... John McCain has been fussing over the link between Barack Obama and Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi. The Los Angeles Times reported in April that Obama had some kind words for Khalidi at the latter's University of Chicago farewell dinner in 2003, but the paper has refused to release a videotape of the event because of a promise made to their source not to do so. It's already been pointed out that if speaking at a dinner for Khalidi is an offense, then McCain has some explaining to do for the hundreds of thousands of dollars granted to Khalidi's organization by the foundation McCain chairs. But that didn't stop McCain spokesman Michael Goldfarb from pushing the story yesterday to CNN ... Meanwhile, the backlash against McCain's latest addition to the kitchen-sink strategy is growing ...
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/10/rashid_khalidi_will_anyone_stand_for_mccains_final_smear.html?mid=daily-intel--20081031&imw=Y&f=most-emailed-24h5A run-down of retorts (with links) to the McCain campaign's noise<edit: subject line html>