Republicans including McCain funded Khalidi.

Lots of noise about Rachid Khalidi, current professor at the University of Columbia.

First as an aside, how many terrorists according to McCain/Palin do we have teaching young Americans? It seems that everyone Obama met through academia is a terrorist. Clue number one on how phony these allegations are.

Harpers writer Scott Horton had today rebutted the stupid and outrageous claims about the former University of Chicago and current Columbia University professor.

Of course, Khalidi has been involved in Palestinian causes. [National Review writer Andrew] McCarthy ought to ask John McCain about that, because McCain and Khalidi appear to have some joint interests, and that fact speaks very well of both of them. Indeed, the McCain-Khalidi connections are more substantial than the phony Obama-Khalidi connections McCarthy gussies up for his article. The Republican party's congressionally funded international-networking organization, the International Republican Institute-long and ably chaired by John McCain and headed by McCain's close friend, the capable Lorne Craner-has taken an interest in West Bank matters. IRI funded an ambitious project, called the Palestine Center, that Khalidi helped to support. Khalidi served on the Center's board of directors. The goal of that project, shared by Khalidi and McCain, was the promotion of civic consciousness and engagement and the development of democratic values in the West Bank. Of course, McCarthy is not interested in looking too closely into the facts, because they would not serve his shrill partisan objectives.

I have a suggestion for Andy McCarthy and his Hyde Park project. If he really digs down deep enough, he will come up with a Hyde Park figure who stood in constant close contact with Barack Obama and who, unlike Ayers and Khalidi, really did influence Obama's thinking about law, government, and policy. He is to my way of thinking a genuine radical. His name is Richard Posner, and he appears to be the most frequently and positively cited judge and legal academic in... National Review.

There you have it. I've checked the organizations the author talked about. McCain was chair there and their goals were as stated by the author. Khalidi has been living freely in this country, is a professor at Columbia University, one of the finest institution in the Universe. The organization once chaired by McCain funded Khalidi to promote democracy in the West Bank.

Now McCain wants a tape showing Obama at Khalidi's going away party.

Can you believe these people?

Oh, Richard Posner. Check him out. This Obama dude really likes free thinkers from both sides of the aisle. This right wing Posner is some character.

During the 1990s, while he served as chairman of the International Republican Institute (IRI), McCain distributed several grants to the Palestinian research center co-founded by Khalidi, including one worth half a million dollars.

A 1998 tax filing for the McCain-led group shows a $448,873 grant to Khalidi's Center for Palestine Research and Studies for work in the West Bank. (See grant number 5180, "West Bank: CPRS" on page 14 of this PDF.)

The relationship extends back as far as 1993, when John McCain joined IRI as chairman in January. Foreign Affairs noted in September of that year that IRI had helped fund several extensive studies in Palestine run by Khalidi's group, including over 30 public opinion polls and a study of "sociopolitical attitudes."

Not criticizing or supporting Khalidi. Whatever he is McCain supported him. The hypocrisy!!!