Thinking Challenged
Never mind the lack of interest in his terrorism-exulting, Hyde Park political soiree-hosting watercooler buddy Bill Ayers. They don’t even want to show vid of him hanging with Palestinian Israel-basher Rashid Khalidi. Why not? He’s just an Arab Studies prof. Here’s Fox on the LA Times reticence. Here’s CNS, meanwhile, with some of the reported tape content:
Sen. John McCain’s campaign has urged the Los Angeles Times to release a video reportedly showing Obama speaking at an event in Chicago about his friendship with Khalidi.
The newspaper last April reported on the 2003 event, which took place when Khalidi was leaving Chicago for a new job, a professorship of Arab studies, at Columbia University.
“Speaking to the crowd, Obama reminisced about meals prepared by Khalidi’s wife, Mona, and conversations that had challenged his thinking,” the LA Times said.
“His many talks with the Khalidis, Obama said, had been ‘consistent reminders to me of my own blind spots and my own biases … It’s for that reason that I’m hoping that, for many years to come, we continue that conversation – a conversation that is necessary not just around Mona and Rashid’s dinner table,’ but around ‘this entire world.’”
The newspaper said Khalidi had praised Obama, “telling the mostly Palestinian American crowd that the state senator deserved their help in winning a U.S. Senate seat.”
The report also mentioned that the event had been filmed and said that “a copy of the tape was obtained by The Times.”
After conservative bloggers raised questions about the unaired videotape, the McCain campaign issued a statement Tuesday.
“A major news organization is intentionally suppressing information that could provide a clearer link between Barack Obama and Rashid Khalidi,” said campaign spokesman Michael Goldfarb.
“The election is one week away, and it’s unfortunate that the press so obviously favors Barack Obama that this campaign must publicly request that the Los Angeles Times do its job – make information public.”
LA Times editor Russ Stanton in a statement said that paper had not published the video “because it was provided to us by a confidential source who did so on the condition that we not release it. The Times keeps its promises to sources.”
The “challenged his thinking” part is actually quite interesting. Given that he spent 20 years in the pews of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, he’d have come to terms with Israel as terrorist line of reasoning.
Israel bashing should be mother’s milk.
It may be, when as an American pol you feel compelled to publicly back Israel, that “challenged … thinking” is code for, “Of course in order to get money and votes from the filthy Zionists there are certain things I must say.”
Topics: everything
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 7:58 am on Wednesday, October 29, 2008
2 Responses to “Thinking Challenged”
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October 29th, 2008 at 11:12 am
As I do whenever the subject of the LA Times comes up, I checked to see what Patterico had to say on it. He thinks that the LA Times is probably acting in good faith here by not releasing the tape, because they really did promise the source that they wouldn’t.
While that may be true, it’s also true that they have had since April (at least) to dig up another copy of the tape. That’s just the LA Times, too. Look at how much the mainstream media has been able to find out about Sarah Palin in such a short amount of time, yet none of them can come up with another copy of this tape, transcripts, a guest list, or anything else for that matter? Puh-lease.
Whatever happened to the days when a big city reporter would sell out his own grandmother for a major story, regardless of who it was about? Now they’ll only do that if the story hurts a Republican, or maybe to get back at crazy old granny for voting for Bush.
October 29th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
In olden times, they would have released the tape or a transcript or something to avoid generating rumors about a candidate, and let the chips fall where they may. Alas, it’s a different world. It won’t change the thinking of any of Obama’s choir, whatever happens, but I can hope that undecideds will begin to wonder just exactly is so bad that they won’t release it.