With his baseless claims that waterboarding enabled the killing of Osama Bin Laden and that the Obama administration drafted a memo to protect the President from blame if the mission failed, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey has emerged as the new go-to fabulist for Team Bush. Now with his latest Wall Street Journal op-ed "Will Obama Free the Blind Sheik?" Mukasey has produced a devastating indictment. Devastating, that is, because in the absence of any confirmation that 1993 World Trade Center bombing mastermind Omar Abdel Rahman will be released, Mukasey argues "the evidence that the U.S. government is seriously considering transferring him to Egypt is circumstantial."
But lost in Judge Mukasey's regurgitation of talking points from Fox Nation and crusading Islamophobe Rep. Peter King (R-NY) is an even more shocking question that remains unanswered: will Mitt Romney marry the Blind Sheik?
The first clue about what may be a clandestine, decade-long relationship between the former Mormon bishop and the imprisoned Egyptian cleric first emerged five years ago. Despite his insistence that he would not appoint a Muslim-American to his cabinet, Governor Romney nevertheless used his 2007 "Faith in America" speech to praise "the commitment to frequent prayer of the Muslims."
And where would Mitt Romney have heard those prayers? Could it have been during frequent visits to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons medical facility in Butner, N.C., where the diabetic Rahman is ensconced?
Some have suggested that Romney could have traveled to see the Blind Sheik during any number of his scheduled trips to visit his money in the Cayman Islands and Switzerland. That would be consistent with rumors of a man with "shoulders as broad as a 747" using the name Rafalca Ibn Al-Tagg purported to frequent the Best Western Butner Creedmore Inn. And thus far, no one in the area can confirm not seeing him there.
Other circumstantial evidence has emerged as well. At his Boca Raton fundraiser in May, Romney admitted that "we use Ann sparingly so people don't get tired of her." That could well be the frustration of a man prepared to divorce his wife of 43 years and then elope during a quiet, dignified getaway at a tony Provincetown bed and breakfast. Despite no indications thus far, there is no reason to believe Romney wouldn't once again make his son Tagg's basement his new home. And by tying the knot in the marriage equality state of Massachusetts, Mitt in a Sister Souljah moment could finally keep his 1994 promise to make "equality for gays and lesbians a mainstream concern."
To date, the Romney campaign has been silent about the scuttlebutt surrounding Mitt and the terrorist cleric. Just as damning, no one has come forward to confirm that an affectionate and playful correspondence between the two hasn't been continuing for years. And until Mitt Romney mans up and states that he will never dump his devoted Ann for the ever-dangerous Omar, voters will have no other choice but to believe that he will.