Posted on 10/29/2008 11:36:58 AM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
Sarah Palin was just in Toledo, Ohio this morning and talked about the LA Times protecting Obama by refusing to release the tape it’s holding of him enjoying himself while anti-Semitic comments were made at a dinner honoring Palestinian Rashid Khalidi in 2003.
It feels to us like the pump is being primed for something to break on this tomorrow.
It also seems like FOX anchors know more about what’s on that tape than humanly possible without actually seeing it.
We personally believe tomorrow morning that tape will indeed be released, to steal the thunder of whatever Obama’s doing tonight on his big TV special. The exact same way McCain stole Obama’s thunder from the last night of the Democrats’ convention by announcing Sarah Palin as his VP the next morning.
Nobody talked about Obama’s speech the next day, because they were all talking about Palin.
Our hunch is nobody’s going to be talking about the Barack Obama Variety Half Hour TV Extravaganza tomorrow morning because they are going to be talking about the Khalidi tape instead — and quite possibly showing Obama nodding, laughing, and maybe even cheering as anti-Israeli remarks are made by Palestinians at this dinner.
Palin’s remarks today were very well crafted, and expertly delivered. Her choice of words was careful, deliberate, and somewhat out of normal syntax for her. We can usually spot the lines in a speech a candidate’s been given by campaign writers — and those the candidate incorporates from her or his own personal style. Everything to do with the Khalidi tape and the LA Times was straight Steve Schmidt. The rest of the speech was Palin being herself.
So, something is up with that. The speech in Toledo was on energy needs, which is not a natural point of departure for Palin to go off the reservation and start talking about Khalidi on her own. Plus, she’s too good of a politician to do that anyway, and we’ve seen her in person a handful of times (as well as watching her speeches on TV), and she’s never veered off script before. She’ll toss in little jokes to the crowd that are spontaneous and of the moment that she’s in, but she’d never just start talking about Khalidi because she suddenly felt like it.
So, we expect FOX to start airing the tape tomorrow. But, in the public’s mind, the tape’s 100% associated with the LA Times. There’s also been offers of rewards for the tape circulating the last day or two, with the price tag on that up to over $125,000 from what we last saw.
To us, that looks like great cover for someone to bring that tape forward without it smelling like an “October Surprise”, when that’s exactly what the Khalidi tape is.
There are two other possibilites that we can think of as well, which are both less likely, though plausible:
(1) There’s nothing on the tape at all, and the Republicans know it; they also know the Times won’t release it, so they are making noise about the tape just to plant doubts about both Obama and the media in the public’s imagination. Horror movies from a generation ago are more terrifying because they didn’t have the budgets to show you the aliens or monsters that lurked in the closet or deep in the woods: your imagination took care of what could be out there, and it was far worse than anything the director could have shown you. That’s why today’s CGI-fests are so unfulfilling…there’s nothing left to imagination anymore. The unreleased Khalidi tape, however, is a great mystery — it sticks in your craw and won’t go away; you’re left wondering how bad this tape could REALLY be for Obama if the Times refuses to release it because it will devastate him. So, not only do you imagine Obama doing all sorts of terrible things at this dinner, but you also resent the media for once again protecting their favorite candidate. All of this inspires negative feelings towards Obama, and a net positive for McCain the underdog. It’s brilliant strategy, really…and watch, this is what’s going to end up being the most likely explanation for pushing the story about the Times and its mystery tape.
(2) The other possibility is that there is nothing bad on the Khalidi tape, but the Republicans want people to just think about tapes in general, which might either make them remember Reverand Wright or focus more intently on the Chicago audiotapes of Obama advocating socialism and maligning the US Constitution. Obama does not want his name appearing in the same sentence as “tape”, not when there are thousands of YouTubes out there of Jeremiah Wright damning America and talking about chickens coming home to roost. So, once again the motive behind pushing the LA Times story is for psychological gamesmanship, focusing the public on all the various tapes out there that reveal Obama for who he truly is.
Somewhat on a tangent, but we don’t see how the LA Times ever recovers from this — at this point, it should really be held in the same regard as a high school or college newsletter, and not an actual newspaper. We bet it ends up being the first major daily to end its printed run and go 100% online in the next 5 years. Because after this, people probably won’t want to even wrap fish with the LA Times. On the airwaves, MSNBC will be the first to share a similar fate. When the books are written on this campaign, the LA Times and MSNBC will be recorded as the two biggest cheerleading protectors of Obama — and we think, two of the main reasons he loses next week.
Ok . I hope you are right. But . you know what i’m saying..
At this point, who cares what's on them, the highlighting of the LA Times blatant bias is what will get the attention. People know that most MSM hold nothing back when it comes to McCain/Palin, yet they see one more example of the double standard applied to Obama. Over and over again we see stories that shed bad light on the Republicans while glowing reports are shown about "The One", and people do realize this.
So whether the video shows Obama praising the PLO, or shows him condemning them, it doesn't really matter. The point is that it should be up to the American voters to decide if it is important or not, and not the MSM!
Do your really think that MO called some outfit in Africa and yelled at them for 1/2 hour? She’s a marxist, but she’s not that stupid and not that interested in what was printed in some rag in Africa.
Since the LA Times doesn't seem to be budging, Fox likely doesn't have the video.
I would prefer Friday am..when the temple of Owama show is over....why release it when he can use the airtime to refute...Friday better imho
If there was nothing on it, Obama’s camp would not be silent. They would have wanted it to be released.
The fact that McCain/Palin have ignored the other stuff and hammered this is what makes it different.
Over 80 first cousins? Damn, I have 7 and thought that was alot.
My worry is that the LA Times will release the tape tomorrow or Friday, but they will have edited out the damaging parts first. (I’m sure they’ve got some top Hollywood editing staff working on it right now) Then they can say, “See, nothing here folks, sorry”. It’s going to take some time for forensic analysis to prove that it was edited, but by then it will be too late to stop 0bama.
post to read later
PING
Is this tape we are talking about on this thread or another one?
I hope they bring it out.
This could be really big:
According to one source, this is likely the source:
“The Los Angeles Times has a copy of the tape, but won’t release it because they said the source—whom I believe is Arab American Action Network (AAAN) founder and anti-Israel activist Ali Abunimah of Electronic Intifada—required it not be released as a condition of sharing it. That’s because it likely shows Obama applauding an anti-Semitic, anti-Israel poem that was read at the dinner”
This blog has done an excellent job of piecing together both the LA Time article and an old NY Sun article mentioning the event in passing in 2005:
http://blog.changeandexperience.com/2008/10/khalidi-tape-putting-bits-and-pieces.html
These are the people who likely attended:
1. Rashid Khalidi (is the main reason this event was held)
2. Arab American Action Network (AAAN, founded by Rashid Khalidi)
3. Barack Obama (who gave a special tribute)
4. Mona Khalidi (Rashid Khalidi’s wife)
5. Local Palestinian Leaders
6. Not In My Name (left wing anti-war group)
7. Ali Abunimah (a Palestinian rights activist in Chicago who helps run Electronic Intifada)
8. Bill Ayers (ex-Weatherman domestic terrorist)
9. Bernadine Dohrn (ex-Weatherman domestic terrorist)
10. Gihad Ali, A poet
11. Richard Daley (Mayor of Chicago)
12. The Sanabel Debka dance troupe
bttt
It could, but if the Times is contractually obligated not to release the tape, how can it come to light before the election? A bounty is fine, but the Obama campaign could pay a hundred times what I have seen offered so far.
I doubt the LAT can afford to lose any advertisers since they are probably laying off people to stay alive. This might be the only way to get them to release the tape.
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