[Peace-discuss] WaPo: McCain compares Rashid Khalidi to "neo-Nazi,
" calls him as "PLO spokesman"
E. Wayne Johnson
ewj at pigs.ag
Thu Oct 30 14:15:38 CDT 2008
Obama and McCain are both bad men. McCain worse in some ways, Obama in
others.
Jenifer Cartwright wrote:
> I LOVE the Obama quote. It gives me hope. McCain is a desperate man
> who will stop at nothing in his attempt to beat Obama. I have been
> afraid that Bush et al would bomb e g Iran, seeing that as the
> only way to make a Repub win possible, but they're running out of
> time. That gives me hope too.
> --Jenifer
>
> --- On *Thu, 10/30/08, Robert Naiman /<naiman.uiuc at gmail.com>/* wrote:
>
> From: Robert Naiman <naiman.uiuc at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Peace-discuss] WaPo: McCain compares Rashid Khalidi to
> "neo-Nazi, " calls him as "PLO spokesman"
> To: "peace discuss" <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
> Date: Thursday, October 30, 2008, 4:01 AM
>
> Wow. How evil is John McCain? Pretty evil.
> ---
> McCain Calls on LA Times to Release 2003 Khalidi Video
> http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/10/29/mccain_calls_on_la_times_to_re.html
>
> Sen. John McCain today compared the director of Columbia University's
> Middle East Institute to a "neo-Nazi" and called on the Los Angeles
> Times to release a video of a 2003 banquet at which Sen. Barack Obama
> talked about the professor, Rashid Khalidi, a leading Palestinian
> American scholar and friend of Obama's from Chicago.
>
> "What if there was a tape with John McCain with a neo-Nazi outfit
> being held by some media outlet?" McCain asked in an interview with a
> Cuban radio station Wednesday morning. "I think the treatment of the
> issue would be slightly different."
>
> McCain added another potentially explosive charge Wednesday morning to
> a growing flap over the release of the tape provided to the LA Times
> by a source on condition they not publish it, alleging that former 60s
> radical William Ayers had been at the banquet -- something that has
> not been reported by the Times.
>
> "We should know about their relationship," McCain said, referring to
> Ayers. "Including, apparently, information that is held by the Los
> Angeles Times concerning an event that Mr. Ayers attended with a PLO
> spokesman. The Los Angeles Times refuses to make that videotape
> public."
>
> Khalidi has denied having been a spokesman for the PLO.
>
> A spokeswoman for McCain said the senator based his allegation about
> Ayers on another newspaper article -- a New York Sun report in 2005
> that Ayers had been at the same banquet.
>
> The Sun article reported that Ayers had contributed to a commemorative
> testimonial book honoring Khalidi but did not specify whether that
> book was signed by dinner attendees or assembled beforehand. "A big
> farewell dinner was held in their honor by AAAN with a commemorative
> book filled with testimonials from their friends and political allies.
> These included the left wing anti-war group Not In My Name, the
> Electronic Intifada, and the ex-Weatherman domestic terrorists
> Bernadine Dohrn and Bill Ayers," authors Sol Stern and Fred Siegel
> reported.
>
> McCain has spent weeks trying to make Obama's relationship with Ayers
> an issue in the campaign, saying that Obama had not been truthful with
> the American people about how close the two are.
>
> The Los Angeles Times wrote in April about the banquet as part of a
> broader story examining Obama's relationship with the Palestinian
> community in Chicago. The paper issued a statement yesterday saying
> their source asked them not to release the video.
>
> "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 paper quoted Russ Stanton, editor of the
> LA Times, saying. "The Times keeps its promises to sources."
>
> Jamie Gold, the newspaper's readers' representative, said in a
> statement: "More than six months ago the Los Angeles Times published a
> detailed account of the events shown on the videotape. The Times is
> not suppressing anything. Just the opposite -- the L.A. Times brought
> the matter to light."
>
> But the existence of the video has created a firestorm among
> conservative bloggers, who allege the newspaper is holding the video
> back because it contains embarrassing moments that would be damaging
> for Obama.
>
> And on Tuesday, McCain spokesman Michael Goldfarb called for the Times
> to release the tape.
>
> "A major news organization is intentionally suppressing information
> that could provide a clearer link between Barack Obama and Rashid
> Khalidi," Goldfarb said. "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."
>
> ABC News reported today that "McCain has his own connection to
> Khalidi," in that McCain has chaired the International Republican
> Institute since 1993, which in 1998 and 1999 funded the Center for
> Palestine Research and Studies, founded by the Palestinian scholar.
>
> In the original story about the dinner, the Times wrote the following:
>
> "It was a celebration of Palestinian culture -- a night of music,
> dancing and a dash of politics. Local Arab Americans were bidding
> farewell to Rashid Khalidi, an internationally known scholar, critic
> of Israel and advocate for Palestinian rights, who was leaving town
> for a job in New York.
>
> "A special tribute came from Khalidi's friend and frequent dinner
> companion, the young state Sen. Barack Obama. Speaking to the crowd,
> Obama reminisced about meals prepared by Khalidi's wife, Mona, and
> conversations that had challenged his thinking.
>
> "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."
>
> --
> Robert Naiman
> Just Foreign Policy
> www.justforeignpolicy.org
> naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
>
> Ambassador Pickering on Iran Talks and Multinational Enrichment
> http://youtube.com/watch?v=kGZFrFxVg8A
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