#18 - It has been two days since a rather unflattering story broke about Alaa Mukahhal, one of Senator Dick Durbin’s “Dream Act” poster children. His website also refers to them as “American Dreams” and highlights their stories online. In those two days, the offensive Facebook pages of Alaa Mukahhal have been scrubbed and Senator Durbin has managed to duck or avoid TheBlaze’s efforts to secure a comment on her offensive actions and words. Before 10 a.m. on Thursday, TheBlaze tried contacting Sen. Durbin’s office in Washington, D.C. In our first request to speak with the senator’s press secretary, we were hung up on. Additional requests for a connection to the lawmaker’s press secretary, Maria McElwain, via a cellphone or email address were not honored. No calls have been returned. At 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, an intern in Durbin’s Washington office told TheBlaze that the senator was “aware” of the controversy, but no statement had been released. The young man also assured us that the press secretary would likely have a response soon. We were instructed to “call back in an hour, and we should have something.” An hour later we called and were once again transferred to a generic voicemail account for the “press department.” Since Durbin represents Illinois and has a large office in Chicago, we also reached out to that office. Shortly before 4 p.m. ET, we spoke with another intern who attempted to connect us with the Chicago press chief, someone named “John” (the Durbin staffers don’t seem to like to share last names with Blaze editors). We were placed on a lengthy hold before being told, “I’m sorry, I thought John was here, he’s not.” Again, we were told that the senator was “aware of the situation” but had not had time to respond to it. When asked why it has taken two days to respond to the story, there was no answer, just an offer to try another press person in the Chicago office – someone named “Christine.” We asked for a direct email address to send our inquiry and once again we were sent to voicemail. Our email messages to Mukahhal were not immediately returned . What was so offensive that we persisted in our efforts to get a comment from Durbin? On Thursday’s Glenn Beck Radio Program, Beck introduced his audience to another side of Alaa Mukahhal. This side of the “American Dreamer” might not be as appealing as the one presented by Durbin 20 months earlier.
Posted on: Fri, 20 Sep 2013 16:51:13 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015