Washington Post Condemns McCain's "Increasingly Reckless Ad Hominem Attacks"

WITH THE presidential campaign clock ticking down, Sen. John McCain has suddenly discovered a new boogeyman to link to Sen. Barack Obama: a sometimes controversial but widely respected Middle East scholar named Rashid Khalidi. In the past couple of days, Mr. McCain and his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, have likened Mr. Khalidi, the director of a Middle East institute at Columbia University, to neo-Nazis; called him "a PLO spokesman"; and suggested that the Los Angeles Times is hiding something sinister by refusing to release a videotape of a 2003 dinner in honor of Mr. Khalidi at which Mr. Obama spoke. Mr. McCain even threw former Weatherman Bill Ayers into the mix, suggesting that the tape might reveal that Mr. Ayers -- a terrorist-turned-professor who also has been an Obama acquaintance -- was at the dinner.

For the record, Mr. Khalidi is an American born in New York who graduated from Yale a couple of years after George W. Bush. For much of his long academic career, he taught at the University of Chicago, where he and his wife became friends with Barack and Michelle Obama. In the early 1990s, he worked as an adviser to the Palestinian delegation at peace talks in Madrid and Washington sponsored by the first Bush administration. 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.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[slc1950]

Vile is as vile does.

[itsadilbertworld]

I call this "Ode to McCain"

Oh there once was the good man McCain.
But that good man went right down the drain.
Being Pres is his goal.
The cost was his soul
And his honor has left his campaign.

He needed to rev up his base.
Sought a "Veep" to help make his case.
Said to Palin: "Run with me"
Palin winked: "Yes-Siree!"
Together they're both a disgrace.

They ad nauseam speak of Bill Ayers,
Pitch Marxist and Socialist scares.
They lie and incite
About the great ACORN blight.
But the masses have responded: "Who cares!"

Well, next week the race will be done.
Yes - next week we'll find out who's won.
McCain is a whim
His chances are slim.
Said the people: "We're choosing That One!"

[ResearchGuy]

Great phrase, "i d i o t wind." Indeed, it is emitted by a pair of i d i o t w i n d b a g s.

[ObamaLover]

I hope you all have a great halloween.

Don't forget to pass out candy the democrat way tonight.

Give 1/2 a piece of candy to the trick-or-treater and keep the other 1/2 to give to a kid that is too lazy to trick-or-treet.

Have a great one!

[maggie lou]

You sound like a dufus, oh wait you are one.

[Oregon Ivy]

No, give it the Republican way. Hold it out to the child, then when he reaches for it, snatch it back and cram it into your own mouth. Then mug him for all the rest of his candy, and take that, too.

[DShawn233]

I'll only believe that Senator Obama has won the election Tuesday night when Senator Mc Gaffe places the microphone near his lips and struggles to utter the words "I Quit" just like the beaten Wrestlers do on WWE when an "I Quit Match" ends. For extra points maybe he can tap out like they do in "Ultimate Fighting."

[Whatashame]

DID YOU VOTE?

[wordvarc]

Crash McSame's flying Lincoln's Party full speed into the ground.

[tchristin]

What we have learned, and I have to say it's been a hard lesson to swallow, but we have learned that John McCain is not the man of honor we thought he was and that he has seemingly no trouble at all, lying and misleading the American public for his own gain. That is a depressing thought and honestly as I listen to Barack Obama and others try to maintain dignity in this campaign and speak with respect toward McCain, increasingly I don't think he deserves it.

[Geneil]

OMG... Is there no end ? They are hatemongers. Wrapped up as a christian.

[oandjoe08]

Its sooo over for you McCreepy!!

[DirkNLExpat]

For those of you who have been in the US military you know how arrogant and condescending some commisioned officers can be to enlisted and NCO's. John M c cain was one of these type officers.

Why has there been not ONE former POW stood up in defense of him? Because they know what kind of sleazeball he truly is.

And look how he treats veterans of today? Voting against EVERY bill for them.

Wake up people. This guy is pure DIRT!!

Read what war veterans are saying about him

http://vietnamveteransagainstmccain.com/..

[jmad]

This is the man people in the US want for president ????? If you agree with me in advance we can talk. F YOU.

[VAVet4Obama]

A Little Straight Talk:
1. Obama mentions "Spread the Wealth, "now he"s called a Socialist by McCain and Palin!
THE SPIN:
"Barack Obama calls it spreading the wealth. Joe Biden calls higher taxes patriotic," Palin told a crowd in Roswell, N.M., and elsewhere. "But Joe the Plumber and Ed the Dairyman, I believe they think it sounds more like socialism. "Friends, now is no time to experiment with socialism."
Palin also stated "Spread the Wealth"
THE FACTS:
In Alaska, residents pay no income tax or state sales tax. They receive a yearly dividend check from a $30 billion state investment account built largely from royalties on its oil. When home fuel and gas costs soared last year, Palin raised taxes on big oil and used some of the money to boost residents' checks by $1,200. Thus every eligible man, woman and child got a record $3,269 this fall.
She also suspended the 8-cent tax on gas.
"We can afford to share resource wealth with Alaskans and to temporarily suspend the state fuel tax," she said at the time.
Much as Obama explains his tax hike on the rich as a way to help people who are struggling, Palin's statement talked about the energy costs burdening Alaskans:

[Bitsko]

Interesting, but it appears your last paragraph contradicts the rest.

[newshawk14]

McCain and Palin or morally and intellectually bankrupt.

[SailFree]

Indeed, it is not fair to compare Ayers to Neo-Nazis...not fair to the Neo-Nazis, most of whom have never blown up the Pentagon, police stations, set fire to judges' houses, killed people, or done much other than act like jerks with spray cans painting swastikas and shaving their heads and looking silly.

[ljwaldron]

puleeeze! most of us can read and listen to the news. your impression of innocent neo-nazis doesn't quite match reality. It may be true they haven't bombed the pentagon, but no murder? no beatings? just a bunch of silly jerks? gag me!

[SailFree]

Hi, WashPost:

Prove it! Get the LA Times to release the tape!

Otherwise, you don't know enough to make such a claim that it is a smear. Besides, what is not factual about the McCain statement?

[SeriousBlack]

Did you read the entire article? Didn't think so.

[honestpolitician]

"In one week, we can choose hope over fear, unity over division, the promise of change over the power of the status quo. In one week, we can come together as one nation, and one people, and once more choose our better history. That's what's at stake. That's what we're fighting for." - Quote from Barack Obama in his closing argument speech.

LATEST ELECTION TV ADS : http://politicaladattacks.blogspot.com/

[Bitsko]

So one newspaper should "get" another newspaper to do something? I've been in the publishing game for over 30 years and I know from experience that what you're suggesting has never happened in the history of newspaper publishing.