Count The Propaganda Tools (home version)

In an all new special Halloween edition of "Guilt By Association", McCain/Palin boarded the Smear Talk Express again yesterday in yet another baseless attempt at smear and fear. They sure are desperate, aren't they?

Let's count how many right wing propaganda tools are used in this one single story, shall we? First, McCain and Palin accused the Los Angeles Times of protecting Obama by withholding a videotape of Obama attending a party in 2003. (Ding...give yourself 1 point if you said, "attack and/or blame the liberal media"). Never mind, that the LAT was responsible for actually breaking the story.

At issue is Rashid Khalidi, who McCain and Palin called a former spokesman for the Palestine Liberation Organization. (Ding...give yourself 1 point if you said, "associating with known terrorists". Give yourself a bonus point if you were smart enough to know that Mr. Khalidi was never in reality a spokesman for the PLO, which falls under the Republican propaganda tool called "making things up").

At this party, Mr. Khalidi made some anti-Israel statements. Palin was quick to point out that "what we don't know is how Barack Obama responded to these slurs on a country that he professes to support." (Ding...1 point for "using ignorance instead of facts"). It must have merely slipped her mind that Obama is on record as saying that his commitment to Israel's security is "nonnegotiable."

Saving the best for last, while trying to paint yet another bogus picture of Obama as someone who "palls around" with shady characters, McCain and Palin forgot to mention one tiny little detail. The International Republican Institute, which McCain has long chaired, donated at least $448,000 to a Palestinian research organization in the 1990s that this same man, Rashid Khalidi, helped found. (Ding...1 point if you said "gigantic hypocrites").

Thanks for playing. I think I'll file this under "I can't make this stuff up".