Currently, the race to the bottom amongst the few remaining pro-Clinton blogs is between Larry Johnson's NO QUARTER (now receiving an influx of traffic from places like Free Republic) and, in a bit of an upset, Jeralyn Merritt of Talk Left, who used to be a principled, progressive blogger.
The rightwing Neocon smear below the fold.
It appears in the L.A. Times, but did not start and does not end there.
The L.A. Times has this menacing headline:
Allies of Palestinians see a friend in Barack Obama
Oh nooeeeeessss!!!!!!!
The damning information?
CHICAGO -- It was a celebration of Palestinian culture -- a night of music, dancing and a dash of politics. Local Arab Americans were bidding farewell to Rashid Khalidi, an internationally known scholar, critic of Israel and advocate for Palestinian rights, who was leaving town for a job in New York.
A special tribute came from Khalidi's friend and frequent dinner companion, the young state Sen. Barack Obama. 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."
So far, nothing implying that he doesn't support Israel.
But, here's where the smear comes in.
And yet the warm embrace Obama gave to Khalidi, and words like those at the professor's going-away party, have left some Palestinian American leaders believing that Obama is more receptive to their viewpoint than he is willing to say.
Their belief is not drawn from Obama's speeches or campaign literature, but from comments that some say Obama made in private and from his association with the Palestinian American community in his hometown of Chicago, including his presence at events where anger at Israeli and U.S. Middle East policy was freely expressed.
At Khalidi's 2003 farewell party, for example, a young Palestinian American recited a poem accusing the Israeli government of terrorism in its treatment of Palestinians and sharply criticizing U.S. support of Israel. If Palestinians cannot secure their own land, she said, "then you will never see a day of peace."
One speaker likened "Zionist settlers on the West Bank" to Osama bin Laden, saying both had been "blinded by ideology."
Obama adopted a different tone in his comments and called for finding common ground. But his presence at such events, as he worked to build a political base in Chicago, has led some Palestinian leaders to believe that he might deal differently with the Middle East than either of his opponents for the White House.
And just how might he differ?
"I am confident that Barack Obama is more sympathetic to the position of ending the occupation than either of the other candidates," said Hussein Ibish, a senior fellow for the American Task Force on Palestine, referring to the Israeli presence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that began after the 1967 war. More than his rivals for the White House, Ibish said, Obama sees a "moral imperative" in resolving the conflict and is most likely to apply pressure to both sides to make concessions.
Scandalous, if true.
But, wait, there's more. He had dinner with (gasp!) a former professor of his!
Among other community events, Obama in 1998 attended a speech by Edward Said, the late Columbia University professor and a leading intellectual in the Palestinian movement. According to a news account of the speech, Said called that day for a nonviolent campaign "against settlements, against Israeli apartheid."
The use of such language to describe Israel's policies has drawn vehement objection from Israel's defenders in the United States. A photo on the pro-Palestinian website the Electronic Intifada shows Obama and his wife, Michelle, engaged in conversation at the dinner table with Said, and later listening to Said's keynote address. Obama had taken an English class from Said as an undergraduate at Columbia University.
Ohmigod, he was in the same room as someone who criticized Israel! He's Louis Farrakhan's twin!
Back to the horrors of Professor Khalidi:
In Chicago, one of Obama's friends was Khalidi, a highly visible figure in the Arab American community.
In the 1970s, when Khalidi taught at a university in Beirut, he often spoke to reporters on behalf of Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization. In the early 1990s, he advised the Palestinian delegation during peace negotiations. Khalidi now occupies a prestigious professorship of Arab studies at Columbia.
He is seen as a moderate in Palestinian circles, having decried suicide bombings against civilians as a "war crime" and criticized the conduct of Hamas and other Palestinian leaders. Still, many of Khalidi's opinions are troubling to pro-Israel activists, such as his defense of Palestinians' right to resist Israeli occupation and his critique of U.S. policy as biased toward Israel.
As M.J. Rosenberg summarizes the L.A. Times piece, "LA Times Today: Obama Not To Be Trusted, Doesn't Hate Arabs!!
If you think that sleazy L.A. Times article sounds familiar, that's because one of its sources is Debbie "Once a Muslim, Always a Muslim" Schlussel.
So, Democratic blogs unite in rejecting that, right?
Not the pro-Clinton ones.
Jeralyn Merritt at Talk Left dives into the gutter.
Where's Obama on Israel and the Palestinians? On both sides.
Since running for President, he's become an outspoken supporter of Israel. While in the Illinois legislature, he was a friend, supporter and beneficiary of Palestinians whose organizations trashed Israel.
Smear by association from a lawyer who defended Timothy McVeigh. What grand, unprincipled hypocrisy from a formerly respectable blogger.
Merritt implies that Obama has a 'Jewish problem.'
In Pennsylvania a few weeks ago, Marcel Groen, the chairman of the Montgomery County Democratic Party had this to say at a "gathering of Jewish communal and organizational leaders in Philadelphia."
Jews "don't have the luxury to decide if someone may be OK down the road...We have one candidate we know, the other we don't," Groen said, referring to U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)
The highest ranking Jewish leader in PA is Governor Ed Rendell, who supports Hillary, as does Rep. Allyson Schwartz.
I'll let Rosenberg respond to this one:
PS Those who keep using Jews and Israel as a wedge are doing us no favors. A tiny vulnerable minority, the last thing we need is to be used as a battering ram against any candidate, The tactic is as dangerous as it is ugly and cynical.
Not content to smear by association, Merritt then goes on to lie her ass off:
The way I see it: It's true that Obama has been a supporter of Israel since becoming Senator and especially since running for President. But, as a state legislator in Illinois, he more often expressed his support for Palestinian rights and opposition to Israel's militarism.
Note the lie "opposition to Israel's militarism"--this quote doesn't appear in the story as well as the logical fallacy--you can't support Palestinian rights and support Israel. You see, if you think Palestinians are human beings, Jews can't trust you.
I'm not sure if Palestinians or Jews should be more insulted by this.
But, of course, no one can beat Larry Johnson's rightwing filth site when it comes to bigotry in service of Hillary Clinton.
I'll just let this title speak for itself:
Jeremiah Wright Was a Muslim: Why That Matters
You see, the smear that Jews/Israel can't trust has been circulated by rightwing supporters of Clinton for some time now. Clinton's campaign routinely circulates stuff from sources like the American Spectator to smear Obama along these lines.
As Rosen
Here's a reality check:
Can Friends of Israel--and Jews--Trust Obama? In a word, yes.
The author? Notorious Israel-hater Martin Peretz.
But, we all know what the point is. As Ari Berman states:
The accusation that Obama is "anti-Israel" isn't really about Obama or Israel. It's about racism, Islamophobia, and an attempt by Obama's political opponents to score a few cheap political points.