Huh: Guy smearing Rep. Dan Crenshaw as an Islamophobe reminded he said some 'dumb, bigoted things'

Wow, this day truly is one depressing example of modern political discourse after another. Either you believe Candace Owens badly misspoke when answering a question (highly likely), or you maintain that she’s a black white supremacist who thought Adolf Hitler was an OK guy and approves of the Holocaust (much less likely).

And now we have Mehdi Hasan trying to smear Rep. Dan Crenshaw as the moderator of an Islamophobic Facebook group. Of course, he had to get in a counterpunch after Rep. Ilhan Omar described 9/11 as “some people who did something.”

First Member of Congress to ever describe terrorists who killed thousands of Americans on 9/11 as “some people who did something”.

Unbelievable. https://t.co/IKtoZWWmIT

— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) April 9, 2019

Why Hasan thought he needed to smear Crenshaw in order to defend Omar is a mystery to us … but a lot of people are willing to forgive a lot of things she says.

Dan Crenshaw, first member of Congress to ever moderate a Facebook group that called Islam a ‘cancer’https://t.co/RCveOiK9Mb https://t.co/TPi2K4srQs

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) April 9, 2019

If you actually care about the truth on this particular debunked claim, here you go, all https://t.co/O6n74XPI4M https://t.co/UTUMIOkbjZ

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) April 9, 2019

According to CheckYourFact.com, it was our good friend and Nation contributor Sean McElwee who tweeted after Crenshaw’s appearance on “Saturday Night Live”: “Inspiring: click here to watch this vet prove that moderating white supremacist forums is okay if you did war stuff.”

Verdict: False

Crenshaw was a member of a large conservative group called “Tea Party” on Facebook. Media Matters exposed examples of conspiracy theories and prejudiced remarks being posted by some of the group’s administrators and members, but it did not characterize the group as a white supremacist or neo-Nazi group.

…

Crenshaw shared videos from his campaign in the group, but Media Matters did not report that he posted or showed support for any anti-Muslim or conspiracy theorist content. He left the group in August 2018 following publication of a Media Matters post about congressional candidates in the “racist” group.

Mehdi's own article states Crenshaw wasn't even aware of the content posted in that group and removed himself from it once he found out. What a pathetic attempt to smear him in reaction to his legitimate criticism of Omar, who downplayed the significance of Al=Qaeda and 9/11

— ciacono (@CoreyIac) April 9, 2019

You're so dishonest Mehdi. But thats to be expected from someone on the Qatari payroll. @DanCrenshawTX addressed this. ^^^ pic.twitter.com/siCTMecaOc

— Never Again United (@NeverAgainUnity) April 9, 2019

Not surprising given the source, but this is intentionally dishonest.

Also will point out that Mehdi has said much worse things personally than what other people said in a generic Tea Party FB group where Crenshaw posted a few campaign ads. https://t.co/Ekhel7QCXF

— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) April 9, 2019

Here is some background regarding the Crenshaw claim: https://t.co/GrSTlsv32Q

Here are a few of the things Hassan has said in the past: https://t.co/ZXAEtmjSqs

— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) April 9, 2019

Whoa, is that an old video of Hasan saying non-muslims and atheists live like cattle, and homosexuals are like pedophiles? It is.

Dear @mehdirhasan—

You used to be a religious bigot:https://t.co/3MwyXEZyKl

Now you work at @CNN!

If you’re no longer the fanatic we see in this video, great! But then stop smearing secular people who understand the danger of your old beliefs as “Islamophobes.”

— Sam Harris (@SamHarrisOrg) March 31, 2019

These exchanges are from a couple of weeks ago, before the Crenshaw post.

Bingo.

— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) March 31, 2019

In this comes from a man who said there should be a way for redemption for people on the internet. So they won't be judge by their past behaviour.
Remember sam? Or you only want redemption when it's beneficial to you?

— Riza Hariati ?? (@rizahariati) April 1, 2019

This is worth answering! I am absolutely prepared for Mehdi to redeem himself (actual jihadists have, and I fully accept this). But he’d have to stop the lying and smearing. He can’t have it both ways: if his old views were terrible, criticizing those views can’t be bigotry.

— Sam Harris (@SamHarrisOrg) April 1, 2019

You know that I don’t work for CNN & I was never a religious bigot. I did say some dumb, bigoted things in my 20s that I’ve since – & repeatedly – disowned, explained, regretted.

But you’re a proud, not-sorry anti-Muslim bigot *right now*, in your 50s!, so what’s your excuse?

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) March 31, 2019

Sam, from a fan. Remember not long ago you said you were wasting your time engaging people like this on Twitter that argue in poor faith? Just thought I’d remind you. Life better spent with your family. Idiots like this will come and go. Let them go

— 100MorBUST (@100Bust) April 1, 2019

At least we know the first person to jump in to shield Omar from her frankly disturbing description of 9/11 thought he could do it by attacking Crenshaw … it’s a bold strategy, Cotton.

Related:

'Absolutely repugnant'! Ilhan Omar has a pretty 'despicable' way of describing 9/11 https://t.co/jXUCVG9UXZ

— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 9, 2019