I don’t know if there’s anything on that tape or not. I do know that we have a RIGHT to find out. Since the LA Times refuses to release it, we have little option but to force them to do so.

If you live in LA or subscribe to the LA Times, I strongly encourage you to:

a.) Cancel you subscription — TODAY!
b.) Make sure the newspaper knows why you cancelled.
c.) Grab a copy of the paper and make sure that their advertisers, especially the big ones, know that you’ve cancelled and why.
d.) Make sure the newspaper knows you’re talking to their advertisers.
e.) If you can spare some time, picket/protest the LA Times offices.
f.) Encourage your friends, neighbors, coworkers, family, etc. to do the same.
g.) Copy this message to every BLOG you visit.

If we hit them hard enough on their bottom line, they WILL release the tape.

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.”

Give me a break.Obama knows Khalidi, so what ?So do many many more professors and scholars and graduates. If you are not worried about the many other people Khalidi influences on daily bases at the university, stop throwing hissy fits over Khalid knowing Obama

I could careless to see the video in all honesty, as McCain has ties to Mr. Khadili himself so he is no better for not discussing that.

Just another person complaining because their race horse is way behind, grow up and get smart.

And no, I’m not for either candidate, just tired of people not reading all the facts.

It would also be different if Jewish voters didn’t despise Palin as much as they do. Some who were unsure about Obama, might have voted for McCain. Then McCain picked Palin. She’s not the “type.” Her evangelicalism, anti-intellectualism, small town hunting caribou, anti-urban image has no appeal for Jewish voters who traditionally vote Democratic and also live in urban areas.

In addition, this “revelation” is probably too little too late. Frankly, it could backfire. Undecideds might associate McCain’s use of this with the negative campaigning that hurt rather than helped him.

I would worry about something more damaging than Rashid Khalidi at this point. The US and Israel both recognized the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people in the Oslo Accords. Tying Obama to a Hamas spokesperson might get some legs for McCain, but there really is no way to do that with Khalidi who is an utterly secular nationalist.

Beirut, 1976-1982? Do you really think Americans have a long enough memory to go that far? And Beirut is not Riyadh. The Saudis have a negative image in ways Lebanon doesn’t, likely due to how many Lebanese immigrants settled here and how long ago they did it.

The reason Stern is so adamant is that Columbia, where both he and Khalidi teach, has been hit by “pro-Israeli” invaders that have at moments turned the university into a political circus. And in front of the mass media. Columbia president, Lee Bollinger, has done some moronic things in an effort to placate the invaders. All that’s achieved is pissing off the faculty who don’t like infringements on academic freedom. It didn’t really placate anyone for him to scold the Iranian President, when the latter visited Columbia, and when the US intelligence report came out saying Iran didn’t have nuclear weapons and wasn’t an imminent threat, I think Bollinger had enough of playing to the crowd.

My guess is that if anything comes of the Khalidi story it will be Columbia’s faculty rallying to his defense, a bubbling up of real resentment toward Bollinger, for his past mistakes, and maybe even greater faculty organization to protect their own from external politics. As they’ve seen too much encroachment recently.

I’d pay money to watch Democratic hacks reminding the public that the PLO is today a US ally.

BTW, I’m with you that the Palestinians have gotten a very raw deal for a long time. I’m voting for Obama, but I think the way he and Biden have handled that issue is shameful.

“He is a real professor….”

These days, that is more indictment than exoneration!