Friday, October 31, 2008

"A Vile Smear" - Senator J.S. McCain - the Angry Nut In the Shell

It's too bad it only reaches people who read, but the Washington Post has roundly denounced John "Lowball" McCain's latest attempt to smear Barack Obama over his acquaintance with Rashid Khalidi.

Although Khalidi is a native born American, graduate of Yale and long time professor at the University of Chicago, McCain and his wretched sidekick, are using the incredible power of the bigotry of their supporters to allege that, once again, Obama has been caught palling around with terrorists. Of course it's a lie, of course they know it, and, of course, it works with the two-legged malignancies who crave this garbage.

"We don't agree with a lot of what Mr. Khalidi has had to say about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over the years, and Mr. Obama has made clear that he doesn't, either. But to compare the professor to neo-Nazis -- or even to Mr. Ayers -- is a vile smear.

"Perhaps unsurprising for a member of academia, Mr. Khalidi holds complex views. In an article published this year in the Nation magazine, he scathingly denounced Israeli practices in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and U.S. Middle East policy but also condemned Palestinians for failing to embrace a nonviolent strategy. He said that the two-state solution favored by the Bush administration (and Mr. Obama) was "deeply flawed" but conceded there were also "flaws in the alternatives." Listening to Mr. Khalidi can be challenging -- as Mr. Obama put it in the dinner toast recorded on the 2003 tape and reported by the Times in a detailed account of the event last April, he "offers constant reminders to me of my own blind spots and my own biases."

"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.

"...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."

It's sad really. John McCain, a man whose stock in trade for decades has been his supposed nobility, chucking it all away to wallow in slime.

6 comments:

Red Tory said...

And yet you've go this...

http://okkwajo.blogspot.com/2008/10/b-kennedy-bill-ayres-and-his-red-star.html

A "Liberal"?

The Mound of Sound said...

Hey, RT. I followed the link. That character actually believes what Hannity spews out on FOX. Astonishing.

LeDaro said...

Actually it turns out that John McCain had much closer relations with Rashid Khalidi than Obama. McCain contributed over $400,000 to certain Rashid Khalidi charity group dealing with Palestinians.

LeDaro said...

Here is that link:

http://mccombover.wordpress.com/2008/10/29/john-mccain-led-group-gave-rashid-khalidi-448873-according-to-a-1998-tax-filing/

The Mound of Sound said...

Thanks LD. That little fact, troubling as it ought to be for McCain, isn't. When you've jettisoned your integrity and reputation as McCain has, anything goes.

Anonymous said...

rt, I have read the post, L4 makes a good point and if you would read it, he does not even mention obama, he tries to point out what a generation thinks about the issue, to link his post in this case is unfair, even though I would not vote for mccain, I also know that msnbc is not fair and balanced, cnn is so so, but fox news in a recent survey was the most balanced. You will also noticed that he does not quote hanity, but hannity and colmes, which is a program that has left and right. As an american, I know msnbc will never give me both sides, but station like fox will at least have better views on both. I don't know what you have against this guy, but I find his posts a lot more informative than yours, I might not agree with him, but if I want info, at least I know he wont be quoting msnbc.