The McCain campaign is accusing the Los Angeles Times of “intentionally suppressing” a videotape of  an April 2003 banquet attended by then-state Senator Barack Obama, “who spoke of his friendship with Rashid Khalidi, a leading Palestinian scholar and activist,” reports the very same Los Angeles Times, which published an article by reporter Peter Wallsten of the evening’s festivities – only back then, the paper identified Khalidi as “an internationally known scholar, critic of Israel and advocate for Palestinian rights.”

Neither of the two articles mentions that Khalidi is also a close friend of domestic terrorist-cum-college professor William Ayers (video).

In response to the McCain campaign’s demand that the paper “do its job - make information public,” Times editor Russ Stanton offers this explanation for withholding the tape: “[I]t was provided to us by a confidential source who did so on the condition that we not release it. The Times keeps its promises to sources.”

Several conservative groups are willing to give cold, hard cash to anyone who can produce the tape so people can see Obama’s and other speakers’ facial expressions and hear the tones of their voices during these encomiums described in the article:

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." …

And then there’s this: “[A] young Palestinian American recited a poem accusing the Israeli government of terrorism … and sharply criticizing U.S. support of Israel. If Palestinians cannot secure their own land ‘then you will never see a day of peace.’”

Given that not too long ago, Obama expressed the opinion that “nobody's suffering more than the Palestinian people,” shouldn't voters be able to see the look on his face as the poem was being recited? Was it approving? Impassive? Did Obama applaud the child at the end of her performance? If a picture is worth 1,000 words, a video is worth 1,000 articles.

Former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer has been tasked with cajoling Jewish voters – a solid Dem voting bloc – to vote for McCain. He may find a more receptive audience as people re-read the Los Angeles Times article and contemplate its implications.

Editorial Note: Samuel J. Wurzelbacher (AKA “Joe the Plumber”) has thrown his support to John McCain, because he fears Barack Obama would turn the U.S. into a socialist country, and agreed with another McCain supporter at t rally in a flag store that a vote for Democratic candidate Obama would be “a vote for the death of Israel,” reports The Associated Press. By the way, AP identifies Wurzelbacher as “an unlicensed plumber with unpaid back taxes.” Flash to the newsroom: Wurzelbacher is also a voter who has the right to his opinion – and to vote for whomever he pleases, regardless of who the media think he should vote for.

Obama’s Family Values: Part V

Zeituni Onyango, the aunt so affectionately described in Mr Obama’s best-selling memoir Dreams from My Father, lives in a disabled-access flat on a rundown public housing estate in South Boston.

A second relative believed to be the long-lost “Uncle Omar” described in the book was beaten by armed robbers with a “sawed-off rifle” while working in a corner shop in the Dorchester area of the city. He was later evicted from his one-bedroom flat for failing to pay $2,324.20 arrears, according to the Boston Housing Court. …

Aunt Zeituni and Uncle Omar are the children of Mr Obama’s grandfather Hussein Onyango Obama, by his third wife – the woman Mr Obama calls “Granny” because she raised his father. Mr Obama’s father, Barack Sr, was Onyango Obama’s son by his second wife, Akumu. That makes Zeituni and Omar a half-sister and half-brother of Mr Obama’s father, or Mr Obama’s half-aunt and half-uncle. …

The Obama campaign was repeatedly approached for comment yesterday but had not responded at the time of going to press. It is not clear whether Mr Obama has been in touch with his African relatives living in the US, or even whether he is aware that they are on US soil.

Obama has hitherto been loathe to redistribute his own income to take care of the impoverished relatives his multiple-wived father and grandfather sired. Charity – AKA redistribution of income - begins at home. Message to Obama: You take care of your own, we’ll take care of our own. Keep your mitts off our paychecks.

Editorial Note: To read the previous posts in the “Obama’s Family Values” series, click here (second item), here (last item), here and here (last item).

Consider What - Not Whom - You Are Voting For: Part II

If you live in OH, FL or NV you will have gotten a DVD of “Hype: The Obama Effect” tucked into your newspaper by conservative advocacy group Citizens United. The film shines a bright light on Barack Obama’s record on abortion, his rise through the Byzantine and corrupt milieu of Chicago politics and his relationship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright and other radical bomb-throwers – as well as on the MSM’s dereliction of duty in covering Obama during the campaign.

Watch the trailer, then order your own copy of the DVD here for $23.95 (first-class shipping; allow 3 to 5 days for receipt) or $35.95 (overnight shipping):

Happy Halloween

† Twenty-nine of the 82 counties in MS had more registered voters than people of voting age, according to a county-by-county analysis by The Associated Press; and the same is true in six of 67 counties in AL. For instance, Mississippi's voter situation is hard to believe. Madison County, MS, has 123% more registered voters than residents over the age of 18, reports WLBT (Channel 3, Jackson, MS):

Sue Sautermeister, First District Election Commissioner in Madison County, tried to purge the rolls, but … discovered it takes a vote of three of the five election commissioners and the purge cannot take place within 90 days of a federal election.

Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann is the first to admit the situation with voter registration in this state is terrible. …

“Combined with the fact that we don't have voter ID in Mississippi, anybody can show up at any poll that happens to know the people who have left town or died - and go vote for them” [emphasis, The Stiletto].

† Perhaps in anticipation of a victory by Barack Obama and boom times for tax collectors, The New York Times reports that when the I.R.S. held a career fair for job-seekers at its Lower Manhattan offices, “the line to get in stretched along Broadway, turned the corner, ran down Reade Street and turned the corner again at Elk Street” [emphasis, The Stiletto]. Here’s a nice summary of what Obama’s tax plan means to you by columnist Debra Saunders:

† The Wall Street Journal notes that “[t]e prosecutors who are supposed to guard against voter fraud don't seem very interested in running the political risk of doing their job,” adding:

If voter fraud would ever be ripe for investigation, this would seem to be the year with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (Acorn) having been caught filing thousands of bogus voter registrations in at least 14 states. …

Justice recently decided to reverse a policy in place since 2002 to send criminal attorneys and other federal employees to monitor polling places. The decision came two weeks after a September meeting to which the Civil Rights Division invited dozens of left-wing activist groups to discuss voter “access” to the polls. …

Justice has also failed to enter the fray in Ohio. As many as 200,000 new voter registrations in that state are suspect, yet Democratic Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is refusing to follow the 2002 Help America Vote Act that requires her to verify these registrations. …

Yet that hasn't stopped the Civil Rights Division this month from filing a lawsuit against Waller County, Texas, to correct alleged violations of the Voting Rights Act; a lawsuit against Vermont for failing to report accurately on overseas ballots; and an amicus brief in a case filed by a civil-rights group that is suing to stop the Georgia Secretary of State from complying with voter verification rules. Justice's election suits always seem to side with liberal priorities.

It doesn't help Justice's credibility that attorneys charged with supervising voting issues are avowed Barack Obama supporters [emphasis, The Stiletto].

And BTW, the OH Secretary of State has close ties to ACORN – as does the Obama campaign - something else the Justice Department could look into.