Posted on 10/29/2008 4:28:20 AM PDT by IrishMike
John McCain today withdrew his demand that the Los Angeles Times release video footage taken in 2003 of then-state Sen. Barack Obama praising controversial Palestinian activist Rashid Khalidi, and he instead thanked the paper for its courage.
“I changed my mind, and I want to thank you,” said Sen. McCain in a letter to editors at the Times. “You folks go ahead, stick with your bold decision to keep that video secret. After all, what’s a free press for, if not to withhold news that people don’t really need, or that might cause discomfort?”
“My friends, if you journalists want to keep folks guessing about what you’re hiding and why,” he wrote, “that’s your right. If you want people to wonder if your decision is driven by your commitment to protect your anonymous source (whoever that may be) or by your recent endorsement of Sen. Obama for president, you have that freedom.”
During a political rally today, the Republican presidential candidate encouraged undecided voters, “not to make too much of this top-secret video, in which Sen. Obama allegedly toasts his ‘friend and frequent dinner companion’ Rashid Khalidi, the former director of the Palestinian press agency during the Yassir Arafat era.’”
“After all,” Sen. McCain added, “it’s been 30 years since the Coastal Road massacre when Palestinian soldiers hijacked a bus, slaughtering 37 Israeli civilians and wounding 71. Rashid Khalidi was merely director of the press agency at that time, kind of like a journalist. He didn’t actually fire any of those weapons that day.”
Sen. McCain also came to the defense of his opponent, noting that Sen. Obama was only 17 years old when the massacre took place, and that Rashid Khalidi is “just a guy in Sen. Obama’s neighborhood, like Bill Ayers, who is now a respected scholar.”
Their actions, by not releasing the film, just demonstrate there is something to be hidden. If the issue is raised, and the film is not released, there is still damage done to Obama. Maybe not as much as if the tape was actually seen, but damage, nonetheless.
Satire is more powerful than anger.
This will give story legs.
With all the layoffs of late, the LAT just doesn’t have anyone left to cover the “story”.
Is this a great forum or what?
I started my day with Fox and they were talking about the L.A. Times contentious ‘hiding’ of the video - which was discussed two or three days ago right here on FreeRepublic.
Who needs the media if we nod in here?
The press is no longer free - the NYTimes and the LASlimes are representative of the worst in media power.
Then thats a joke??
Sorry, of course its a joke;) Getting a little tense I guess.
You all can go DUH now:)
....................................
My employer may possibly disagree,
my work ethic is in the toilet.
Yes, the New York Times has also been suppressing a tape that they have of Senator Obama reciting the shahada.
Nicolas Kristof released a partial transcription here, and he also wrote a column summarizing the interview here, but the New York Times continues to refuse to release the actual recording from which the transcription was made.
“I was a little Jakarta street kid,” he said in a wide-ranging interview in his office (excerpts are on my blog, www.nytimes.com/ontheground). He once got in trouble for making faces during Koran study classes in his elementary school, but a president is less likely to stereotype Muslims as fanatics — and more likely to be aware of their nationalism — if he once studied the Koran with them.Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated (it’ll give Alabama voters heart attacks), Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.”
Would it violate “fair use” if this were eMailed to the times. Also be nice to get it into “comments” on their site (if I could manage it).
Otherwise people read it and think it's real. That's the mark of good satire.
He really had me going when he included "My friends..."
We haven’t subscribed to a newspaper in years. When they call periodically to ask if we want the paper, and why we don’t subscribe, I always tell them my canary died.
fooled again! i thought and hoped this was real, would have been priceless:)
Scrappleface should have been an automatic give away !
Righteous anger served with a side of sarcasm
John McCain finally meets the press
LA Times not even releasing A TRANSCRIPT of what was said.
NO SHOWING OF OBAMA SITTING NEXT TO AYERS.
that video much be very bad.
Obama infomercial tonight! they have to delay it.
ouch - I hadn’t heard about this
“My employer may possibly disagree,
my work ethic is in the toilet.”
LOL... wait until you take the day off work Nov 4th, as “the one” has spoken, and demand it be a paid day off...;)
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