Son: Yawn.

As to the substance of the event, the fundraiser for Obama, it sounds like he's willing to entertain communication and dialogue with people whose viewpoints differ from his own.  Even people who we may not count as friends or even allies of the USA.  But it's a good thing, not a bad thing.  Honestly, how do you expect that we will ever resolve conflict with anti-american groups in the middle east?  Kill them all?  It can't be done.  That's why communication is a step towards victory, not capitulation.  Take the moral high ground and "win hearts and minds" for chrissakes.  Be open to compromise when possible, and live the american example of inclusiveness, honesty, fairness and freedom.  Does Obama want israel wiped from the face of the earth, just because he has spoken with a member of the PLO?  Of course not, it's ludicrous even to suggest it.  The truth is that in an exchange of ideas, the better idea wins.  If a former PLO spokesman has legitimate concerns for the welfare of his people, then Obama would be wise to listen to him.  Happier palestinians means fewer terrorists.

I'll grant it's not something that your hero Bush would ever do.  He would rather "liberate" by force.  But that is not a real solution.  You can't "liberate" people from millenia of entrenched cultural and social norms by bombing them back to the stone age.  You fight ideas with better ideas.

Now, as to the news story:

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/28/la-times-refuses-release-tape-obama-praising-controversial-activist/

"This is a story that we reported on six months ago, so any suggestion that we're suppressing the tape is absurd -- we're the ones that brought the existence of the tape to light," Sullivan said.

the suggestion of its existence is almost certainly more inflammatory than the actual substance of the tape, and the evidence is the timing: why is everyone getting excited about it now when the story was printed six months ago?  Because six months ago, people would have said "so what" if the tape were released, but now, a week before the election, fox news can throw a tantrum and get people riled up.

You think that the LA Times refusing to release the tape is a sign of bias, but I say it's the opposite.  They own the tape and can do what they want with it, including not sharing it when fox news freaks out over a non-story a week before the election. conservatives just want something to get angry about, and the LA times said go get your kicks somewhere else.

Yawn.