Mr. Cary, go ahead with your call

Mr. Carey? This is the conference operator. I have conference participants Alan Fine, Katherine Kersten, Michael Brodkorb, and Scott Johnson on the line. Please go ahead with your call. And thanks for using AT&T, partnering with the NSA for better security for us all!

RC – Jesus, I feel like such a putz.

AF – You do? [sounding a little pleased]

KK – What’s the matter, Ron? How can we help?

RC – You guys are gonna be mad at me.

MB – Nah, Ron, you’re the godfather. What’s up?

RC – Well, you know CAIR head Nihad Awad? The guy who came to Minneapolis for a fund raiser for Keith Ellison?

SJ – Yeah, we’ve all been flogging that story hard, just like you asked. Keith Ellison is gonna be sorry he ever heard of that mo fo. Sorry, Katie.

KK – That’s okay, Scotty. [a little breathless]

MB – We got that guilt-by-association stuff with the innuendo about Awad and Hamas pretty well nailed, Ron. Did we miss something?

RC – Well, sort of.

KK – I wrote a column about it on Monday – you remember Ron, you just called yesterday to thank me for it – and Scotty put a post on his blog about my column. Thank you swe-, Scotty.

MB – What was overlooked?

RC – It turns out this guy Awad is kind of a mensch, if that term can be applied to a Muslim.

MB – WHAT?

RC – Well you don’t have to yell. I’m trying to explain. You know how we’re tying Hamas around Awad’s neck for remarks he made in 1994?

AF – What’s CAIR?

RC – Jesus, Alan. CAIR stands for Council on American-Islamic Relations. It’s a prominent Muslim group in DC.

KK – What’s a mensch?

RC – Scott, explain it to her later. It turns out that Nihad Awad stood right next to The President of the United States on September 17^th of 2001 to denounce the airplane hijackings of the week before. There’s a picture of him standing next to The President of the United States on the White House website.

SJ – Boy, I feel kind of stupid.

KK – No, you’re not, Scotty.

MB – It makes us all look stupid. Thanks, Ron.

AF – Does this mean I won’t be a congressman?

RC – Jesus, Alan. We’ve been through this before. That’s all I’ve got to say. [click]

KK – Ron, what do you expect us to do now? Ron? Ron?

AF – I think he hung up, Katie.

MB – Brilliant, Alan. [click]

[click] [click]

AF – Hello?

Tags: Katie, Keith Ellison

Update: Almost forgot. A thump of the tail to Rob for the tip.