McCain slams Obama over foreign policy experience

Candidate accuses L.A. Times of bias for withholding videotape

Last Updated: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 | 6:33 PM ET

CBC News

Eager to boost his support six days before the U.S. presidential election, Republican candidate John McCain sharply criticized Democratic rival Barack Obama's foreign policy credentials and questioned his relationship with a Palestinian-rights advocate.

McCain campaigned Wednesday in the key swing state of Florida, seen as crucial to a presidential race in which many polls are giving Obama the edge.

"The question is whether this is a man who has what it takes to protect America from Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and other grave threats in the world," McCain said on Wednesday after meeting with national security advisers in Tampa, Fla.

"And he has given you no reason to answer in the affirmative," he said.

In bringing up foreign policy, McCain returned to an area was viewed as the Republican's strength until the impact of the financial crisis sent shockwaves throughout the election campaign, he did not ignore economic policy.

He said the country's financial troubles, while serious, would pass, and the nation would emerge from the crisis even stronger.

Obama tax policies would hurt businesses: McCain

He also repeated criticisms that Obama's call to increase taxes on those making more than $250,000 would hurt small businesses.

"Senator Obama is running to spread the wealth. I'm running to create more wealth. Senator Obama is running to punish the successful. I'm running to make everyone successful," McCain told a Miami rally.

Obama, who in recent days has earned the moniker "Redistributor in Chief" from McCain, would raise taxes on those making more than $250,000 and cut taxes for lower- and middle-income workers.

McCain's economic policies would be bad news for the middle class and would mean more of the Republican approach followed by President Bush, Obama said Wednesday.

"He's spending these last few days calling me every name in the book," Obama told about 28,000 supporters in Raleigh, North Carolina Wednesday. "I'm sorry to see my opponent sink so low.

"By the end of the week, he'll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten," he said before heading to Florida for his own campaign events.

"So let's cut through the negative ads and the phony attacks — under John McCain, the middle class will watch wealth get favored over work, jobs get shipped overseas, and the cost of health care and college go through the roof."

McCain suggests L.A. Times bias

McCain also accused the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday of protecting Barack Obama by withholding a videotape of the Democratic presidential nominee attending a party five years ago with a Palestinian-American professor and critic of Israel.

McCain called Rashid Khalidi, a professor at Columbia University, a former spokesman for the Palestinian Liberation Organization, a characterization that Khalidi has denied in the past. Guests at the event made critical comments about Israel, McCain said, adding 1960s radical Bill Ayers had attended the same party.

In a story published last April, the Times said Obama spoke out at the videotaped event — a party for Khalidi — on the need for common ground on the Israel-Palestinian issue. Obama has said during the campaign that his commitment to Israel's security is "non-negotiable."

"I'm not in the business of talking about media bias," McCain said Wednesday in an interview with Hispanic radio stations in Florida.

"But what if there was a tape with John McCain with a neo-Nazi outfit being held by some media outlet?"

The paper, which has endorsed Obama's candidacy, said Tuesday it would not release the tape because of a promise made to the source who provided it.

"More than six months ago the Los Angeles Times published a detailed account of the events shown on the videotape," Jamie Gold, the newspaper's reader's representative, said in a statement. "The Times is not suppressing anything. Just the opposite — the L.A. Times brought the matter to light."

Khalidi-McCain connection

But McCain also appears to have a connection to Khalidi.

In the 1990s, McCain was chairman of the International Republican Institute, which gave several grants to the Centre for Palestine Research Studies, an institution co-founded by Khalidi, the Huffington Post political blog reported.

Khalidi has publicly criticized Israel, but he and Obama have both said they hold very different opinions on Israeli issues.

Khalidi is a professor of Middle East Studies at Columbia University and a longtime friend of Obama's. He taught at the University of Chicago until 2003 and Obama and his wife, Michelle, often socialized with Khalidi and his wife, Mona.

The Khalidis hosted a political fundraiser for Obama in 2000. The Woods Fund charity gave money to the Arab-American Action Network, run by Mona Khalidi, while Obama served on the charity's board. Ayers also served on the board.

Ayers was a founder of the radical group the Weather Underground, which set off bombs at the Capitol and the Pentagon in protest of the Vietnam War nearly 40 years ago. McCain has criticized Obama for having had a friendly relationship with Ayers, with whom Obama worked on two community organizations several years ago, and for downplaying their ties.

Obama has noted that he was a child when Ayers, now a university professor, was with the Weather Underground. The Democratic candidate has condemned Ayers' radical past and violent activities.