A Mass Murderer's Father Endorses Hillary Clinton And The Mainstream Media Could Care Less.

Remember the guy pictured below? That's Omar Mateen, the terrorist who killed 49 people and wounded 53 others at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando earlier this year. What does he have to do with the 2016 Presidential campaign?

Well, look at the next image. See the man in the red circle? That's Omar Mateen's father, Seddique Mateen, attending Monday's political rally for Hillary Clinton in the Metro Orlando area. Mateen sat behind Clinton, a few rows from the front, as she remembered the victims of the nightclub shooting during her twenty-five minute stump speech.

So, the father of the Pulse nightclub shooter is seen on camera near the front row of a Hillary Clinton rally cheering her on. Bear in mind that campaign rallies are extremely scripted events that are planned out to the most minute detail, especially anything that might be seen on national TV.

When it comes to who is allowed to sit in the camera's direct line of sight and, more importantly, who is allowed to be anywhere near a candidate, no one just wanders in and sits right behind a candidate. Sitting where Seddique Mateen sat required vetting by Clinton's campaign staff and involved strict Secret Service scrutiny.

“The rally was a 3,000-person, open-door event for the public,” the Clinton campaign said after being confronted with Mateen's attendance at the rally. Faced with the embarrassing realization that the homophobic pro-Taliban father of a mass murderer was going around telling people that he was invited to the event by the Florida Democratic Party, the campaign added, “This individual wasn’t invited as a guest, and the campaign was unaware of his attendance until after the event.”

But he was invited. As a registered Democrat who has financially supported the Democratic Party, Mateen received an invitation to attend the event and decided to go to show his unfettered support for Hillary's policies. “Clinton is good for United States versus Donald Trump,” Mateen told a WPTV news reporter.

Seddique Mateen is interviewed after the Metro Orlando rally for Hillary Clinton

It is understandable why the Clinton campaign would want to distance Clinton from Mateen given the fact that he is a politics obsessed Afghani fanatic who openly praises the Taliban and condemns homosexuality while hosting a political show on his YouTube channel.

Unfortunately, the Clinton campaign has a horrible record of being truthful about their practice of meticulously staging campaign events. It's only after being caught red handed that they have begrudgingly admitted to using the practice.

Clinton meets with regular "customers" in a New Hampshire coffee house

For example, when Hillary was in New Hampshire during the primaries, her staff initially denied that they packed a coffee shop with handpicked Clinton supporters so Hillary could pretend to mingle with regular customers. 

While Clinton spoke with some of the "customers", Clinton's Communications Director was repeatedly pressed as to whether the campaign had brought any of the "customers" with them. She finally said, "I think maybe some of them, but I don't know."

New Hampshire's WMUR-TV later confirmed that the people Clinton spoke with had been asked to come. Unable to deny the obvious, Hillary's Communications Director defended the practice of recruiting participants to attend events as, "...a necessary evil in early primary and caucus states" and "...an integral part..." of their strategy.

The three "regular people" planted by Clinton staffers in
an Iowa coffee shop during a campaign stop

This wasn't the first time Clinton's staff was caught with their pants down when it comes to manipulating campaign stops with handpicked people. The week before the New Hampshire primary, a Clinton staffer was forced to admit that Clinton's Iowa political director drove three Clinton supporters to a coffee shop so they could pretend to be regular customers for the cameras. One man, Austin Bird, was eventually identified as a former Obama intern and a chauffeur to Joe Biden when Biden stopped in Iowa the previous year.

The staffers who decided where to sit Mateen

But let's be fair. Let's say that Hillary Clinton's staff has some semblance of brains. Let's assume that they would never knowingly invite the father of the Pulse mass murderer to the Orlando rally. Let's also assume that Clinton's staffers were so ridiculously inept as to vet Seddique Mateen and failed to realize that his son was the terrorist who murdered all those people just a few miles away. Finally, let's assume that the Secret Service failed to put two and two together when they asked Mateen for his ID and didn't connect the dots as to Mateen's avid support for the Taliban and his relationship to a mass murderer.

We're talking some mind boggling incompetence, but OK. They're all incredibly, ridiculously incompetent.

But I'm not here to dwell on incompetence. I'm here to shine a light on the obscene bias by the Mainstream Media in favor of Hillary. To say that a double standard applies in the treatment of  Clinton and Trump is an understatement.

Since the campaign stop in Orlando, Hillary has been asked once by reporters whether she disavows Seddique Mateen, his views, and his support. Clinton ignored the question and refused to comment. She has also refused to affirmatively disavow Mateen, his unwavering endorsement, or his politics.

There has been no media indignation with regard to Clinton's refusal to disavow Mateen.

Contrast that to a few moths ago when former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan David Duke endorsed Donald Trump. The media hounded Trump for weeks, repeatedly asking him whether he disavowed David Duke, his views, and his support. They accused Trump of being a racist simply because he received the unsolicited support of a racist, and in spite of the fact that he disavowed Duke on several occasions, the media persisted in keeping the story alive.

Double standard? Well, let's see. So far they have not pressed Clinton to disavow Mateen's endorsement. What about media coverage of Seddique Mateen's endorsement of Hillary Clinton?

Here's a screen shot of CNN's web site. Nothing.

Here's a screen shot of the NBC News website. Again, nothing.

You seriously can't believe that if the Mateen shoe was on Trump's foot there would be no media coverage.

Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber

To illustrate my point further, let's say that Timothy McVeigh's father was caught on camera at a Donald Trump rally sitting near Trump as Trump spoke. After the rally, McVeigh's father is interviewed and gives Trump his unwavering endorsement. Can you imagine the media firestorm that would result? Can you picture reporters and talking heads excruciating Trump for having a mass murderer's father openly supporting his candidacy? The media would repeatedly demand that Trump repudiate McVeigh's endorsement and that drumbeat would not stop until Trump had done so time after time after time.

Wouldn't it be great if the Mainstream Media pretended to treat Trump in the same manner as it treats Clinton? Sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander?

Not a chance. The sauce the Mainstream Media uses when dealing with Hillary is a far cry from the sauce used for Trump. That's because the Media views its role as one that shapes elections, as opposed to simply reporting on them.

There was a time when journalists adhered to ethics and a semblance of fair play despite their personal political views. If only we could go back to those days. What a concept.