"All Americans should value the patriotic service of the patriots who volunteer to selflessly defend us in the armed services," McConnell said. | AP Photo McConnell, Ryan defend Khans amid Trump remarks 
 
 Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker Paul Ryan on Sunday waded into the controversy surrounding Donald Trump and his dismissive comments toward a Muslim-American couple whose son was killed in combat during the Iraq War. 
 
 Without mentioning the GOP nominee's name, McConnell subtly rebuked Trump's comments directed to Khizr Khan — who delivered a memorable speech condemning Trump's rhetoric toward Muslims on Thursday evening at the Democratic National Convention — and his wife, Ghazala. 
 
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 But the Kentucky Republican declined to explicitly disavow the comments from Trump, who sparked yet another firestorm when he implied Ghazala Khan had stayed silent during the DNC speech because of her Muslim faith and accused Khizr Khan of having "no right" to critique Trump over his knowledge of the Constitution. 
 
 "Captain Khan was an American hero, and like all Americans, I’m grateful for the sacrifices that selfless young men like Capt. Khan and their families have made in the war on terror," McConnell said in a statement Sunday. "All Americans should value the patriotic service of the patriots who volunteer to selflessly defend us in the armed services." 
 
 In his own statement, Ryan also declined to name Trump. 
 
 "Many Muslim Americans have served valiantly in our military, and made the ultimate sacrifice," Ryan said Sunday afternoon. "Captain Khan was one such brave example. His sacrifice — and that of Khizr and Ghazala Khan —should always be honored. Period.” 
 
 But Democrats made it clear the tepid repudiations weren't enough. In a blistering statement Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) ripped the two Republican leaders, calling anything short of withdrawing their endorsements of Trump "cowardice." 
 
 Reid invoked McConnell's swift disavowal of former Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) in 2012, whose "legitimate rape" remarks during his candidacy for the U.S. Senate were widely condemned by top Republicans — and Reid said McConnell should be willing to do the same for Trump. 
 
 “This shouldn’t be hard," Reid said. "Donald Trump is a sexist and racist man who insults Gold Star parents, stokes fear of Muslims and sows hatred of Latinos. He should not be president and Republican leaders have a moral responsibility to say so." 
 
 Khizr Khan, an attorney from Charlottesville, Virginia, delivering a stirring and emotional speech in Philadelphia as he discussed his son, Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed in 2004 while serving in Iraq. During his DNC remarks, Khan chastised Trump over his proposal to bar Muslims from entering the United States, adding: "You have sacrificed nothing, and no one." 
 
 In subsequent interviews, Khizr Khan has also singled out McConnell and Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) for backing Trump and has urged the two powerful Washington Republicans to withdraw their support for the nominee. 
 
 McConnell made no indication that he would do so in his Sunday statement, and neither did Ryan. But both Republicans also stressed that they do not support Trump's proposed ban on Muslim immigrants coming into the United States. 
 
 "As I have long made clear, I agree with the Khans and families across the country that a travel ban on all members of a religion is simply contrary to American values," McConnell said. 
 
 Added Ryan: “America's greatness is built on the principles of liberty and preserved by the men and women who wear the uniform to defend it. As I have said on numerous occasions, a religious test for entering our country is not reflective of these fundamental values. I reject it." 
 
 ||||| Our incredibly objective media has moved on from declaring Donald Trump an agent of the Kremlin and gushing over every moment of the Democratic National Convention to fixating itself on another unbiased story. 
 
 Namely, Trump hates the families of dead veterans. 
 
 On the final night of the DNC, Khizir Khan — a Muslim father who lost his son, Captain Humayun Khan in Iraq 12 years ago — took the stage with his wife in Philadelphia and delivered arguably the most notable speech of the entire convention. Khan condemned Trump for being un-American and sacrificing nothing for the country. It was a powerful speech, and it fully won over America’s chattering class — both in its conservative and liberal elements. 
 
 While obviously heartfelt and genuine, the reason the Democrats put Khan on stage and the media celebrated him was, in part, to bait Trump into responding. Trump did just that in an interview with ABC host and former Bill Clinton aide George Stephanopoulos. 
 
 As far as Trump putdowns go, The Donald’s response was relatively mild. For one, he said he expressed condolences for the family’s loss and their son’s service. On the negative side, he wondered why Mrs. Khan didn’t speak at the convention, which gave the impression he was implying it was due to her faith. The New York businessman also said in his characteristically humble fashion that he has made sacrifices in developing successful companies. 
 
 The comments were inartful, yet they were hardly the stuff of vicious denigration. Trump did not attack the service of the Khans’ son and the issue, as later campaign statements pointed out, dealt with the father’s criticism of the Republican nominee’s policies. 
 
 Apparently, that’s “inhuman” and “barbaric,” according to the Washington consensus. Thus, we’re in the midst of the most disingenuous Trump outrage story yet. 
 
 Here’s a few things to take away from this scandal. 
 
 One, Trump and his proposals have zero responsibility for Captain Khan’s death. The same cannot be said of Hillary Clinton, who authorized the Iraq war and continue supporting it long after it was abundantly clear it was a major disaster. Moreover, her hawkish foreign policy would lead to more unnecessary interventions into the Middle East and other parts of the world and sadly create more Gold Star families like the Khans. 
 
 To criticize Trump for his lack of sacrifice, but overlook Hillary’s lack of sacrifice and tacitly endorse her policies forcing more American families to lose their children on behalf of fuzzy ideological objectives is ridiculous. 
 
 Two, Khizr Khan is draping himself in his son’s death to attack Trump on an issue unrelated to his son’s death. A moratorium on countries where radical Islamists (whom, by the way, killed Capt. Khan) are abundant is about national security. Same goes for the proposal to secure the U.S.-Mexico border. The elder Khan claims it is unconstitutional and un-American to do both, when, in fact, legal scholars argue the measures fit very much within the precedents of American immigration law. (RELATED: Law Professors: Trump’s Muslim Moratorium Is Constitutional) 
 
 To denigrate or undermine the Khan family for their sacrifice is wrong and we should honor their son’s service. However, that does not mean the father is immune from criticism on political issues after he decided to take them up in the public arena. Upholding the standard that the families of fallen soldiers should not be criticized for anything is illogical and asinine. We certainly didn’t apply the same standard to Cindy Sheehan and her crusade against George W. Bush — a leader who was actually responsible for her son’s death. 
 
 Three, the impression given by the media that Captain Khan is reflective of all Muslims who may want to enter in the United States is just as faulty as claiming all Muslims are terrorists. It is true that 14 Muslims have lost their lives in service to this country since 9/11. It is also true that over 5000 Muslims are currently serving in our armed services. Various outlets love to report these facts with the hope it transmits the notion that Muslims are incredibly patriotic and are indispensable to our national security. While these individuals are unquestionably devoted to America, as a community, Muslims are very underrepresented in the military. 
 
 Muslims constitute one percent of the U.S. population, yet comprise a little under .3 percent of the armed forces. In contrast, whites are 62 percent of the population, yet make up 71 percent of the present military. Moreover, whites comprise over 83 percent of those who have died in the line of duty since 9/11, while Muslims constitute .2 percent of the fatalities. 
 
 With that in mind, declaring Trump’s policies on Middle Eastern migration as a barrier to the military getting the personnel they need to protect this country is not at all accurate. 
 
 Finally, it’s 100 percent certain the mainstream media is an unofficial arm of the Clinton campaign. After a whole week of trying to downplay the Wikileaks DNC scandal and cheering on every moment of the convention, they created a top-down outrage story for the sole purpose of shaming Trump and his supporters. 
 
 While claiming that Khan is above any criticism due to his loss, they had spent the prior week attacking Pat Smith — the mother of a Benghazi victim — for being exploited by the Republican National Convention. Her crime? Sharing the story of how she believes Hillary Clinton is responsible for her son’s death, which clearly has more basis in fact than Trump being responsible for Khan’s death. 
 
 Additionally, the media entirely ignored the stories of the families at the Republican convention who lost loved ones to illegal immigrants. Their children died as a direct result of policies supported by the Democratic Party, but the media plays by a double standard when it comes to who gets to use their tragedy to highlight a policy issue. 
 
 The Khan affair is another demonstration that the media is deadset against Trump and will blow any story out of proportion in order to gin up resistance to his candidacy. The journalists hyperventilating over Trump’s response to Khan don’t care about Gold Star families or veterans — they just see it as a good opportunity to derail The Donald. 
 
 It’s barely August, and we already have papers of record insinuating Trump is Vladimir Putin’s Manchurian Candidate. We can only imagine what they’ll come up with next as he continues to compete with Hillary in the polls and the public forgets about the Khan fracas. 
 
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– Vice presidential candidate Mike Pence appears to be trying to calm the controversy that erupted over the weekend in the wake of Donald Trump's back and forth with the parents of a fallen US Muslim soldier. "Donald Trump and I believe that Captain Humayun Khan is an American hero and his family, like all Gold Star families, should be cherished by every American," Pence wrote on Facebook. He said Khan died fighting in a region made unstable by the "disastrous decisions of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton," and asserted that Trump's policies—including a suspension of "immigration from countries that have been compromised by terrorism"—will help bring down the Islamic State and make it less likely that more American soldiers will die. The issue has been making headlines since Khan's father, Khizr, spoke at the Democratic National Convention and said Trump had "sacrificed nothing and no one," which led to a series of counter-punches from both sides over the weekend. Meanwhile, top Republicans Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan both issued statements praising Humayun Khan for his sacrifice without mentioning Trump, notes Politico. The controversy "has emerged as an unexpected and potentially pivotal flash point in the general election," observes the New York Times, while a post at the conservative Daily Caller makes the case that the "incredibly objective media" is distorting the story to fit a false narrative: "Namely, Trump hates the families of dead veterans."