Webloggin » LA Times Obama Video Takes on a Life of Its Own

The Media Circles the Wagons with Bogus Claims About John McCain (click here for jump)

As time goes on questions surrounding the LA Times decision to withhold a damaging video of Barack Obama takes on a life of its own.

Unless you live on another planet you know that the tape shows Barack Obama yucking it up a Jew bashing party in honor of Rashid Khalidi. Guests included American terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. Obama denied knowing Khalidi yet the Times reports he toasted him at the party.

Now Middle East expert Debbie Schlussel has entered the picture and is coming at the Times for withholding a video on a story they allegedly lifted from her. Schlussel wrote about Barack Obama, the Nation of Islam and the fundraiser in the videotape back in January of this year. She claims that LA Times writer Peter Wallsten ripped her off and that she may know the source of the tape he refuses to release.

As you probably know by now, last week, Gateway Pundit/Jim Hoft asked L.A. Times plagiarist/”reporter” Peter Wallsten whether he has the tape about which he wrote in April. I’m not sure why Jim waited until now, but I’m glad he didn’t wait until a week from now. I’m assuming he only just thought of it, unlike everyone else, I’m glad he had the instinct to look into obtaining the tape.

In any event, the L.A. Times–usually telling us about the public’s right to know–now only believes in “the public’s right to know what we want it to know and what will aid our pan-Obama-ist agenda.”

This has turned into quite a spectacle courtesy the LA Times. The longer they hold the tape the longer the story lingers on. So the benefit to Barack Obama by holding the tape seems marginal unless the Times staffers are hoping it will be forgotten like everything else they have already ignored about Obama. It doesn’t look that that will happen. (I still can’t figure out why Wallsten even admitted to having the tape in the first place).

The story has now made its way onto the campaign trail. Gateway Pundit shows video of Sarah Palin using the incident in rallies to stir up the crowd; a story that must now be picked and defended up by other papers such as the Chicago Tribune.

WASHINGTON — The Republican ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin challenged the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday for withholding a video of a 2003 dinner in Chicago where Democrat Barack Obama praised a Palestinian scholar who has spoken out for Palestinian rights.

“It must be nice for a candidate to have major news organizations looking after his best interests like that,” Palin said in Bowling Green, Ohio. “We have a newspaper willing to throw aside even the public’s right to know in order to protect a candidate that its own editorial board has endorsed.”

McCain, attempting to break the Democratic Party’s traditional grip on the Jewish vote, is challenging Obama’s allegiance to Israel by spotlighting Obama’s connection to Rashid Khalidi, a professor of Arab studies at Columbia University who taught at the University of Chicago and was a friend of Obama’s. They taught together; their children attended school together.

Circling the Wagons

As expected the Chicago Tribune comes to the defense of Barack Obama with a bogus claim about McCain passed on not so coincidentally by the Obama campaign itself.

Ben LaBolt, an Obama campaign spokesman, said: “This is just another recycled, manufactured controversy from the McCain campaign to distract voters’ attention. . . . Barack Obama has been clear and consistent on his support for Israel, and has been clear that Rashid Khalidi is not an adviser to him or his campaign and that he does not share Khalidi’s views.”

McCain also has connections to Khalidi.

During the 1990s, while McCain served as chairman of the International Republican Institute, the group distributed several grants to the Palestinian research center co-founded by Khalidi, including a $448,873 grant in 1998 to his Center for Palestine Research and Studies for work in the West Bank.

And, since 1993, when McCain joined IRI as chairman, the group funded several studies run by Khalidi’s group in the Palestinian territories, including more than 30 public opinion polls. Khalidi helped found the center, “an independent academic research and policy analysis institution.”

“Instead of giving lectures on media bias,” LaBolt said, “John McCain should answer why, under his own chairmanship, the International Republican Institute repeatedly funded an organization Khalidi founded.”

Another deflection from the Obama campaign being reported by the happy spinsters in the media. One of IRI’s missions is to help promote democracy, not bash Jews. IRI responded to this charge yesterday.

For Immediate Release
October 29, 2008

Washington, DC – “Questions have arisen regarding the International Republican Institute’s (IRI) work with Palestinians in the 1990s.

“In the 1990s, IRI gave grants to the Center for Palestinian Research and Studies (CPRS) for polling in the West Bank/Gaza. The polls measured support for the peace process, for various Palestinian political groups, and for efforts to enhance governance in the West Bank/Gaza. At that time no other organization could credibly conduct polling in the West Bank/Gaza.

“We understand that Rashid Khalidi was one of the many founders of CPRS, and we understand that he was for some (unclear) amount of time a board member. IRI did not in the 1990s conduct background checks of grantees’ founders or board members. IRI did on a number of occasions vet CPRS as an organization, including, as was our custom, with the Israeli government, and we were given no cause for concern.

“We do not recall any contact between Mr. Khalidi and IRI, and there is no evidence that Mr. Khalidi benefited in any way from IRI’s grants.

“Other organizations that reportedly gave funding to CPRS include the National Endowment for Democracy, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Center for International Private Enterprise, the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations, the Japanese Embassy, and Germany’s Friedrich Naumann Stiftung.

“IRI’s relationship with CPRS ended in 2000, and we understand that it no longer exists.”

A duh. John McCain did not attend a Jew bashing fundraiser, Barack Obama did.

But now we know the end game. As is typically the case the media is giving Obama time to conjure up a defense. In other words, Barack Obama, his handlers and the whole of the mainstream media are afraid of this tape.

As time goes on there is the question about integrity; not just the newspaper but that of the tape. The tape can’t possibly be harmless or they would have released it immediately.

So what happens if they release it and it shows nothing? After all this time people may get suspicious no matter what they release.

This is why the original is important. Schlussel believes she knows the source.

I’m almost positive that the video Wallsten referenced in the story was
obtained from Arab American Action Network founder Abunimah because my
article–the one Wallsten ripped off from me –featured photos of Barack Obama and wife Michelle seated with PLO advisor Edward Said at another AAAN annual banquet and led Wallsten to contact Abunimah.

I actually believe the left could look at a damning video showing Obama doing this and worse yet I don’t think they would bat an eye. Independents and Jews sitting on the fence are a complete different issue.

We need answers. If the left isn’t willing to provide them we should assume the worst and trust that the tape is every bit as damaging as it is perceived to be.

Currently an independent bounty for releasing the tape has currently reached $175,000.

See Also: Michelle Malkin – LA Times Protest

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