Thursday, September 20, 2012

A Tale of Two Secret Videos

The media's extensive and exaggerated coverage of the "secret video" of Mitt Romney speaking to supporters about the culture of dependency ought to remind us of another "secret video" that was not so widely covered.  This other video is not secret in the sense of having been filmed surreptitiously (perhaps illegally) in a private home, like the Romney video.  As far as we know, it was filmed legally and openly, but it has remained secret only because the LA Times has chosen not to release it to the public.
In 2003, when Rashid Khalidi was appointed as Edward Said Professor of Anti-Israeli Rhetoric -- er, that is, Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies -- at Columbia University, he was feted with a farewell dinner in Chicago, where some of his friends and allies gathered to pay tribute to his pro-PLO fervor and to bash the Jews.
It is supposed that Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn were there.  According to the LA Times' brief printed account, the occasion was a cheerful evening of music, dancing, and anti-Israeli poetry.  In addition, "[a] special tribute came from Khalidi's friend and frequent dinner companion, the young state Sen. Barack Obama."

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