CNN and their blatant political bias

[Savaric]

So I guess a new story (sorta) about Obama toasting and having relations with a spokesman for the PLO has emerged. There is a video of it that the LA times won't release:
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10...-khalidi-tape/

So that's a story by itself, but here you see the twist CNN puts on it: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/...rap/index.html

Rather than reporting the story itself, they tie it in with Palin (the headline of the story). %^&* CNN, I am boycotting those dipshits.

Interesting they are both front page articles.

[Aristotle]

Yeah, that is pretty sleazy to label it "Palin accuses" instead of reporting on the actual story.

But CNN has been worthless for 10+ years. This is no different.

Then again, I don't know of any major media outlet worth a damn these days. They are too much about business and too little about honest information.

[Khortez]

Heh! THe whole thing with Fox News and Bush's first "victory" saw to the death of any integrity the news networks had left. Anyone remember the days when CNN was respectable?

[Malacasta]

But is this even a controversy? It might be written about from this angle because the journalists just don't see a story here. After all, Mccain is also associated with this guy:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/1..._n_138606.html

[Reshad]

Originally posted by Aristotle
Then again, I don't know of any major media outlet worth a damn these days. They are too much about business and too little about honest information.

That's why I read http://www.fark.com

At least you get some humor that way.

[Pae]

Originally posted by Malacasta
But is this even a controversy? It might be written about from this angle because the journalists just don't see a story here. After all, Mccain is also associated with this guy:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/1..._n_138606.html

As much as I actually don't like McCain, I do feel obligated to point out that huffingtonpost is horribly biased and sketchy at best when it comes to facts.

[Malacasta]

Chicago Tribune:

During the 1990s, while McCain served as chairman of the International Republican Institute, the group distributed several grants to the Palestinian research center co-founded by Khalidi, including a $448,873 grant in 1998 to his Center for Palestine Research and Studies for work in the West Bank.

And, since 1993, when McCain joined IRI as chairman, the group funded several studies run by Khalidi's group in the Palestinian territories, including more than 30 public opinion polls. Khalidi helped found the center, "an independent academic research and policy analysis institution."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-obama-video_thuoct30,0,744362.story

AFAIK there is nothing wrong with Khalidi anyways. I can't find anything to say that he's some sort of bad guy. This seems to be some sort of dog whistle innuendo along the lines of "Oh no... Obama has a Palestinian friend, he must be an Arab, Muslim terrorist."

[Malacasta]

Scott Horton from Harpers Magazine:

Rashid Khalidi is an American academic of extraordinary ability and sharp insights. He is also deeply committed to stemming violence in the Middle East, promoting a culture that embraces human rights as a fundamental notion, and building democratic societies. In a sense, Khalidi’s formula for solving the Middle East crisis has not been radically different from George W. Bush’s: both believe in American values and approaches. However, whereas Bush believes these values can be introduced in the wake of bombs and at the barrel of a gun, Khalidi disagrees. He sees education and civic activism as the path to success, and he argues that pervasive military interventionism has historically undermined the Middle East and will continue to do so. Khalidi has also been one of the most articulate critics of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority—calling them repeatedly on their anti-democratic tendencies and their betrayals of their own principles. Khalidi is also a Palestinian American. There is no doubt in my mind that it is solely that last fact that informs McCarthy’s ignorant and malicious rants.

Of course, Khalidi has been involved in Palestinian causes. McCarthy ought to ask John McCain about that, because McCain and Khalidi appear to have some joint interests, and that fact speaks very well of both of them. Indeed, the McCain–Khalidi connections are more substantial than the phony Obama–Khalidi connections McCarthy gussies up for his article. The Republican party’s congressionally funded international-networking organization, the International Republican Institute–long and ably chaired by John McCain and headed by McCain’s close friend, the capable Lorne Craner–has taken an interest in West Bank matters. IRI funded an ambitious project, called the Palestine Center, that Khalidi helped to support. Khalidi served on the Center’s board of directors. The goal of that project, shared by Khalidi and McCain, was the promotion of civic consciousness and engagement and the development of democratic values in the West Bank.

http://harpers.org/archive/2008/10/hbc-90003779

[Malacasta]

The editorial from the WaPo:

It's fair to question why Mr. Obama felt as comfortable as he apparently did during his Chicago days in the company of men whose views diverge sharply from what the presidential candidate espouses. Our sense is that Mr. Obama is a man of considerable intellectual curiosity who can hear out a smart, if militant, advocate for the Palestinians without compromising his own position. To suggest, as Mr. McCain has, that there is something reprehensible about associating with Mr. Khalidi is itself condemnable -- especially during a campaign in which Arab ancestry has been the subject of insults. To further argue that the Times, which obtained the tape from a source in exchange for a promise not to publicly release it, is trying to hide something is simply ludicrous, as Mr. McCain surely knows.

Which reminds us: We did ask Mr. Khalidi whether he wanted to respond to the campaign charges against him. He answered, via e-mail, that "I will stick to my policy of letting this idiot wind blow over." That's good advice for anyone still listening to the McCain campaign's increasingly reckless ad hominem attacks. Sadly, that wind is likely to keep blowing for four more days.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...103003244.html

[Malacasta]

Bill Sammon, FOX News Washington deputy managing editor:

To me, it’s pretty simple. Reporter Peter Wallsten made an agreement with a source to refrain from publicly disclosing the tape. Unless that source lets Wallsten off the hook, the reporter is journalistically bound to abide by the agreement, regardless of how much heat his newspaper takes from pundits on TV.

Indeed, Wallsten has little choice in the matter. If he were to cave in to mounting public demands for the tape, no self-respecting source would ever give him another shred of information. Nor should they.