THE DISGRACE – AT 10:44 A.M. ET:  This man should never have been appointed in the first place.  He's another proof that, despite slogans to the contrary, this is an administration of the real left.  From the Politico:

President Barack Obama’s new Islamic envoy, Rashad Hussain, changed course Friday – admitting he made sharply critical statements about a U.S. terror prosecution against a Muslim professor after initially saying he had no recollection of making such comments.

“I made statements on that panel that I now recognize were ill-conceived or not well-formulated,” Hussain said, referring to a 2004 conference where he discussed the case.

He obviously lied about the "no recollection" statement, and should be fired like a shot. 

Hussain’s reversal came after POLITICO obtained a recording of his presentation to a Muslim students’ conference in Chicago, where he can be heard portraying the government’s cases towards professor Sami Al-Arian, as well as other Muslim terrorism suspects, as “politically motivated persecutions.” Al-Arian later pled guilty to aiding terrorists.

The comments touched off criticism from conservative commentators, who questioned whether someone who held those views should represent the United States in the Muslim world.

The question is whether someone who held those views should be president of the United States.

Hussain was a White House counsel, with access to classified information. 

The White House declined to say Friday whether the statements or the controversy affected Obama’s confidence in Hussain.

Hussain also answered another question surrounding his comments – why they were removed from the website of a magazine on Middle East issues that published a brief account of the panel back in 2004, attributing the statement about “politically motivated persecutions” to Hussain.

It was Hussain himself, he said Friday, who contacted the publication to complain about the story.

We'll follow this.  Hussain must go, but that might "offend" the Democratic left.  Obama needs some backbone on the issue.  There are plenty of others who can represent us to the Muslim world, as if the job will really produce results.

February 20, 2010