OBAMA AND KHALIDI?
As could be expected, liberals are insisting that there is no meaningful connection between Obama and Rashid Khalidi. Here are the facts so you can decide:
“In 2000, The Khalidis Held A Fundraiser For Obama’s Unsuccessful Congressional Bid.” (Peter Wallsten, “Allies Of Palestinians See A Friend In Obama,” Los Angeles Times, 4/10/08)
At The 2000 Fundraiser, Khalidi Claimed Obama Called For A More “Evenhanded Approach” To The Palestinian-Israel Conflict. “Both Mr. Khalidi and Mr. Abunimah, of the Electronic Intifada, said Mr. Obama had spoken at the fund-raiser and had called for the United States to adopt a more ‘evenhanded approach’ to the Palestinian-Israel conflict.” (Jo Becker and Christopher Drew, “Pragmatic Politics, Forged On The South Side,” The New York Times, 5/11/08)
“A Local Palestinian Activist Said Obama Attended The Fundraiser And Expressed Sympathy For The Palestinian Cause And Criticism For U.S. Support Of Israel. “In 2000, [Ali] Abunimah [a Hyde Park Palestinian-American activist] recalled, Professor Rashid Khalidi, a leading Palestinian American advocate for a two-state solution and harsh critic of Israel, held a fundraiser in his home for Obama, embarked then on an ultimately unsuccessful bid for the House of Representatives. ‘He came with his wife,’ Abunimah said. ‘That’s where I had a chance to really talk to him. It was an intimate setting. He convinced me he was very aware of the issues [and] critical of U.S. bias toward Israel and lack of sensitivity to Arabs. … He was very supportive of U.S. pressure on Israel.’” (Larry Cohler-Esses, “Obama Pivots Away From Dovish Past,” The New York Jewish Week, 3/9/07)
Obama Praised Khalidi For A Conversation The Two Shared That Had Been “Consistent Reminders To [Obama] Of [His] Blind Spots And [His] Own Biases.” “A special tribute came from Khalidi’s friend and frequent dinner companion, the young state Sen. Barack Obama. Speaking to the crowd, Obama reminisced about meals prepared by Khalidi’s wife, Mona, and conversations that had challenged his thinking. His many talks with the Khalidis, Obama said, had been ‘consistent reminders to me of my own blind spots and my own biases. . . . It’s for that reason that I’m hoping that, for many years to come, we continue that conversation — a conversation that is necessary not just around Mona and Rashid’s dinner table,’ but around ‘this entire world.’” (Peter Wallsten, “Allies Of Palestinians See A Friend I n Obama,” Los Angeles Times, 4/10/08)
October 30th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Seeing as you’ve chosen not to publish some of my previous comments, I guess this is a message to you, the author of this blog and your Party Chair, Mr. Lockhart.
Friend, you just don’t get it.
Your severe and, at times, dangerous lack of understanding of what is really at issue in this important election shows your ineptitude and deleterious effect on our community and state. Your ignorance betrays you and your party to a major fault. Your choice to publish on a Party-sponsored blog any and every e-mail forward you get - without verification - does not tell people in Utah what to do in the tumultuous times we live in. It exposes your patent lack of leadership and favoring of zingers and hype over substance and class. Utahns get enough of the hype. Utahns get enough of you, the in-your-face, small-minded and irrelevant morons that you are, who, somehow, got elected to lead the Party. Utahns want leadership, not a Fox News parrot. Has it occurred to you your role is not to be a member of the press, but to represent an ideology; to tell people about what’s right with being a Republican, not what’s wrong with a Democrat?
You are clueless and, worse, seek to use fear rather than any sort of affirmative message to underscore how Republicans are better for Utah or the nation. You may be effective in coddling your base, who still believe Senator Obama is a Muslim terrorist, but you are absolutely impotent in actually acting like an adult in convincing those not squarely in your camp how your ideology is better. If you can’t stand on your own two feet by stating what your party affirmatively believes and how your candidate will be (1) different from the failed policies of President George W. Bush and (2) a better selection than Senator Obama, how can you honestly claim your leadership is able to deliver?
As you continue on in your ridiculous smear rag, Democrats across the state will be beating out Republicans and expanding their seats. Jim Matheson will once again defeat a pathetic excuse for a candidate. All the while, you’re talking about Obama - Palestine connections!
Leadership that delivers? What a joke!