Whither Daniel Zubairi?

Back on October 18, Senator John McCain held a rally at Woodbridge, Virginia. In the course of that rally, a group of McCain supporters led by a Muslim named Daniel Zubairi confronted another McCain supporter who was spewing the usual anti-Muslim hate. Two days later, the incident made the front page of the Daily Kos. Now from the Daily Kos comes word that the McCain campaign is keeping Zubairi from being interviewed by CNN's Rick Sanchez. As Daily Kos diarist Jed L puts it:

It turns out that Sanchez asked Zubairi if he'd be interested in appearing on air to discuss the incident and to help make it clear that the McCain campaign does not condone hateful rhetoric. Zubairi agreed to come on the air -- but just before airtime, he suddenly notified CNN that the McCain campaign had put a muzzle on him, and told him not to discuss the incident.

Sanchez initially noted this on Monday, saying he would try again. Then on Tuesday, he once again tried to get Zubairi on air -- and once again was rebuffed.

Now, a cynical person might think that the reason the McCainiacs are keeping Zubairi off the air is because they're relying on anti-Muslim xenophobia to help them win, and they're afraid they'll offend some xenophobes if they let it become widely known that there are actually some Muslims out there who support McCain. Fortunately, I am a stranger to cynicism, so I'm going to assume that the McCain people are simply trying to protect Zubairi from the sort of media overexposure that has plagued Joe the Plumber since the third presidential debate.

Yeah, I'm sure that's why they're doing it. To protect Zubairi.