# LA Times protecting Obama **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 30, 2008, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-times-protecting-obama/470218 "2008-10-30T05:18:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-times-protecting-obama/470218/81 "2008-10-30T21:21:19Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > It was speculation regarding how the video would be harmful versus the article posted since the article didn’t cover that type of information. Is this performance art? Cause I’m not getting it. You speculated about a detail in the video that would be harmful but you don’t know what’s on the video and this is evidence of a cover up? Or something? Buh? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-times-protecting-obama/470218/82 "2008-10-30T21:25:01Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Goldfarb is a weasel’s weasel. [Had to look him up.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Goldfarb) “Official Blogger”?! ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-times-protecting-obama/470218/83 "2008-10-30T21:36:54Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > You are **presuming** _a priori_ that the tape contains something damaging. Depends who you are. I don’t think Supporters of Israel would view a bunch of anti-Israeli rhetoric favorably. ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-times-protecting-obama/470218/84 "2008-10-30T21:39:02Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Depends who you are. I don’t think Supporters of Israel would view a bunch of anti-Israeli rhetoric favorably. You don’t really know what “presuming” means, do you? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-times-protecting-obama/470218/85 "2008-10-30T21:39:14Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Depends who you are. I don’t think Supporters of Israel would view a bunch of anti-Israeli rhetoric favorably. But they would still be presuming, if they had not seen the tape. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-times-protecting-obama/470218/86 "2008-10-30T21:43:04Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Depends who you are. I don’t think Supporters of Israel would view a bunch of anti-Israeli rhetoric favorably. They wouldn’t… **IF** evidence of it exists. There is no reason to suspect that it does other than McCain’s increasingly desperate insinuations. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-times-protecting-obama/470218/87 "2008-10-30T22:09:43Z")
> [@Washington Post](#): > > “What if there was a tape with John McCain with a neo-Nazi outfit being held by some media outlet?” McCain asked in an interview with a Cuban radio station Wednesday morning. “I think the treatment of the issue would be slightly different.” More like, “What if there was a tape with John McCain with a German guy?” ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-times-protecting-obama/470218/88 "2008-10-30T22:15:18Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Depends who you are. I don’t think Supporters of Israel would view a bunch of anti-Israeli rhetoric favorably. I think you may be misreading the post.\*\* Fish\*\* is suggesting it is the _event_ which is questionable, not whether the event is damaging or not. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-times-protecting-obama/470218/89 "2008-10-30T22:24:02Z")
So Khalidi, who is Palestinian, is anti-semitic? How does that work? ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-times-protecting-obama/470218/90 "2008-10-30T22:28:41Z")
I think I see what \*\*Magiver \*\*is getting at. If Obama definitely didn’t not react anti-negatively at the function which may not have not happened or not in which anti-semitic rhetoric probably wan’t not said but possibly may not have not happened … then how can we really know what he may or may not have not done? Or not? ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-times-protecting-obama/470218/91 "2008-10-30T22:30:53Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > **Fish** is suggesting it is the _event_ which is questionable, not whether the event is damaging or not. Precisely. I can _imagine_ a hundred things which _maaaaaaybe_ could possibly just about be on that videotape, each more damaging than the last. The fact that they _would_ be damaging doesn’t prove that my imagined scenarios are true. I wonder if this is the 11th-hour shocker John McCain promised us? He’s stopped linking Obama to a terrorist in order to talk about _a completely different_ terrorist. BooooOOOOooooo, _waggles fingers_. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-times-protecting-obama/470218/92 "2008-10-30T23:05:57Z")
> [@askeptic](#): > > This stuff really makes me sick. You guys keep insinuating that Obama is hiding “something” that we “don’t know enough about him” that he" may "sleep with gerbils. With all the time and money put into digging dirt on this guy all you guys can come up with are vague allusions to possible connections with possibly shady characters. Give it up. You keep trying to make this election about Obama’s character but you have nothing more than vague assertions. How’s that workin fer ya? It is not working at all except with the brain dead morons who were already going to vote for the white guy. Stop with the bullshit fear mongering. If you have some evidence of something you think is relevant then put up or shut up. Actually, I didn’t say Obama was hiding anything at all. I was asking a question about a newpaper not releasing a video that may have an impact on the election. Guess what askeptic - I would have asked the same questions if it were a McCain video praising David Duke so why don’t you go contribute your vitriol to the numerous threads where Obama is being attacked and leave this one alone unless you want to talk about the Times. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-times-protecting-obama/470218/93 "2008-10-30T23:15:22Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > So Khalidi, who is Palestinian, is anti-semitic? How does that work? Self-hating Semite? I don’t know. **Magiver** , could you please speculate on some other things for which there’s no evidence, but if there were evidence, it would really be upsetting? It’s stimulating. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-times-protecting-obama/470218/94 "2008-10-30T23:45:00Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Had to look him up.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Goldfarb) > > “Official Blogger”?! Page no longer says he is the McCain campaign’s “Official Blogger.” That was quick . . . ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-times-protecting-obama/470218/95 "2008-10-30T23:48:44Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Actually, I didn’t say Obama was hiding anything at all. I was asking a question about a newpaper not releasing a video that may have an impact on the election. Guess what askeptic - I would have asked the same questions if it were a McCain video praising David Duke so why don’t you go contribute your vitriol to the numerous threads where Obama is being attacked and leave this one alone unless you want to talk about the Times. There is a video of McCain praising David Duke? Why won’t they release it? What are they hiding? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-times-protecting-obama/470218/96 "2008-10-31T00:10:19Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > I think you may be misreading the post.\*\* Fish\*\* is suggesting it is the _event_ which is questionable, not whether the event is damaging or not. I thought that was a given. Obama does not want to be associated publicly with Muslims (as an image thing). Any fodder beyond that makes it worse. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-times-protecting-obama/470218/97 "2008-10-31T00:12:12Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Actually, I didn’t say Obama was hiding anything at all. I was asking a question about a newpaper not releasing a video that may have an impact on the election. Here is what you said: “About 5 years ago, Obama went to a dinner and praised former PLO spokesman Rashid Khalidi. The LA Times refuse to release the video and they claim it is because they made a promise to the source.” You included a claim that was shown to be false, ignored any links between McCain and the same man, and you offered no evidence whatsoever. Somehow those, combined with the “they claim” indicate, to me, this was more than just asking a question about the effect of not releasing it. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-times-protecting-obama/470218/98 "2008-10-31T00:30:29Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > I thought that was a given. Obama does not want to be associated publicly with Muslims (as an image thing). Any fodder beyond that makes it worse. I may have phrased that poorly. What **Fish** is questioning is not that the event, anti-Israeli rhetoric connected with Obama, would be damaging to Obama, but the idea that there was any such event. The point you seem to have read him as making is “You are presuming that Obama being connected with anti-Israeli sentiments would be damaging to him”, to which your response about Supporters of Israel makes perfect sense - however, his point rather was “You are presuming that the event captured on tape was Obama being connected to anti-Israeli sentiments”. That it would hurt Obama’s campaign isn’t in doubt. It’s whether it happened at all that’s in doubt. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-times-protecting-obama/470218/99 "2008-10-31T00:34:54Z")
It’s kind of cool that all McCain supporters have left is outright fantasy now. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2008, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-times-protecting-obama/470218/100 "2008-10-31T00:41:37Z")
**Magiver** , are you conceding that you have no evidence for thinking that Obama clapped for Anti-Israeli rants? Was that just, what, your personal bias? What’s the deal? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-times-protecting-obama/470218.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/la-times-protecting-obama/470218.md?page=6)