The LA Times has admitted in its pages possessing a video from a 2003 dinner in the honor of Rashid Khalidi in which Obama gave a “special tribute”.
From the LA Times article:
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.
At Khalidi’s 2003 farewell party, for example, a young Palestinian American recited a poem accusing the Israeli government of terrorism in its treatment of Palestinians and sharply criticizing U.S. support of Israel. If Palestinians cannot secure their own land, she said, “then you will never see a day of peace.”
One speaker likened “Zionist settlers on the West Bank” to Osama bin Laden, saying both had been “blinded by ideology.”
Obama adopted a different tone in his comments and called for finding common ground. But his presence at such events, as he worked to build a political base in Chicago, has led some Palestinian leaders to believe that he might deal differently with the Middle East than either of his opponents for the White House.
At Khalidi’s going-away party in 2003, the scholar lavished praise on Obama, telling the mostly Palestinian American crowd that the state senator deserved their help in winning a U.S. Senate seat. “You will not have a better senator under any circumstances,” Khalidi said.
The event was videotaped, and a copy of the tape was obtained by The Times.
But where is this video, and why do I not post a YouTube link to it? The answer may not surprise you.
[LA TImes writer] Wallston was one of the few mainstream media reporters to report on this radical Obama associate.
Wallston said that the article was written after he watched video taken at the Khalidi going away party. When I asked him about the video he said that as far as he was concerned he was through with the story.
I asked him if he was planning on releasing this video of Obama toasting the radical Khalidi at this Jew-bash. He told me he was not releasing the video. He also would not comment on his source for the video. Wallston also said he did not know if Khalidi’s good friend Bill Ayers was at the event or not.
Don’t worry your pretty little heads about it. I’m sure if the video contained any content that would be devastating to Obama’s campaign that the LA Times would release it. After all, they have a public trust to uphold, right? Unless they think that Obama winning is too important to allow the facts to get in the way… But that’s just crazy talk isn’t it? Isn’t it??
*crickets*
6 responses so far ↓
1 Robert J. Vandiver // Oct 29, 2008 at 6:30 pm
How low can you guys sink? The majority of the 9/11 terrorists were Saudi’s . Your hero, Herr Bush, has been in bed with them and financed by them in his failed financial ventures for years, remember Bandar Bush?
Your misguided opposition to Obama is noyjing but name calling and claiming guilt by association.
2 pax // Oct 30, 2008 at 9:48 am
Umm, who are “you guys”? And when have I ever, ever, EVER referred to George Bush as “my hero”?
I approved this comment because it made me laugh. You don’t get one every day that accuses you of name calling and guilt by association right after it namecalls Bush as “Herr Bush” and labels him guilty for his association with the Saudis. Hilarious.
For the record though, I don’t see what the LA Times suppressing a video of Obama has to do with George Bush. At all.
3 MG // Nov 3, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Why wouldn’t the LA Times simply not report the story at all if it thought Obama winning is too important to allow the facts to get in the way?
4 pax // Nov 3, 2008 at 4:58 pm
I don’t know, I’m not them. The LA Times has done a lot of things in the past couple years that don’t make a whole lot of sense.
I just think they should release the tape so we can all see for ourselves, even though it’s a little late now. Them not releasing it makes me think it would be damaging to Obama.
Answer me this, why would they NOT release the tape? They are a news organization whose job it is to inform, aren’t they? How does not releasing the original tape help to inform the voters?
5 Senator Obama // Nov 4, 2008 at 3:11 pm
I know you’re not them…I’m simply questioning your conclusion that the LA Times was “supressing” a video of Obama. My point is that the LA Times could simply have not run the story at all if its main objective was to surpress negative Obama information.
According to the paper, “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 Times keeps its promises to sources.”
You’ll be eating crow on the election results tonight as well.
6 pax // Nov 4, 2008 at 3:23 pm
They have the video in their possession, it’s obviously germane to the election, and there is no legal reason they cannot release it, hence, they are suppressing it. This isn’t rocket science.
If I’m wrong about the election result, I’ll be happy to admit it tomorrow. Are you going to come back and admit you were wrong if I end up being right?
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