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October 29, 2008 | 1:10 am

McCain campaign joins chorus demanding Obama tape from LA Times

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Photo

Rashid Khalidi

During the past few days, there has been a growing push from a number of blogs to get the Los Angeles Times to release a videotape of Barack Obama honoring Rashid Khalidi, the Mideast scholar, critic of Israel and alleged former mouthpiece of the PLO.

The tape, which contained footage of Obama and others bidding Khalidi farewell when he left Chicago for New York, had been referenced in an April article titled “Allies of Palestinians See a Friend in Obama,” and on it the Times reported, were the goings-on of an evening railing against Israel:

At Khalidi’s 2003 farewell party, for example, a young Palestinian American recited a poem accusing the Israeli government of terrorism in its treatment of Palestinians and sharply criticizing U.S. support of Israel. If Palestinians cannot secure their own land, she said, “then you will never see a day of peace.”

One speaker likened “Zionist settlers on the West Bank” to Osama bin Laden, saying both had been “blinded by ideology.”

Obama adopted a different tone in his comments and called for finding common ground. But his presence at such events, as he worked to build a political base in Chicago, has led some Palestinian leaders to believe that he might deal differently with the Middle East than either of his opponents for the White House.

Bloggers have wanted to see the tape, to know what else Obama said that evening and to what he sat idly by as others said. Was he silent when and if a pro-Palestinian voice, like Khalidi’s, attacked Israel?

“Barack Obama wouldn’t possibly let something like that pass without a spirited defense of the Israel he tells us he so staunchly supports … would he?” Andrew McCarthy asked in a column for NRO. “I guess to answer that question, we’d have to know what was on the tape.”

I considered blogging about this yesterday but I decided that the reason the tape hadn’t been released was likely because the Times had acquired it from a confidential source who didn’t want to be identified, and knew they would if the tape got out. Today, when John McCain’s campaign piled on and demanded the tape be released to the public, I was proven correct.

“The Los Angeles Times did not publish the videotape because it was provided to us by a confidential source who did so on the condition that we not release it,” the Time’s editor, Russ Stanton, said in a statement. “The Times keeps its promises to sources.”

That may seem like a cop out, but it’s not. It’s a legally binding contract. And we know more information because it was entered into than we would if it hadn’t been. This story, indeed, is one the rest of the media missed, and for that the Times shouldn’t be given the same old song and dance.

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Well, if they won’t release the video, maybe they could answer some questions about it.  For example: Was Barack Obama sitting at the same table as Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn who also attended the party?  What was Barack Obama’s reaction when the anti-isreal poem was read?  Did he applaud.  Etc., etc., etc.  Surely there is no prohibition about describing more fully the contents of the video.  If the LA Times were to balk at answering those sorts of questions then it would shed some light on whether they are simply another media outlet in the tank for Obama.  Are there no real reporters left in this country?

Comment by V on 10/29/08 at 1:46 am

All this hysteria is based on people second-guessing what faces Obama should have made, might have made, didn’t make, or what he didn’t say, and what he should have said? 

All based on a second-hand report of a person who saw the tape?

Really, McCain people, you can do better. 

The fact that the same second-hand report notes that Obama spoke out against the hateful rhetoric—I know, it’s that pesky reality thing again—is lost in the no-exit maze of your paranoid fantasies.

And speaking of how character counts, what two ticket-toppers have been formally censured for unethical actions in office?

McCain.  Palin.

The GOP has no shame.

Comment by The Web Guy on 10/29/08 at 3:07 am

Web Guy,

Please don’t give us more of the tired Oborg “nothing to see here” shtick—it’s insulting.  OTOH, the LA Times stonewalling on the release of the video tape which may literally show Obama palling around with Ayers and Dohrn—priceless.

If there is nothing to hide, they don’t hide it.

For the record, I am a supporting Ralph Nader/Matt Gonzalez.

Comment by v on 10/29/08 at 3:15 am

It’s Rev. Wright II: The Muslim

ooooo

skeery

happy halloween!

Comment by The Web Guy on 10/29/08 at 3:33 am

Sorry, but: “It’s a legally binding contract.” ??????

You have no absolutely idea what you’re talking about.  There’s no legal status at all.  You can’t cite one, you can’t find one, you can’t point to one, because it doesn’t exist.  Yes, a court can’t compel a journalist to reveal his or her sources—(See US Gov’t vs New York Times and Judith Miller)—but the journalist is under no legal obligation to the source at all.  It’s a purely personal decision.

And really, I realize this is an opinion piece, but don’t delude yourself:  It that tape contained something to hurt McCain, or any republican, the Editor of the LA Times himself would be hawking it on the CBS evening news, and they’d sell out that source in a heartbeat, without a blink.

Comment by Bob Williams on 10/29/08 at 4:46 am

Jesse Jackson had it right when he said that Israel would lose influence in an Obama administration.

Every Jewish voter should see this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2J33i7-Yz4

Comment by Jerry on 10/29/08 at 9:07 am

Sounds like a ‘Hillary Kissing Suha Arafat After Her Speech About Israel Poisoning Palestinian Children’ moment to me.

Comment by Ben Plonie on 10/29/08 at 9:34 am

L.A. Times Phone: 800 252-9141.
Let them know what YOU think about this.

Comment by robin on 10/29/08 at 11:57 am

You have to be kidding me.  This is like the Jews in Germany talking about how integral they were to cultured society—nothing can happen to us here!  You really want to show your tolerance & find us with a president who listens to jew hating speeches…history has taught you nothing.

Comment by beth on 10/29/08 at 1:24 pm

If it is guilty by association, McCain is guilty too

During the 1990s, while he served as chairman of the International Republican Institute (IRI), McCain distributed several grants to the Palestinian research center co-founded by Khalidi, including one worth half a million dollars

http://www.iri.org/newsarchive/2007/2007-10-22-News-AP-McCain.asp

A 1998 tax filing for the McCain-led group shows a $448,873 grant to Khalidi’s Center for Palestine Research and Studies for work in the West Bank.

(See grant number 5180, “West Bank: CPRS” on page 14 of this PDF.)

http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/IRIForm9901998.pdf

The relationship extends back as far as 1993, when John McCain joined IRI as chairman in January. Foreign Affairs noted in September of that year that IRI had helped fund several extensive studies in Palestine run by Khalidi’s group, including over 30 public opinion polls and a study of “sociopolitical attitudes.”

Of course, there’s seemingly nothing objectionable with McCain’s organization helping a Palestinian group conduct research in the West Bank or Gaza. But it does suggest that McCain could have some of his own explaining to do as he tries to make hay out of Khalidi’s ties to Obama.

Comment by Mohan Nair on 10/29/08 at 2:29 pm

V said: “Well, if they won’t release the video, maybe they could answer some questions about it.  For example: Was Barack Obama sitting at the same table as Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn who also attended the party?  What was Barack Obama’s reaction when the anti-isreal poem was read?  Did he applaud.  Etc., etc., etc.  Surely there is no prohibition about describing more fully the contents of the video”

I agree.

Comment by Brad A. Greenberg on 10/29/08 at 2:45 pm

Barak Hussein Obama attending a pro-Palestine Rashid Khalidi farewell meeting and “called for common ground”?  Are you kidding me?  I’m a white male, and if I was a politician, would I visit a white supremisist group to find “common ground?”  Now he wants to meet with terrorists.  Why does he want to meet with Ahmadinejad?  To negotiate?  What?  Letting him wipe only a portion of Isreal off the map?  Photos of Obama shaking hands with Ahmadinejad will circulate around the world!  Pro-Isreal former Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton said last week “Obama is perceived around the world as soft and untested… It’s the perception overseas that Obama is weak and naive…he doesn’t understand why someone on the other side of the table is not as reasonable as he is and they will be prepared to take advantage of that.”  French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said this week that Obama is “utterly inmature” and Obama’s foreign policy is “based on formulation empty of all content.” Why would any Jewish person support Obama?  As a Christian, I (and all evangelical Christian churches) believe that America will loose it’s protection from God if it withdraws its support from Isreal.  Mabey that’s what Joe Biden meant when he said we’d have a major international crisis six months into a Obama administration.  Have a hard time supporting Palin because she’s not experienced?  Remember—she managed 20% of America’s land mass between Russia and Canada, while Joe Biden can’t manage the two-inch mass between his nose and chin.

Comment by SteveG on 10/29/08 at 4:38 pm

McCain gave this Khalidi guy money:

McCain Funded Work Of Palestinian His Campaign Hopes To Tie To Obama

Comment by The Web Guy on 10/29/08 at 7:18 pm

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, Domestic Terrorist Bombers William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, criminal Tony Rezko, bigot Jeremiah Wright, Frank Davis, and now Khalidi. How many other roaches are hiding in the woodwork?

Comment by Angel Elf on 10/29/08 at 10:16 pm

McCain naively misled into giving Khalidi money for research a long time ago is a lot different from Obama knowing him and his wife and his views and his agenda and having a working and social relationship with them for several years.

But why don’t we wait until it’s possibly too late, and Obama makes John Edwards look like an adult.

Comment by Ben Plonie on 10/30/08 at 12:05 pm

Email the Times. Pressure them to release the tape.

Here’s their address: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

And here’s a sample letter to use

“To the Editor:

I’m writing to request you release the tape of Senator Obama speaking with (or about) Professor Rashid Khalidi.

While partisans will no doubt bicker over the significance of the tape’s meaning, the tape itself holds material of direct importance to the public.

It is in the public’s interest to have all available materials on a given candidate. Indeed, the well-being of civil society depends on the free exchange of information.

Please release this tape so we may have direct access to its contents and may evaluate it solely on its own merits.

Thank you for your kind attention to these vital matters.

Sincerely,

YOUR NAME HERE”

Copy this letter and post it on the blog of your choice. Let’s get the word out!

You can also contact the Times’ through their the following link. Tell them to release the tape!

http://www.latimes.com/services/site/la-comment-readersrep- cf2,0,2821883.customform?sId=Readers’ Representative

Comment by Greg on 10/30/08 at 1:32 pm

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