[RJF]

The LA Times has no problem releasing videos of politicians it doesn't like

In 2006, the Los Angeles Times decided an audio tape it had obtained of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, an apologetic Republican, in which he said of latina Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia (R-80), "She seems to me like Cuban ... She maybe is Puerto Rican or the same thing as Cuban. I mean, they are all very hot. They have the, you know, part of the black blood in them and part of the Latino blood in them that together makes it,” was front-page news.

"The governor is heard on a six-minute recording, obtained by The Times, of a meeting with some members of his inner circle last spring," wrote Robert Salladay in the page A-1 story on the recording. "At the time, Schwarzenegger was struggling to persuade Republican lawmakers to embrace his plan to place billions of dollars in borrowing on the November ballot."

Now, I know commenting on heritage is, to our P.C.-police media, a far worse crime than palling around with terrorists (or even than committing terrorist acts, to judge by recent events like the LAT's call for a full pardon of "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh).

However, its history of baring all when it comes to tapes - both audio and video - that it obtains once again begs the question asked repeatedly here on RedState: Why won't the Times allow the public to see its video of Barack Obama, along with Weather Underground terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, toasting former Palestinian Liberation Organization spokesman Rashid Khalidi at a 2003 event honoring the Arafat disciple and his wife?

Peter Wallsten, writing in the Times about the video this past April, said speakers at the 2003 event celebrating Khalidi "recited a poem accusing the Israeli government of terrorism in its treatment of Palestinians," threatened that Israel "will never see a day of peace," and "likened Zionist settlers on the West Bank to Osama bin Laden, saying both had been blinded by ideology."

However, wrote Wallsten, Obama "adopted a different tone in his comments and called for finding common ground."

On the latter, we are expected to simply take Wallsten's word for it, as the Times continues to steadfastly refuse to release the video of the event.

McCain spokesman Michael Goldfarb today called on the Times to release the video, saying, "A major news organization is intentionally suppressing information that could provide a clearer link between Barack Obama and Rashid Khalidi. The election is one week away, and it's unfortunate that the press so obviously favors Barack Obama that this campaign must publicly request that the Los Angeles Times do its job -- make information public."

Based on its decision so far not to let the public see what its staffers claim is a completely innocuous video of the Democratic presidential nominee at an event celebrating a former terrorist mouthpiece, it appears to be a pretty safe bet that this is going to continue to be kept under wraps until after next Tuesday at very least.

This video could very well have nothing on it that would hurt Obama's chances next week. If that is the case, then the LAT and the Obama campaign are doing their collectively-chosen candidate a disservice by allowing speculation to continue about what exactly is on the video.

Much like the Obama campaign could have nipped the lunatic fringe's obsession with his birth in the bud by simply releasing his birth certificate -- something it continues to inexplicably refuse to do -- the LAT would be best served, if this tape really is as innocuous as the public is expected to believe, by simply getting this over with and letting it be seen.

Likewise, the Obama campaign would seem to benefit more from leaning on the Times to go ahead and release the tape already, so as to end the mounting speculation about its contents and prevent more fallout from the perceived coverup of this event -- if, that is, the video's contents are as innocuous as we have been led to believe.

After all, they might not be, and until the LA Times and the Obama campaign deign to release the video for all to see, we will have nothing to do but continue speculating about just what it may contain that so many are so desperate that none ever see.