Monday, October 27, 2008
The Khalidi tape: The Los Angeles Times needs to come clean
Andy McCarthy poses a useful thought experiment:
Let’s try a thought experiment. Say John McCain attended a party at which known racists and terror mongers were in attendance. Say testimonials were given, including a glowing one by McCain for the benefit of the guest of honor ... who happened to be a top apologist for terrorists. Say McCain not only gave a speech but stood by, in tacit approval and solidarity, while other racists and terror mongers gave speeches that reeked of hatred for an American ally and rationalizations of terror attacks.
Now let’s say the Los Angeles Times obtained a videotape of the party.
Question: Is there any chance — any chance — the Times would not release the tape and publish front-page story after story about the gory details, with the usual accompanying chorus of sanctimony from the oped commentariat? Is there any chance, if the Times was the least bit reluctant about publishing (remember, we’re pretending here), that the rest of the mainstream media (y’know, the guys who drove Trent Lott out of his leadership position over a birthday-party toast) would not be screaming for the release of the tape?
Er, no.
If this seems a bit inside blogball, read Andy's piece and Gateway Pundit's original work on the subject (which I linked a few days back).
It seems to me that the credibility of the Los Angeles Times, such as it is, requires that it release this tape or, at a minimum, describe exactly what is on the tape and provide a cogent explanation why it will not be released. That much should have happened already, and it needs to happen today or tomorrow so that voters can have enough time to make up their own minds about the tape's significance.
Furthermore, if there are mainstream media reporters out there who know the editors of the Los Angeles Times, it is your job to interview them. You are now on notice that there is a potentially huge cover-up going on. C'mon! Are you sitting on the campaign bus next to the LA Times guy? Ask him to give you his boss's cell phone number and get the damned interview!
Yeah, right. As if a reporter would actually do that.
In case you are interested, here is the link to the "readers' representative" page, where you can send an email inviting the LAT to dig more deeply.
4 Comments:
By 
, at
Mon Oct 27, 09:52:00 AM:
These media prostitutes (who coined "presstitutes?") are on a mission to elect Hussein. They will simply take messages demanding release of the tape as proof on a conspiracy to beat Hussein.
I did, however, send the following message to the LAT. No response nut, at least, it went:
"It is essential that the LAT continue to refuse to allow the public access to the 2003 tape of Senator Obama attending the event for Mr. Khalidi.
The release of this tape would be, as you know, racially discriminatory and religiously troubling and would violate your professional responsibility to ensure that the Democrats win and the Republicans lose.
Further, should your organization wish to participate in the media bail out that will surely follow Senator Obama's election, it would prudent, it seems to me, for you to recognize on which side your bread is buttered.
It is key that you continue to report/print only good things about Senator Obama and his campaign so as not to confuse those Americans not so sophisticated as we."
By 
Anthony, at
Mon Oct 27, 12:06:00 PM:
This is just par for the course for my hometown newspaper, whose guiding principle is to sit on any information harmful to Democrats and rush out anything that looks bad for Republicans. I've already sent my email demanding they act like real journalists, not that it will have any effect on them.
By , at
Mon Oct 27, 03:31:00 PM:
Tigerhawk wrote, "credibility of the Los Angeles Times"
"Credability"?
In my best Inego Montoya voice -
I think you do not know what that word means."
By , at
Mon Oct 27, 11:14:00 PM:
Ya know, if McCain were REALLY that tight with G. Gordon Liddy, he would have Liddy organize a 'black ops' and go and get that tape, then run it on a network add-buy on Sunday, Nov. 2.
Well, we can dream, can't we? Heh.
-David
