John McCain tying Barack Obama to Palestinian, but McCain funded his work

**buttmunch** · October 28th, 2008, 08:02 PM

The latest guilt-by-association target that the McCain campaign is using to hit Barack Obama could carry some collateral damage for its own candidate.

As Politico's Ben Smith reported on Tuesday, the McCain campaign is demanding that the Los Angeles Times release video in its possession of a party attended by Barack Obama and Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi.

"A major news organization is intentionally suppressing information that could provide a clearer link between Barack Obama and Rashid Khalidi," said McCain spokesman Michael Goldfarb, citing Obama's friendship with Khalidi, who is now a professor at Columbia University.

The McCain camp gambit comes after conservative writers have repeatedly pressed for media outlets to write about the rather tenuous connections between Obama and Khalidi, an outspoken advocate for Palestinian rights.

Specifically, National Review writers want much more attention paid to the association, given that the LA Times has reported that Khalidi lavished praise on Obama at a farewell party in Chicago at which Bill Ayers was also present. (Other writers have accused Khalidi of being an aide to Yasser Arafat, a claim which Marc Ambinder and Ari Berman have suggested is not credible.)

In regards to Khalidi, however, the guilt-by-association game burns John McCain as well.

During the 1990s, while he served as chairman of the International Republican Institute (IRI), McCain distributed several grants to the Palestinian research center co-founded by Khalidi, including one worth half a million dollars.

A 1998 tax filing for the McCain-led group shows a $448,873 grant to Khalidi's Center for Palestine Research and Studies for work in the West Bank. (See grant number 5180, "West Bank: CPRS" on page 14 of this PDF.)

The relationship extends back as far as 1993, when John McCain joined IRI as chairman in January. Foreign Affairs noted in September of that year that IRI had helped fund several extensive studies in Palestine run by Khalidi's group, including over 30 public opinion polls and a study of "sociopolitical attitudes."

Of course, there's seemingly nothing objectionable with McCain's organization helping a Palestinian group conduct research in the West Bank or Gaza. But it does suggest that McCain could have some of his own explaining to do as he tries to make hay out of Khalidi's ties to Obama.
McCain Funded Work Of Palestinian His Campaign Hopes To Tie To Obama

So because this guy is pro-Palestinian he is automatically a terrorist? Damn, they are reaching and reaching and the sad thing is there are a lot of dumb bunnies out there who will buy this crap. What a bloody hypocrite McCain is.

**bychance** · October 28th, 2008, 08:26 PM

McGrumpy is desperate to the point I'm sad.

**buttmunch** · October 28th, 2008, 08:31 PM

I'm sort of sad but I think this is who he has been right along. He just put up a good front for so long that people bought it. He's a self-serving prick, basically.

**Brookie** · October 28th, 2008, 08:49 PM

Damn that Obama and his "friends" and pals with radical associations! How dare he have associations who are not pristine and 100% clean.

**buttmunch** · October 28th, 2008, 10:10 PM

I don't see where it isn't clean, though. The guy is advocates Palestinian rights. Where exactly is the problem?

**cupcake** · October 28th, 2008, 10:13 PM

Well there must be a reason that the LA Times isnt releasing it, is a confidential thing? Or this there more to it. If there is nothing to hide then why won't they show it?

**buttmunch** · October 28th, 2008, 10:25 PM

I haven't any idea why they're not releasing it but I think it's patently obvious that this guy isn't a terrorist or threat. Why else would McCain have financed him? We all know McCain is a stand-up kind of guy, right?

**Grimmlok** · October 28th, 2008, 10:26 PM

Didn't the LA times do a huge blow by blow workup of this "video" 6 months ago?

**buttmunch** · October 28th, 2008, 10:28 PM

I think they did but maybe Hannity is getting ready to blow it all wide open.

**greysfang** · October 28th, 2008, 10:28 PM

This is pretty pathetic. I must have ties to terrorists too then, since my lab partner in 9th grade's name was Hussein. Better put the science teacher on the terror watch list too since he assigned Hussein to me.

**kingcap72** · October 28th, 2008, 11:53 PM

Originally Posted by buttmunch

I don't see where it isn't clean, though. The guy is advocates Palestinian rights. Where exactly is the problem?

Because America is suppose to be pro-Israel, which is why we could never broker any peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians because they knew we were on Israel's side. You can't mediate a peace deal if both sides know you're not impartial.

**buttmunch** · October 29th, 2008, 12:46 AM

But it's not illegal to be for one side or the other and being pro Palestinian doesn't necessarly mean you are anti-Israel. Hell, I think the Palestinians have gotten a raw deal but that doesn't mean I think Israel doesn't have a right to exist. People with an agenda or a narrow mind or an inability to see two sides to the coin think like that. I think they're called repugs.

**january** · October 29th, 2008, 01:08 AM

Originally Posted by kingcap72

Because America is suppose to be pro-Israel, which is why we could never broker any peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians because they knew we were on Israel's side. You can't mediate a peace deal if both sides know you're not impartial.

Originally Posted by buttmunch

But it's not illegal to be for one side or the other and being pro Palestinian doesn't necessarly mean you are anti-Israel. Hell, I think the Palestinians have gotten a raw deal but that doesn't mean I think Israel doesn't have a right to exist. People with an agenda or a narrow mind or an inability to see two sides to the coin think like that. I think they're called repugs.

Yes. And more yes. And really finding Israel's war crimes abhorrent (as I do) also does not mean you are pro-Palestinian. I am tired of having to reiterate that to people outside this board. And how in the world does someone who is pro-Palestinian somehow become equated with a terrorist? Can we also say the same about those who are pro-Israel? Because we all know they both have their hands dirty. But I guess only one side is capable of terrorism, eh?

This is just silly.

**Eli** · October 29th, 2008, 01:11 AM

If McCain wins this, the country will not move forward. So let's all just hope and pray and vote. Since I can't.

**kingcap72** · October 29th, 2008, 01:31 AM

Originally Posted by buttmunch

But it's not illegal to be for one side or the other and being pro Palestinian doesn't necessarly mean you are anti-Israel. Hell, I think the Palestinians have gotten a raw deal but that doesn't mean I think Israel doesn't have a right to exist. People with an agenda or a narrow mind or an inability to see two sides to the coin think like that. I think they're called repugs.

No, it's not illegal, but it makes trying to negotiate peace deals tough. And Obama or McCain trying to offer some aide to the Palestinians isn't wrong either. But, naturally, anything Obama does makes him a 'terrorist' according to McCain.