There’s speculation that the L.A. Times (who endorsed Obama for President) is holding back tapes of Barack Obama praising Palestinian activist Rashid Khalidi. It’s a video of a 2003 going away party for Khalidi at which Obama spoke.
(Khalidi is a controversial figure, reviled by pro-Israel activists, though not a marginal one. A former professor at the University of Chicago, he’s now Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia, and respected by many in academia. He’s been criticized most for saying that Palestinians have a right to resist Israeli occupation and has been described as a former P.L.O. spokesman, a label he has denied.)
“A major news organization is intentionally suppressing information that could provide a clearer link between Barack Obama and Rashid Khalidi,” said McCain spokesman Michael Goldfarb, citing Obama’s friendship with Khalidi, who is now a professor at Columbia University.
He said the video could, among other things, show how Obama responded to a poem recited at the party accusing Israel of “terrorism” and warning of consequences for U.S. support for Israel, which Goldfarb described as “hate speech.”
“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,” he said.
This is a messy, messy election…. and why a news organization would sit on a video, is confusing to a little blogger like me. I know they wrote about the tapes 6 months ago, but reading about an event and seeing it are different. I just want to know what’s on the tapes! I’m more curious now because they don’t want to let it out!!!
The L.A. Times could have really avoided a mess. It’s the withholding of the tapes that’s making this a HUGE story in politics.
To read the entire article, with much better explanation, go to POLITICO.COM
