The Goldberg Variation

This is an embarrassment. The guy is a respected professor, McCain gave him lots of money. This is just an attempt to tie Obama to one of those scary muslims to try and turn a few votes in PA, VA and FL, nothing more. If McCain somehow wins this election using tactics like this, despite being behind for more than a month straight, it will be an extremely sad day, no because he won, but because of how he won.

It is pure shame and embarrassment for the right, that a few days before the election, with their guy down in the polls, they are flailing around looking for crap like this instead of talking about the issues. Jake, why are you even giving this oxygen?

McCain and his troops just can’t break away from all those old Repub bait and scare tactics from the past. Sorry folks, but I believe a new day is dawning. The last 8 years have been a lesson in greed and self preservation.

Lets be clear – this is much to do about nothing. We all know why the Mccain camp
Whats the video released – its so they can put it in a commercial and do a voice over
Misrepresenting the facts – that’s what the far right does best – in fact its all it knows how to do.
Obama raised a glass at a diner for a departing professor – so what? For those small
Minded individuals out there – a collage campus is where your supposed to have diversity of opinion. Where young people can be exposed to different points of view.
It doesn’t mean you agree with these other viewpoints – but it does help to understand
Them because if you understand where other folks are coming from – perhaps – just
Perhaps you can bring people together.
However – we all Know that is not what the far right does – they don’t want to bring people together by Understand the issues – they want to bring people together by fear and scare tactics.
Its sad really

Its MEDIA BIAS.
The LA TIMES did not have a problem releasing United States TOP SECRET Classified information to the rest of the world compromising our countrys security. But they refuse to release this video that may harm someone they endorsed for presidency and are protecting

If there is nothing on the tape but the chosen one toasting someone then why not release it. Why are you afraid of it, could it be because it shows the true Obama.

If it were a video about Joe The Plumber, the LA Times would have released it by now–apparently he needs to be vetted more than a Presidential candidate.

you want to bet that all the Obama drudges are now on the phone calling up Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic threating him. Instead they should be calling up the LA TIMES to release the video.
They are hiding something

So… let me get this straight.
McCain gives hundreds of thousands of dollars to Khalidi to promote his work.
Obama says some nice things about Khalidi at a going away party.
A McCain operative leaks a tape on Khalidi to the LA Times on the condition that they do not release the tape.
The McCain campaign calls the LA Times out for hiding the source, claiming this video tape has damning evidence against Obama.
It sounds to me like the video is a non-story, but the McCain campaign wants to suggest that it is a story, but doesn’t want to deal with the fact that it actually isn’t. This way they can peddle the smear without actually revealing any evidence…. and without getting into who Khalidi is (or discussing his relationship with McCain).
What a crock of BS!

TRUER WORDS were never spoken.
——————————-
The LA TIMES did not have a problem releasing United States TOP SECRET Classified information to the rest of the world compromising our countrys security. But they refuse to release this video that may harm someone they endorsed for presidency and are protecting

lIKE I SAID BEFORE blip

I cannot PROVE that it was a McCain operative… Just like you cannot PROVE that Obama pals around with rich terrorists.
There is, however, proof that McCain gave money to Khalidi… and if he is as dangerous as you say he is… I think it is time for McCain to come clean about it. It seems irresponsible to give money to a man like that.
However, the simplest explanation of the alleged Khalidi tape is that it was given to the LA Times by someone hoping to smear Obama.

let mccain get the tape. for 450k that mccain gave to the man, he should be able to get a copy of a video tape that he thinks might slander his opponent and give him the presidency.
for the 450k mccain gave-let him get the tape.

I have been to 2 going away dinners for college professors and I am sure most of you have been to going away dinners for your minister, boss or co-worker. Everyone praises them, makes it sound as if the organization couldn’t have existed without them, thanks them for their wonderful years of service, sheds tears and the next day is business as usual. I am sure this tape is no different. Show the thing.

I really have a hard time beliveing Obama after he says he is for the working man but behind closed doors is praising RICH TERRORISTS of the world and calling them BITTER>

By the LA Times withholding the tape, people who don’t trust Obama are going to think the worst of him.
They’ll think the media is covering for him (and they have lots of reasons to believe so).
This all might be more damaging to Obama than releasing the tape.

Americans are truly sheeple, and the press are constantly helping them in their ignorance.
Press: why not ask who Khalidi is? Why not point out that Khalidi is an American citizen and one of the most respected scholars in the country? Why not ask McCain if it has now become illegal to associate with Arabs in this country? Why not ask why such a brilliant professor, who speaks several languages and has written countless books, is an advocate for Palestinian rights? You might ask why the Palestinians, like all other humans, deserve rights? Then you might take a gander at the effects of the Israeli occupation, which has lasted for 60 years, and then maybe, maybe, Americans might begin to understand why the rest of the world supports the oppressed occupied Palestinians in the Israel Palestinian conflict.

I don’t think bringing up Rashid Khalidi buys anything for McCain, considering McCain’s role in funding Khalidi’s Palestinian research center.

Capt. America,
see the tapes and let the american people decide what?
does you decision on who to vote for hinge (at this late date) on what is on that tape?
and what do you think is more beneficial to the organization.
a toast (if that is what you want people to see and hear)at a dinner from obama, or 450k to fund the organization from mccain?

They should keep their promise to their source to not release the tape. Otherwise, no one in the future will trust them.
The McCain campaign is just hoping for an October surprise to smear Obama even more. They have nothing to offer that’s positive.

At a minimum, the Times can release a TRANSCRIPT without violating any alleged confidentiality agreement. In the April article, the Times quoted dialogue contained on the tape. So, obviously, disclosing the dialogue doesn’t violate the alleged confidentiality agreement. Therefore, there is no excuse for the Times to refuse to at least relase a full transcript.

Republicans believe that showing a toast and producing a commercial will have an immediate short term impact on the outcome of the election.
Of course, it is well documented, that McCain has offered generous financial support to Khalidi…
But retracing the steps by following the paper trail will take at least a week before it has an impact on the election.
Hence, the pressure to suppress the tape until a few days before the election, then agitate for its release.
This way you can enjoy the bogus smear against Obama without suffering the inevitable backlash it would bring to McCain.
This is just a game. The real story here is the McCain political skullduggery….
I say better to sort it out after the election. Journalists are smart to take their time on this story… because somebody is trying to play them.

Blip, the notion that this tape was leaked to the LA Times by a McCain operative is totally illogical. Think about it! Why give the tape to a newspaper that supports Sen. Obama and then demand that they agree to NOT release the tape? If a McCain operative or supporter had this tape it would have ALREADY been aired!

One example, may not be a law on the book, but it is a moral law that he broke,
Bush lied to us about going to war.
Bush lied, and convienced the 9/11 suvivors and their families that saddam h. had something to do with 9/11
bush lied when he said we were not torturing people.
bush may not have broken any man made laws, but he broke many moral laws.
and don’t forget get John mccain supported bush 90percent of the time.

I’ll bet money, behind the scenes right now, there is someone in the bush adm
shredding papers like crazy, for fear of an obama win.
we will not know the extent to how messed up this country really is until bush is out of there, and also we will not know until he is out just how many manmade laws bush has broken.
and john mccain supported him 90percent of the time.
we will not know the full extent of the damage, until the foxes are out.

cliff,
wake up, you are having a dream’
mccain will answer for what george w. has done to this country.
mccain will lose.
got to go,

Bush did not lie to us about going to war. Have you even read the 2002 Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq? Now if you are talking about the fact that there were no WMDs, then most of the Democrats, including President Clinton, Hillary Clinton, VP Al Gore, all said that Saddam Hussein had WMDs.
NO ONE in the Bush Administration ever said that Saddam Hussein had anything to do with 9/11. They did point out that Iraqi officials and al Qaeda officials did have meetings, but they were very clear to point out that there was no evidence that Saddam Hussein had anything to do with 9/11. The 9/11 Commission corroborates this.
President Bush acknowledged that waterboarding was used three times. Compare that to the hundreds of times that the antiwar protestors waterboarded individuals during their demonstrations. The prostestors did it just for the “fun” of it. While the Bush Administration did it to keep us safe.

“Why do you think people in Gaza are so excited about Obama?”
I picture Hamas handing out sweets to the children on November 5th if Obama wins, you know, just like they did on 9/11…

The problem is for the LA Times. If they release the tape, they lose a source. If they don’t release it, it will get out at some point in the future and if the information really is damming for Obama, the LA Times will never be trusted again. Since respect for the media is plunging, it is to the Times advantage to hold on to respect.
I’d release it and let America judge for themselves now. If Obama is as far ahead as his supporters claim, the tape won’t change it. If the tape can change that, then what is on it is too important to the nation to withhold it.
Release it.

LA Times is in a tough spot. They’re being accused of political bias towards Obama, but if they release the tape it will obviously be cut up and quickly used for McCain’s political purposes, probably in an add that stretches the truth just a wee bit.
I don’t see why the LA Times should give McCain a late-in-the-game assist any more than they should be protecting Obama.
Also, they aren’t really hiding it. The original LA Times report is the only reason anyone knows about the tape in the first place.

Who cares who ate cake with Obama in 1998? You people have the strangest priorities. I am almost starting to feel sorry for Wallsten – who used the bottom feeder of the blogosphere as his source for this story. What is it supposed to prove? That Obama clapped? The real source of this story is a lunatic who called Jill Carroll “unAmerican and pro-Arab” one day after she had been released as a hostage in Iraq. She had been held for months. She wasn’t exactly “pro-Arab” at that point, since she had been afraid for her life. This is a credible source? The story is pointless – it is literally about a dinner party.

“I find it outrageous that this sorts of inuendo about Arab Americans is left unexamined (this is the point Poewl made in his endorsement is it not?)”
What in the world is that supposed to mean? If you mean that it’s just more slander against Muslims, which Powell spoke so eloquently about in his endorsement, I agree with you. I just still don’t get why the militia crowd is so proud that we have spent trillions of dollars to build a Sharia government in Iraq – which is an awwful lot like the Sharia government in Iran – but they are worried because Obama might have eaten cake with a Muslim. Haven’t we been working really closely with Muslims for the past 7 years? And aren’t some of the ones we’ve been working with really, really scary? And haven’t we sacrificed our schools, our roads, our bridges, our economy to do it?

Maybe the LA Times should bargain with the McCain camp: They’ll release the tape when McCain releases: 1) his military records; 2) his mental health records; 3) his POW records; 4) his wife’s entire tax return; 5) THOSE 20,000+ JACK ABRAMOFF RECORDS THAT HE HAD SEALED AWAY AT NARA TO PROTECT HIS FELLOW MEMBERS OF CONGRESS (LIKE HEATHER WILSON) AVOID PROSECUTION; and 6)Palin’s medical records….etc.

ddc 6:48:36…That was said today on St. Louis radio-about Obama. He’s never released ANYTHING about ANYTHING…Birth…Baptismal…school…college…medical…legislative(claims he didn’t have a secretary)…close friends. How he got into Harvard-Khalid Al Masour? Don’t forget business dealings. Isn’t it odd that noone from his past at any age has been interviewed?

MLA…I’m a Democrat voting for McCain. And I have actually done my own research. You obviously haven’t done yours. By the way, I was one of the callers. Records should be made public. Obama has not been forthcoming. Everybody in Springfield knows he has done zero.

For those who try to obscure the issue by mentioning the fact that McCain was involved in a half million donation to Khalidi’s organization, you need to know this:
The issue is about honesty. If Obama says he supports Israel and has no relationship with Ayers, then the tape might be able to shed light on his true feelings and relatiosnhips, for better or worse.
And on his birth certificate, why any resistance at all to all birth records being released? Just release all records(not just the certificate) and put an end to it. McCain did.

“Give me a break?” Is that the best you can do about the birth records? Why don’t you give me a break and admit that they should be released?
But more on the issue of Khalidi, as I said earlier, the question remains about the relationship of Khalidi and of Ayers. Lets see the tape and put the matter to rest. Why hide anything?
After all, we are not talking about the president of a garden club here.