RED ALERT Tip: Two quotes from the Obama-Khalidi videotape

[stephanie]

Holy Moly..I hope this tape is released in time...


You know the videotape that shows Barack Obama toasting PLO terrorist Rashid Khalidi? The one that the Los Angeles Times refuses to release?

"The Los Angeles Times did not publish the videotape because it was provided to us by a confidential source who did so on the condition that we not release it," said the newspaper's editor, Russ Stanton...
How frickin' stupid do they think we are? Someone gave the Times a videotape so it wouldn't be released? And they can't publish a transcript?

I guess that's the kind of executive talent the newspaper business is attracting these days.

However, I received a tip from a person who has provided useful, accurate and unique data from LA before (e.g., "All six of CNN's 'undecided voters' were Democratic operatives"). Take it for what it's worth, but I believe this person is on target.

Saw a clip from the tape. Reason we can't release it is because statements Obama said to rile audience up during toast. He congratulates Khalidi for his work saying "Israel has no God-given right to occupy Palestine" plus there's been "genocide against the Palestinian people by Israelis."

It would be really controversial if it got out. Tha's why they will not even let a transcript get out.
Yep, I guess that would do it.

from..http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2008/10/red-alert-tip-why-times-wont-release.html

[Yurt]

good point, why "release" something to the times and then tell them NOT to publish it

[hjmick]

Here is a link to the original Los Angeles Times article back in April that mentions the video tape:

Allies of Palestinians see a friend in Barack Obama (http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-obamamideast10apr10,0,1780231,full.story)


A sample of some of the more interesting quotes:


And both sides, on certain issues, have interpreted Obama's remarks as supporting their point of view.

Last year, for example, Obama was quoted saying that "nobody's suffering more than the Palestinian people." The candidate later said the remark had been taken out of context, and that he meant that the Palestinians were suffering "from the failure of the Palestinian leadership [in Gaza] to recognize Israel" and to renounce violence.

Jewish leaders were satisfied with Obama's explanation, but some Palestinian leaders, including Ibish, took the original quotation as a sign of the candidate's empathy for their plight.

(How many times has he been taken out of context? The man doesn't say what he means and mean what he says?)


In interviews with The Times, Khalidi declined to discuss specifics of private talks over the years with Obama. He did not begrudge his friend for being out of touch, or for focusing more these days on his support for Israel -- a stance that Khalidi calls a requirement to win a national election in the U.S., just as wooing Chicago's large Arab American community was important for winning local elections.



One Jewish leader said he viewed Obama's outreach to Palestinian activists, such as Said, in the light of his relationship to Wright.

"In the context of spending 20 years in a church where now it is clear the anti-Israel rhetoric was there, was repeated, . . . that's what makes his presence at an Arab American event with a Said a greater concern," said Abraham H. Foxman, national director for the Anti-Defamation League.