it's ridiculous and reckless," a Hillary confidante explained over the weekend.
Taking the whisper from the underground to the overground, the paper made no claims to knowing any truth of the relationship between Hillary and Huma, in its story headlined: "Snarls, smears and innuendo as attack dogs get ready for the fray."
From the Times of London Nov. 22, 2007:
The anonymous e-mails and letters began dropping into inboxes and through front doors this summer.One claimed that Hillary Clinton was having a lesbian affair with Huma Abedin, her beautiful aide. Another online mass-mailing cautioned of the "dark secrets" of Mitt Romney's Mormonism. A blogger claiming to support John McCain said that Rudy Giuliani's wife supported the killing of "innocent puppies". Flyers appeared on cars accusing Barack Obama of being a Muslim extremist. An anonymous website said that Fred Thompson was a corrupt playboy.
Welcome to South Carolina, the foulest swamp of electoral dirty tricks in America. This state's primary race has already become the sleaziest leg of the 2008 presidential campaign.
Here, political operatives know only one way to win: take your opponent's head off. The Palmetto State's primary follows hard on the heels of Iowa and New Hampshire and is the candidates' first foray into the Deep South. For Republicans, in particular, it is crucial: since South Carolina gained its first-in-the-South status in 1980, no Republican has received the party nomination without winning the state.
...Nobody is sure who is behind the attacks on Mrs Clinton and Mr Obama, but the claims of lesbianism and Islamic extremism have found fertile ground on right-wing websites. Mr Obama, a Christian, was forced to deny the rumours at a campaign event on November 9.
Ms Huma Abedin was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1975 where she lived for a couple of years. Her family then relocated to sunny Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where she lived the life of a good Wahabi muslim girl. She returned to the States and attended George Washington University. Her father, who died when she was 17, was an Islamic and Middle Eastern scholar of Indian descent. He founded his own institute devoted to Western-Eastern and interfaith understanding and reconciliation and published a journal focusing on Muslim minorities living in the diaspora. Her mother, a renowned professor in Saudi Arabia, is Pakistani.
Ms. Abedin recently (June 2006) bought an apartment in the vicinity of 12th and U streets in Washington, D.C. say US$700,000 ... But hey her salary records show she earns US$9,999 as "senior Advisor" to Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Ms. Abedin began working for Mrs. Clinton as an intern for the then First Lady in 1996. She was hired as a staff assistant to the First Lady's chief of staff, Maggie Williams. For several years, she was the backup to Mrs. Clinton's permanent personal aide, Allison Stein, and she officially took over as Mrs. Clinton's aide and advisor around the time of the 2000 Senate race.
Her Presidential campaign title is "travelling chief of staff"... America Radio Networks have detailed 29 trips she took with HRC at a total declared cost of US$49,870.97 .
Nov. 26, 2007
Hugh Fitzgerald posts on JihadWatch:
Now that the rumors about Hillary and her aide have hit the Times of London, Hillary will feel she cannot abandon her protégé. She instead is likely to become indignant, more determined to be seen, defiantly, with Huma Abedin on every occasion and to attack those who express the slightest, perfectly justified reservations about the perfectly plausible notion that Mrs. Clinton gets her idea of Islam, or of what Islam might be, necessarily skewed, from someone apparently full of personal charm and good looks (never to be discounted, often dangerously employed). One need only see how the personal charm of all those Shi'as in exile, Ahmad Chalabi, Kanan Makiya, Rend al-Rahim Francke, not to mention Paul Wolfowitz's close friend, helped present a misleading view of Iraq. They sold to the Bush Administration an Iraq which would be eternally grateful to its American liberators, an Iraq that within months of the toppling of the old regime would be back on its feet, still celebrating in Baghdad its liberation, with that celebration "making the liberation of Kabul look like a funeral procession" -- as Bernard Lewis is reported to have assured others in Washington.Think of the personal charm, those liquid brown eyes, of that nice Pakistani lady who shows up at the local elementary school to teach the students "about Islam." She is armed with a prayer rug, and pretty postcards of mosques, including of course the Mosque of Omar, and her beautiful exotic dress, and those wonderful exotic foods she brings, the chicken with pita, and the honeyed pastries, which the children are all so looking forward to -- mmm...it all smells so good -- after her talk, about Ramadan, and Iftar dinners, and how little Muslim boys and girls obey their parents and pray and are deeply devout just like, exactly like, little Christian boys and girls, so what's there to worry about? What indeed?
And think of the office with the Muslim colleague who is so friendly, so nice, who always inquires after your wife or husband or children, who seems so much warmer than your fellow, non-Muslim, harried thoroughly Western workers. What a relief to have such a nice guy in the office. Just as long, of course, as you carefully stay off the subject of Islam, or allow him to do all the talking about it, and never once dare to inject a note of doubt or wariness or criticism. For if you do, suddenly quite a different aspect of that same colleague, once so warm, so trustworthy, may be seen, perhaps just in a glimpse, when the deepest matters are touched.
Of course one is perfectly justified in worrying about this kind of influence. For if the reports are to be believed, Huma Abedin remains, despite living in the West, a "deeply conservative" Muslim. We are entitled to assume, therefore, that she still regards the Qur'an as the uncreated and immutable Word of God. And we are entitled to consult that "Word of God" to find out what she believes. And that includes 9.5, and 9.29, and another hundred deeply disturbing and hate-filled verses. We are entitled to assume that she is familiar with the most "authentic" Hadith in the most authoritative collections. We are entitled to assume that she regards Muhammad as exemplary, uswa hasana, al-insan al-kamil, and that therefore she finds all of his behavior not only beyond criticism, but to be taken as a model: little Aisha, and the murders of Asma bint Marwan and Abu Afak, the decapitation of the 600-900 bound prisoners of the Banu Qurayza, the attack on the inoffensive Jewish farmers of the Khaybar Oasis, and so on.
Is this close aide, this aide-de-camp, who may or may not be closer and more intimate with Hillary Clinton than anyone else on earth, really a deep admirer of that Muhammad? Is she a deep believer in the Qur'an, and therefore a supporter of the Shari'a, desirous naturally of removing all barriers to the spread of the faith of which she is not only an adherent by birth (born into it through no fault of her own), but apparently by conviction? She is, furthermore, the daughter of a Muslim preacher who went to Saudi Arabia, the place where the most rigorous and unmediated Islam is put into practice, and enforced at every level.
Nov. 29, 2007
Huma Abedin, who is now 32, is the only daughter of parents of pre-partition India. Her father Syed Zainul Abedin was an alumnus of Aligarh Muslim University and came to the United States for graduate studies. He worked at the Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, where Huma was born to his wife Saleha, a Pakistani who also came to the United States for graduate studies.
The couple left US for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, when Huma was only 2, but she returned to Washington DC as a young woman, graduating from George Washington University. In 1996, she found placement as an intern in the White House, and was assigned to the First Lady's office, where she was eventually hired as a staff assistant to Hillary's chief of staff, Maggie Williams. For several years, she was the backup to Mrs Clinton's permanent personal aide, Allison Stein, and she officially took over as Hillary's aide during the 2000 Senate race.
Some stories have cast Huma as Hillary's chief political aide and a future White House chief of staff. But the projection is clearly overblown and off-the-mark.
From all accounts, Huma is more of a "body person" a constant shadow who handles Hillary's travel and appointment, although other Clinton supporters speak highly of her intellect and have predicted a bright political future for her. Her presidential campaign title is "traveling chief of staff". (Incidentally, the Clinton campaign's policy director is also an Indian-American, Neera Tanden, who, like Hillary, is a graduate of Yale University) Huma's organization talents are so great that she virtually runs the scheduling aspects of the Clinton campaign, although it is Neera who runs the think-tank. So cool and poised is she that the inside joke in the campaign is to figure out "whether Huma is human".
Predictably, it is Huma's proximity - physical and otherwise - to Hillary Clinton that has fuelled vicious rumours among right-wingers of a lesbian relationship between the two. Much of that has been deduced from the mundane fact that Huma has picked up the phone at the candidate's house at all odd hours.
But so toxic is the political atmosphere in the United States with almost a year of campaigning left in the presidential elections that it is a field day for rumours. Everything from Barack Obama's "extremist connection" to Rudy Giuliani's "mafia links" is fair game to bloggers.
Huma herself is under scrutiny now for her years in Saudi Arabia, and everything that her father wrote, including some tracts about communal violence and the Muslim minority in India, is being studied carefully.
June 1, 2008:
Here's a report from Hindu.com:
Islamabad (PTI): A 32-year old beauty of Indian and Pakistani parentage, better known as US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton's "body person", is being wooed by a US lawmaker known for his anti-Muslim views.
Huma Abedin, born to a Pakistani mother and an Indian father, is also called the "secret weapon" in Clinton's campaign, and is being courted by New York Congressman Raymond Wiener.
Weiner, a Jewish lawmaker, has acknowledged that he is romancing Clinton's glamorous "body woman" official jargon for travelling assistant.
Weiner, a likely 2009 mayoral candidate, is literally pouring his heart into Clinton's White House bid, the Daily News of New York reported.
The 43-year-old bachelor admitted on Thursday that he is "hot" for Abedin, who was born in Michigan and raised in Saudi Arabia.
The whispers have been around for months, but Weiner had until Thursday ducked questions about her, saying his personal life was off-limits.
Though she recently posed for a glamorous photo spread in Vogue, Abedin is reported to be "press-shy".
She got an internship in the First Lady's office in 1996 and quickly became her indispensable right hand. These days, Abedin rarely leaves Clinton's side, while Weiner rarely leaves hers.
Khalid Hasan writes for PakistanLink.com:
WASHINGTON: Huma Abedin (32), born to a Pakistani mother, an Indian father and raised in Saudi Arabia, is not only a Vogue model and a close aide to Hillary Clinton, but is also someone who is being courted by a New York congressman known for his anti-Muslim views. Jewish Congressman Raymond Wiener, Huma’s great admirer, is likely to run as mayor of New York next year. He has said that he is romancing Huma, known as Clinton’s glamorous "body woman." Asked by Associated Press about all the time he is spending on the road campaigning for Clinton, the 43-year-old bachelor said, "It’s largely because I’m dating Huma." In a New York tabloid profile last year, Huma was called "a sort of mythical figure" who never has a hair out of place or a wrinkle in her Prada suit and who can hush a crowd of rambunctious reporters with a single look. "I think there’s some dispute as to whether Huma’s actually human or not," an admiring Weiner said then. Huma was an intern at First Lady Hillary Clinton’s office in 1996 and has since become her "indispensable right hand," whose side she rarely leaves. There have also been rumours about the nature of the relationship between the two women.
Yes, I'm hot for Hillary Clinton's 'body woman,' Congressman Weiner admits
Thursday, May 29th 2008, 5:41 PM
Who's the glamorous aide always by Hillary Clinton's side? She's Huma Abedin, Vogue model and 'mythical figure' who hushes reporters with a glance. She's won the heart of Rep. Anthony Weiner (below).
Rep. Anthony Weiner, a likely 2009 mayoral candidate, is pouring his heart into Hillary Clinton's White House bid - literally.
Weiner, whose district includes parts of Queens and Brooklyn, finally 'fessed that he is romancing Clinton's glamorous "body woman," Huma Abedin.
Asked by The Associated Press about all the time he's spending on the road campaigning for Clinton, the 43-year-old bachelor said, "It's largely because I'm dating Huma."
The whispers have been around for months, but until yesterday Weiner ducked questions about Abedin, saying his personal life was off limits.
Though she posed recently for a glamorous photo spread in Vogue, Abedin, 32, is famously press-shy.
The New York Observer, in a long profile last year, called her "a sort of mythical figure" who never has a hair out of place or a wrinkle in her Prada suit and can hush a crowd of rambunctious reporters with a single look.
"I think there's some dispute as to whether Huma's actually human or not," an admiring Weiner said then.
Abedin was born in Michigan to a Pakistani mother and an Indian father and was raised in Saudi Arabia.
She landed an internship in the First Lady's office in 1996 and quickly become her indispensable right hand.
These days, she rarely leaves the senator's side - and Weiner rarely leaves hers.
As to the hectic pace of a presidential campaign, he conceded, "It's not a great environment to forge a relationship."
...Anthony Weiner may be a lean, mean dating machine, but he's not real chatty about his hottie from Hillary Clinton's campaign.
A day after the bachelor congressman finally admitted he was dating Clinton's "body woman" aide, Huma Abedin, Weiner was eager to talk about national security, his mayoral ambitions - anything but his love life.
"I'd like to talk about it as little additionally as possible," Weiner said during a meeting with the Daily News Editorial Board Wednesday. It was a mild protest, delivered with a sheepish grin.
His admission dredged up old reports that Weiner, 43, dated several beauties over the years, including ABC reporter Gigi Stone, New Yorker writer Rebecca Mead and AOL cybermodel Alli Joseph.
"Soon there will be pictures of me emerging from behind a tree," Weiner joked about his no-longer-private personal life.
After all, a girlfriend who recently graced a Vogue photo spread is a nice catch for a skinny guy from Brooklyn, who was embarrassed in a 2001 Vanity Fair article that described him posing as an auto parts salesman while trying to hook up with a young Capitol Hill staffer at a Washington bar.
Weiner turned serious when asked if he was taking a political risk dating Abedin, a Michigan-born Muslim who grew up in Saudi Arabia.
"I'm certain that the relationship was not the product of a political calculation," he said.
Weiner quickly added that he remained a staunch critic of the Saudis and quipped, "Given how hard I've worked for Hillary, I think I might be ambassador to Saudi [Arabia] in the Obama administration."
Then realizing the gaffe, Weiner corrected himself and predicted Clinton - who he has campaigned for - would win the nomination over Barack Obama.
What does Clinton think of him romancing her right-hand woman?
"Haven't talked to her about it," Weiner replied.
Nor would Weiner say what his Jewish mom thinks of his stunning sweetheart. "It's not something I want to talk about," he said.
A friend of the couple said Weiner and the 32-year-old Abedin are something special.
"They're just two people that you would never imagine together but they're perfect together," said the friend, who asked not to be named. "It lends credence to the old saying that opposites attract."
There was no comment from Abedin, the daughter of an Indian expert on Islam and a Pakistani professor mother.
Weiner pals who have known him since he arrived in Washington a decade ago recall him as a "baby-faced dork who was never all that smooth with women."
They said he has been under "pressure" to settle down for some time.
"He is at that age when you decide if you want a wife or not," one friend said. "And with a Jewish mother, that was even more pressure."
FROM THE NEW YORK POST: October 21, 2007 -- WHAT was Hillary Clinton's ultra-glamorous right-hand woman, Huma Abedin, doing cooling her heels outside a Bukharian Jewish Congress reception in the Senate on Thursday afternoon? We're not sure, but one of D.C.'s most eligible bachelors, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Brooklyn), was the emcee. As the event wrapped up, an ebullient Weiner was spotted escorting the charming Abedin - who has been profiled in Vogue - out the Capitol's first-floor doors. "They were yapping and catching up," said a Weiner spokesman.
Huma Abedin the top confident and closest aide for Hillary Clinton is an assistant editor to an Islamic Journal called "Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs" http://www.imma.org.uk/editorialboard.htm
In fact the "Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs" and its "Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs" were founded by Huma Abedin father Syed Z. Abedin was a famous Islamic scholar but died when Huma was 17, and now both the Islamic institute and its journal are headed by her mother Saleha Mahmood Abedin also known as Saleha S Mahmood a famous Islamic scholar and deputy dean of an Islamic school in Saudi Arabia called Dar Al-Hekma College for Women . http://www.amritavarsham.org/profiles/saleha.htm. That is Huma mother in the picture shown in the link wearing the islamic Hijab.