Tuesday, October 28, 2008

McCain's October Surprise: Rashid Khalidi

If McCain has his way, this is a name you'll hear a lot of between now and election day.

Apparently, the LA Times has a tape of Obama at a going away party for Khalidi, a Palestinian and respected Islamic professor in Chicago, listening as other attendees recite a poem describing "Resistance to Israel."

The LA Times reported on the tape. And if you read their report, it's sounds typically Obaman: a man who is congenial even with those he disagrees with, such as Palistinians who equate Israeli occupation with terror.

But McCain would love to have the tape, so he could excise just the right explosive phrases (and believe me, they would be there), and cobble together another guilt-by-association hit-piece right before election day.

Call this surprise Reverend Wright times William Ayers, topped with a Star of David.

For some reason, though, the Times won't release the tape. It's the sort of thing that should have been released months ago. But since they've held it back until now, a release right before election day could only be seen as political.

Though at this point, given the campaign McCain has run, even a tape of Obama nodding and clapping to a poem about Palestinian resistance would likely seem lost in McCain's daily barrages of general muck. Given everything the campaign is saying about Obama, how can one more smear ad make much of a difference?

UPDATE: and it appears that McCain would have some 'splainin' to do, having his own ties to Khalidi's Palestinian support organization.

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