Hume's report citing LA Times article on Khalidi event omitted Times' report that Obama “called for finding common ground”

Written by Lily Yan & Christine Schwen

Published

Reading from a Los Angeles Times article, Fox News' Brit Hume stated regarding a 2003 going-away party for then-University of Chicago history professor Rashid Khalidi attended by Sen. Barack Obama: “A special tribute came from Khalidi's friend and frequent dinner companion, the young state Senator Barack Obama. Obama reminisced about meals prepared by Khalidi's wife and conversations that had challenged his thinking.” But Hume did not note that the Times article also reported that “Obama adopted a different tone in his comments and called for finding common ground.”

On the October 28 edition of Fox News' Special Report, reading from an April 10 Los Angeles Times article by staff writer Peter Wallsten about a 2003 going-away party for then-University of Chicago history professor Rashid Khalidi attended by Sen. Barack Obama, host Brit Hume stated: “A special tribute came from Khalidi's friend and frequent dinner companion, the young state Senator Barack Obama. Obama reminisced about meals prepared by Khalidi's wife and conversations that had challenged his thinking.” Hume added, “Wallsten writes that a young Palestinian read a poem accusing the Israeli government of terrorism. Another speaker likened Israeli settlers on the West Bank to Osama bin Laden.” However, Hume did not note that in the April 10 article, in the sentence following the reference to bin Laden, Wallsten reported that at the 2003 farewell celebration, “Obama adopted a different tone in his comments and called for finding common ground.”

Moreover, Hume reported that "[t]he celebration was a farewell for Khalidi as he left Chicago for a job in New York," but did not note, as Wallsten did in his April 10 article, that Khalidi was leaving his position as a professor at the University of Chicago and in Wallsten's words, “now occupies a prestigious professorship of Arab studies at Columbia."

From the October 28 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume:

HUME: And now the most enthralling two minutes in television, the latest from the “Political Grapevine.”

The McCain camp has now joined those demanding the Los Angeles Times release a 2003 video that shows Barack Obama celebrating with a group of Palestinians hostile to Israel.

Peter Wallsten wrote in April about Obama's association with former Palestinian operative Rashid Khalidi. The celebration was a farewell for Khalidi as he left Chicago for a job in New York. Wallsten called Khalidi a, quote, “critic of Israel and advocate for Palestinian rights.”

He says, quote, “A special tribute came from Khalidi's friend and frequent dinner companion, the young state Senator Barack Obama. Obama reminisced about meals prepared by Khalidi's wife and conversations that had challenged his thinking,” end quote.

Wallsten writes that a young Palestinian read a poem accusing the Israeli government of terrorism. Another speaker likened Israeli settlers on the West Bank to Osama bin Laden.

Wallsten confirmed he has the tape, but he told the political blog Gateway Pundit he does not plan on releasing it, and the newspaper itself declines comment.