While the story has been out there and discussed by many…I thought it deserved some fact-checking here. Once again, The McCain campaign has sought to paint Obama as some variety of “terrorist by association.” In this case, the association in question is with a man named Rashid Khalidi.
According to McCain and his surrogates, Khalidi is anti-Israel, and to many this indicates to them (by necessity) that he is anti-American. They claim that since Obama attended a “farewell dinner” for Khalidi…he is anti-American (or pro-terrorist by extension).
Setting the Republican claims aside, here are the known facts about the association, and the man himself:
-Khalidi is a Middle East Studies professor at Columbia University. (Quick aside…does this make everyone at Columbia, students/colleagues/superiors a terrorist by extension?)
-Obama attended a farewell dinner for Khalidi.
-William Ayers also attended the dinner.
-The Woods Foundation (the charity board on which Obama and Ayers served) grants were given to Khalidi’s group, the “Arab American Action Network” as part of the foundation’s goal to “To Increase Opportunities For Less Advantaged People And Communities’ By Giving Money Primarily To Not-For-Profit Groups Involved In Housing, The Arts And Other Areas.”
-The grants given to Khalidi’s organization were to the tune of about $40,000 dollars.
-While some have put forth that Khalidi was a spokesperson for the PLO or even an aide to Arafat…no evidence of this exists.
Now…I could talk about how a leader needs to speak to people with whom he disagrees…I could talk about how this is little more than one charity organization supporting another…I could talk about Obama’s very pro-Israel policy or his very pro-Israel voting record…I could quote from Obama’s statement on the matter…actually, I think I will do that: “[Khalidi] is not one of my advisors; he’s not one of my foreign policy people. His kids went to the Lab school where my kids go as well. He is a respected scholar, although he vehemently disagrees with a lot of Israel’s policy…To pluck out one person who I know and who I’ve had a conversation with who has very different views than 900 of my friends and then to suggest that somehow that shows that maybe I’m not sufficiently pro-Israel, I think, is a very problematic stand to take…So we gotta be careful about guilt by association.”
But really…that’s all unnecessary. Because Palin and the other surrogates apparently forgot to check with the most important person before running with this latest smear: John McCain. As reported (this quote courtsey of HuffPo):
“During the 1990s, while he served as chairman of the International Republican Institute (IRI), McCain distributed several grants to the Palestinian research center co-founded by Khalidi, including one worth half a million dollars. A 1998 tax filing for the McCain-led group shows a $448,873 grant to Khalidi’s Center for Palestine Research and Studies for work in the West Bank. (See grant number 5180, “West Bank: CPRS” on page 14 of this PDF.)”
That’s right…McCain’s institute gave nearly half a million dollars to Khalidi…so maybe this is one “guilt-by-association” argument that their campaign doesn’t want to play out. Or maybe they just need to realize that it is always best to talk to people of varied opinions and interests…otherwise you wind up with what we’ve had for last eight years, because Bush surrounded himself with nothing but assenting opinions. Maybe they need to realize that our best leaders have known people in all circles, in all countries, and that has made their diplomatic efforts all the stronger.
Or maybe…they just need to accept that most Americans are tired of the same old attacks…