Demand That LA Times Release Obama Tape

I received this e-mail from Norma Segal:

With less than a week before Election Day, the L.A. Times has decided to withhold a potentially explosive video featuring presidential candidate Barack Obama and Rashid Khalidi, a pro-terrorist radical and one-time spokesman for the late PLO head Yasser Arafat, rather than allow the public to view the video and make up their own minds.

According to the L.A. Times report, the video shows Obama reminiscing about meals prepared by Khalidi's wife, and "conversations that had challenged his thinking, " but released no other details of the video.

If the L.A. Times professes to be in the news business, it should reveal all the news, not suppress it.

Given Obama's longtime, personal relationship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose anti-Israel rhetoric has been oft repeated, it's essential Americans have an opportunity to view the truths found on that videotape--before the election!

++ Action Item--Contact the L.A. Times

On the heals of an amazingly successful grassroots initiative directed at CNN just days ago, I'm urging members of the MRC Action Team to take fast action by contacting the L.A. Times and demanding they immediately release this video.

Go here to access the L.A. Times article, and send your personalized email to key L.A. Times staff:


http://www.mrcaction.org/r.asp?U=12866&CID=506&RID=18145069

Susan, at this late hour, we cannot allow the liberal
media to withhold key information from the American public.

We simply must take to task whenever we see liberal media bias--
and this is certainly a prime example.

Please take immediate action by contacting the L.A. Times today,
demanding release of that potentially explosive video by clicking here:


http://www.mrcaction.org/r.asp?U=12867&CID=506&RID=18145069


After sending your emails, and making your phone calls, forward this message to 20-30friends urging them to follow your lead by clicking here:


http://www.mrcaction.org/r.asp?U=12868&CID=506&RID=18145069

Again, there is far too much at stake to allow the liberal media elite to dictate what stories we are fed each day. The media have a responsibility to report the truth, and we must hold them accountable whenever necessary.

With your help, I believe we can make a difference here!

Thank you for your support!
Brent Bozell
Founder and President

Smears Debunked: The Truth About Gov. Sarah Palin

I received the following e-mail from Norma Segal this past Wednesday:

Smear: Democrats lie about Governor Palin supporting Pat Buchanan for President Facts: Gov. Sarah Palin endorsed Steve Forbes in 1996 and 2000, not George W. Bush for Pat Buchanan.

While Mayor of Wasilla, AK, Gov. Palin had a policy that if a candidate came to her city, she would wear that button on the day they were there. Pat Buchanan came to Wasilla so the day he came, she wore a button. On July 26, 1999, then-Mayor Palin wrote the Anchorage Daily News to clarify the record because a wire service story the paper had published nine days before "may have left your readers with the perception that I am endorsing" Buchanan because she had welcomed his visit to her town. "As mayor," she explained, "I will welcome all the candidates in Wasilla." (Anchorage Daily News, 7/26/99)

Smear: Democrats lie about Governor Palin endorsing the views of a Jews for Jesus speaker that spoke once in her church.
Facts: Gov. Palin did not know this speaker would be at her church and emphatically rejects his views.

This is based on concerns about a sermon presented last month at the church she usually attends. The Jewish news agency JTA investigated and reported that 1) Palin would have had no way of knowing that this person would be speaking at church that day, 2) Palin rejects the Christian speaker's offensive views, and 3) Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, has seen "no evidence" that she shares those views. (JTA, 9/3/08)

Also, this speaker spoke once at Palin's church. Democrats should be cautious when their candidate, Barack Obama, embraced an anti-American, anti-Semitic pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright who was both a personal friend and mentor for 20 years. Democrats are absolutely attempting to smear Gov. Palin with distorted facts. Democrats are doing a disservice to themselves if they think with one or two distorted facts that they can fool the Jewish community.

Smear: Democrats lie about Governor Palin censoring library books.
Facts: The Anchorage Daily News found that then-Mayor Palin never proposed to ban a single book. (Anchorage Daily News, 9/4/08) All other rumors and innuendo on this topic are outright smears.

Smear: Democrats lie about Governor Palin seeking to have creationism taught in public schools.
Facts: Gov. Palin took no action to add creationism to the state's curriculum throughout her term in office.

The Associated Press investigated and found that Gov. Palin "kept her campaign pledge not to "push the State Board of Education to add creation-based alternatives to the state's required curriculum or look for creationism activists when she appointed members." The AP also quoted a political observer in the state who observed, "She has basically ignored social issues period." (Associated Press, 9/3/08)

The RJC is determined to set the record straight in the face of frenzied attacks on Gov. Palin and Sen. McCain. Please let us know if you hear about a smear that needs to be addressed.

Barbecue 6-21

Pamela Hall took a number of beautiful pictures of our barbecue on 6-21 in West Shokan. Here are a few of her pictures.

Would a President Giuliani Cut Taxes?

Norma Segal and I have been debating the merits of Rudy Giuliani. I have some concerns about Rudy. Specifically, he tended to obsess on minor conflicts. For instance, there was a battle with the taxi drivers that I recall caused him to redirect all of the police one day to a taxi demonstration. This was a conflict that Giuliani precipitated, similar to his threatened law suit over a New York Magazine ad. Giuliani's anti-crime initiative of ticketing minor offenses was intrusive. I recall getting parking tickets for parking five feet instead of six feet from a hydrant on 87th Street, or something like that.

Steve Malanga of City Journal argues that:

"Giuliani changed the primary mission of the police department to preventing crime from happening rather than merely responding to it...William Bratton, reorganized the NYPD, emphasizing a street-crimes unit that moved around the city..."

But I have had a long conversation with several NYPD officers and executives who said that Giuliani did not support the police in substance and left the police department with low morale and in weak organizational shape.

I am skeptical that reductions in crime rates during the 1990s were due to anything other than demographic shifts. In particular, the aging of the baby boomers reduced the percentage of the population most likely to engage in violent crimes. Also, Mario Cuomo had invested in expensive prisons during the 1980s, and these likely kept felons off the streets. I think it is a stretch to attribute reduced crime rates in New York City to Mayor Giuliani.

Malanga agrees with Norma about Giuliani's tax policies. He argues that Giuliani is a "conservative" because he cut city spending by 1.6 percent his first year in office. He also contends that Giuliani:

"reduced or eliminated 23 taxes, including the sales tax on some clothing purchases, the tax on commercial rents everywhere outside of Manhattan’s major business districts, and various taxes on small businesses and self-employed New Yorkers."

In a city that suffers from taxphilia to the degree that New York does a 1.6 percent cut in spending is a major improvement. In the scheme of things it is small change given that New York's spending is out of line and that much of it goes into wasteful government operations and mismanagement.

On August 4, 2001 Marcia van Wagner of the Citizen's Budget Commission wrote the following letter to the New York Times.

"...The common perception that Mr. Giuliani has reined in spending results from misleading city budget reporting practices that omit increased spending on debt service and do not adjust for the transfer of one year's surplus to the next.

"Accurately reported, New York City spending grew 6 percent a year from fiscal year 1997 to 2001, while inflation averaged 2.3 percent. In a comparable period (1985 to 1989) under Mr. Koch, spending grew 6.7 percent a year while inflation averaged 4.5 percent.

"New Yorkers should not believe that the recent growth in the number of police officers and teachers was accomplished with budget restraint."

According to the New York City Independent Budget Office , the city's spending increased from $32.1 billion to $36.0 billion, or 12 percent from June 1996 to June 2000. During the same period the Consumer Price Index increased by nine percent, from 157.8 to 173.7. Thus, Mayor Giuliani did not cut spending during his last four years in office, although he did not increase it very much. There may be budget shenanagans that cause these numbers to be understated, as Ms. van Wagner argues. In any case, these numbers do not qualify Mayor Giuliani as a tax cutter or as a supporter of limited government. It is true that holding the line in tax-and-spend New York is an achievement.

Can a small government Republican emerge from tax-and-spend New York?

Regarding spending, Mayor Giuliani probably is better than President Bush. But he is not a standard bearer for reductions in the scope of government or free markets. If he aims to be, he needs to make a stronger case that he is.