McCain campaign accuses L.A. Times of 'suppressing' Obama video

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John McCain's presidential campaign Tuesday accused the Los Angeles Times of "intentionally suppressing" a videotape it obtained of a 2003 banquet where then-state Sen. Barack Obama spoke of his friendship with Rashid Khalidi, a leading Palestinian scholar and activist.

The Times first reported on the videotape in an April 2008 story about Obama's ties with Palestinians and Jews as he navigated the politics of Chicago. The report included a detailed description of the tape, but the newspaper did not make the video public.

"A major news organization is intentionally suppressing information that could provide a clearer link between Barack Obama and Rashid Khalidi," said McCain 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."

The Times on Tuesday issued a statement about its decision not to post the tape.

"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," said the newspaper's editor, Russ Stanton. "The Times keeps its promises to sources."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-video29-2008oct29,0,5458024.story

This is another STUNNING representation of the bias against McCain. The only source they are protecting is their Obama toy.

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@Woiyo9,

So McCain has known about this tape showing that Obama is friends with a leading scholar and activist since April. He didn't complain in May, June, July, August, September and most of October. Why is he complaining now? Why are you buying it? Why do you consider friendship with scholars and activists as negative?

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@engineer,

Who said anything about friendships being negative?

What is outrageous is the LA Times refusal to release information about a candidate that will help voters understand what or how Obamas past relationships may influence his ability to govern.

Why not suggest to the LA Times that they release the information, let the voters see and hear from Obama himself, then voters can decide if it is relevant or not.

Unless the LA Times and Obama have something to hide and there is relevant information that may hurt Obama.

Do you think that may be the reason? Hmmmm? Can you be objective about this?

3 Replies

@Woiyo9,

Woiyo9 wrote:

Who said anything about friendships being negative?

What is outrageous is the LA Times refusal to release information about a candidate that will help voters understand what or how Obamas past relationships may influence his ability to govern.

Why not suggest to the LA Times that they release the information, let the voters see and hear from Obama himself, then voters can decide if it is relevant or not.

Unless the LA Times and Obama have something to hide and there is relevant information that may hurt Obama.

Do you think that may be the reason? Hmmmm? Can you be objective about this?

OK, let's be objective. Being the engineer that I am, I try to form reasonable hypotheses when presented with a question.

Question: Why is the McCain campaign pursuing this line of questioning?

Hypothesis 1: They just found out about this video and think there is something relavent. This seems unlikely since the original article came out months ago. If this hypothesis is correct, the McCain people are incompetent in their background search on Obama since all of this is public record.

Hypothesis 2: They've been digging on this issue for months and have been stymied in their efforts. Once again unlikely since they would have brought it up before in the rumor mill.

Hypothesis 3: The McCain campaign is behind in the polls and grasping for straws. While befriending a scholar and activist is fine on the surface, the fact that said scholar is Pakistani stokes the "Muslim" slander and fits the McCain narrative about the press. Seems the best of the three.

Question: Why didn't the LA Times release this video.

Hypothesis 1: They're in the tank for Obama. OK, but why did they report all the details to begin with? If you are in the tank for Obama, why not just bury the entire video? This also assumes the original owner is in the tank for Obama as well, since he could also release it. Plus the Times has carried articles about Wright and Ayers.

Hypothesis 2: They were asked not to release it by their source. That's what they've claimed and the original owner has not refuted that claim. Sounds reasonable to me.

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@Woiyo9,

Woiyo9, quoting the LA Times, wrote:

The Times first reported on the videotape in an April 2008 story about Obama's ties with Palestinians and Jews as he navigated the politics of Chicago.

... and the McCain campaign complains about "suppressing" the evidence in late October 2008. I wonder what took them so long?

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@engineer,

Interesting.

Yet, in my view, the job of the media is to provide all relevant information regarding candidates for public office. That is their public service.

Therefore, all information regarding past associations, voting records etc...should be investigated and reported. Stories have been published about McCain and his actions as a Navy pilot and used by Obama supporters to attack his charatcer.

This information is being withheld in my view because it could cast doubts about the character of Obama.

1 Reply

@Woiyo9,

Woiyo wrote:

What is outrageous is the LA Times refusal to release information about a candidate that will help voters understand what or how Obamas past relationships may influence his ability to govern.

But the LA TImes did release the information. By your own account, it released a detailed description of the videotape. The only thing it didn't publish was the tape itself -- because they had promised this to the source they got the tape from.

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@Woiyo9,

Newsflash: McCain has extensive ties to Khalidi.

Quote:

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.

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.)

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."

1 Reply

@engineer,

Source?

1 Reply

@Woiyo9,

OK. I consider this article completely inconsequential to the current election, but you might consider it important.

Reporter sues over access to McCain vehicle crash records (Vanity Fair accuses McCain of 1964 death)
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press ^ | Oct. 28, 2008 | Hannah Bergman

Quote:

Posted on Wednesday, October 29, 2008 3:34:40 AM by tlb

Last week, Vanity Fair magazine and the National Security News Service filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in federal court seeking records related to a 1964 vehicle accident involving then-Navy Lt. John McCain.

According to the complaint, filed Oct. 16 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, National Security News Service reporter Christopher Law, who is also working with Vanity Fair for this story, requested duty logs from July 24 and 25, 1964 at Portsmouth Naval Hospital. Those logs would indicate whether McCain, now the Republican presidential candidate, was a patient there.

“Plaintiffs and Vanity Fair have developed from first-hand sources information indicating that Lt. McCain was involved in an automobile accident on Hampton Boulevard outside the main gate of the Naval Base at Norfolk, VA in July 1964,” the complaint said.

“Plaintiffs’ investigation has disclosed that responding civilian law enforcement officers recall the accident, that another person was injured, and that a Naval officer dispatched a messenger to take a change of clothing to Lt. McCain at Portsmouth Naval Hospital,” it continued.

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@Thomas,

Thomas wrote:

Source?

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/10/mccains_palestinian_ties_of_hi.html

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http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1008/Khalidis_defense.html?showall

Khalidi's defense
I emailed Rashid Khalidi earlier about McCain's suggestion that going to his going-away party was like attending a neo-Nazi event, and he emailed back just now that while he's not talking to the press himself, Harpers writer Scott Horton had today rebutted "a few of the stupider and more outrageous things said about me."

He referred me to Horton's defense.

Horton goes after Khalidi's National Review critics, whom McCain is following, on several specific points -- that he was a PLO spokesman, founder of a Chicago social service group, or Obama family babysitter -- and concludes:

Of course, Khalidi has been involved in Palestinian causes. [National Review writer Andrew] McCarthy ought to ask John McCain about that, because McCain and Khalidi appear to have some joint interests, and that fact speaks very well of both of them. Indeed, the McCain"Khalidi connections are more substantial than the phony Obama"Khalidi connections McCarthy gussies up for his article. The Republican party’s congressionally funded international-networking organization, the International Republican Institute"long and ably chaired by John McCain and headed by McCain’s close friend, the capable Lorne Craner"has taken an interest in West Bank matters. IRI funded an ambitious project, called the Palestine Center, that Khalidi helped to support.

Khalidi served on the Center’s board of directors. The goal of that project, shared by Khalidi and McCain, was the promotion of civic consciousness and engagement and the development of democratic values in the West Bank. Of course, McCarthy is not interested in looking too closely into the facts, because they would not serve his shrill partisan objectives.

I have a suggestion for Andy McCarthy and his Hyde Park project. If he really digs down deep enough, he will come up with a Hyde Park figure who stood in constant close contact with Barack Obama and who, unlike Ayers and Khalidi, really did influence Obama’s thinking about law, government, and policy. He is to my way of thinking a genuine radical. His name is Richard Posner, and he appears to be the most frequently and positively cited judge and legal academic in… National Review.

By Ben Smith 12:44 PM

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1. Rashid Khalidi is one of the Palestinean activists who has denounced terrorism and promoted the peace process.

2. It was none other than John McCain who led efforts in the 1990s to fund efforts led by Khalidi to promote the peace process in Palestine.

3. Why the hell are we talking about innocuous foreign policy moves from 10-15 years ago that John McCain supported when we now have an economy in crisis, two military occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq, continuing instability in Pakistan, and our weakened economy is causing a a global recession?

2 Replies

@Butrflynet,

Quote:

3. Why the hell are we talking about innocuous foreign policy moves from 10-15 years ago that John McCain supported when we now have an economy in crisis, two military occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq, continuing instability in Pakistan, and our weakened economy is causing a a global recession?

McCain campaign accuses L.A. Times of 'suppressing' Obama video

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