Paul Begala at Brave New Films

A new black mark on McCain: Past connexions with racists

2008-10-11T04:05:39Z

With the McCain/Palin campaign resorting to desperation tactics to save what little shred of credibility they may have in Indecision 2008, along comes word that John McCain sat on the directorate of a rather shady "anti-Communist" group with known connexions to racists and white supremacists.

RawStory (as gets the hat tip for this video,via RawReplay) explains further:

NBC's Tom Brokaw talked to Paul Begala about how the McCain campaign is attacking Barack Obama's association with William Ayers, who was a member of the Weather Underground.

Brokaw played a clip of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin criticizing Obama's connection to Ayers by referencing a New York Times article published on the subject.

"It turns out one of his earlier supporters is a man who, according to The New York Times, is a domestic terrorist," Palin said.

After pointing out that Obama was eight years old when Ayers' planned the attacks, Begala believes "guilt by association" attacks are dangerous territory for McCain.

Begala said, "This guilt by association path is going to be trouble ultimately for the McCain campaign. You can go back--I have written a book about the candidate. A dozen researchers go through him. I didn't even put this in the book. John McCain sat on a board.

"It was the U.S. Council for World Freedom. It was chaired by a guy named John Singlaub who wound up involved in the Iran Contra scandal. It was an ultra conservative right-wing group.

"The Anti-Defamation League, in 1981 when McCain was on the board, said this about this organization. It was affiliated with the World Anti-Communist League, the parent organization which ADL said had increasingly become a gathering place, a forum, a point of contact for extremists, racist and anti-Semites."

This video is from NBC's Meet the Press, broadcast October 5, 2008.

Which ought to raise further questions about McCain's Presidential qualifications, over and above the "Keating Five" imbroglio--and which he needs to be asked about.

Or what otherwise stands in the way?

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TPMtv: Convention Day One

2008-10-30T09:37:02Z

Your Daily Politics Video Blog: In today's episode of TPMtv, we recap Day one of the Democratic National Convention and explain how we're managing to shoot live (or almost live) video via the web.

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TPMtv Interviews Paul Begala At the DNC

2008-10-29T15:30:54Z

August 25, 2008

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In Hillary's defense... and Obama's

2008-03-22T21:54:58Z

Paul Begala was on the Stepanie Miller show this morning. They discussed the so-called plagiarism issue, now featuring Hillary's alleged lifting of John Edwards' lines. Wrong. He confirmed that he was in on writing the lines in question, and they were for Bill Clinton.

Here's a recap of the story:

Hillary: You know, whatever happens, we're going to be fine. You know, we have strong support from our families and our friends. I just hope that we'll be able to say the same thing about the American people. And that's what this election should be about.
Edwards the December 13 debate: What's not at stake are any of us. All of us are going to be just fine no matter what happens in this election. But what's at stake is whether America is going to be fine.
UPDATE: Josh Marshall has a 1992 Bill Clinton line she (and maybe Edwards) could have borrowed.
UPDATE: The Clinton campaign responds that the phrase is extremely common.

In other words, Begala confirms the lines were Bill Clinton's. Edwards used them, and Hillary did, too. His point: It's all in the family and who really cares?

He's right. These "plagiarism" accusations are getting old fast. Let's stick to the issues.

The video above is of Bill Clinton, and then Hillary echoing his words about "taking hits" in an election. Here's a clip of Hillary at the debate, preceded by the similar words by John Edwards.

Paul Begala - How Fox Knowingly Reported A False Story About Me

2008-07-09T19:37:28Z

For those of you that might not have seen this, thanks to Paul Begala and the Huffington Post. Read Paul's e-mails to FOX's Major Garrett; repeatedly telling him that the story of him going to work for the Clinton campaign was an out and out lie. Yet, FOX aired it anyway, unsubstantiated and with the main source denying it. I can see every collegiate journalism professor cringing.

It's just astounding how completely unprofessional and out-of-line FOX Noise is these days. Never mind their bias and being a mouthpiece for the far right; they are just out-and-out lousy journalists who routinely lie and distort the facts.

The only thing that would qualify as actual news on FOX, is if they actually told the public the truth about something. Now that would be news but don't hold your breath.

CNN: Was Fox News Employee Asked To Lie For Rudy G?

2008-10-18T15:30:04Z

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Begala: Turning The Screws On Wingnut Hatchetmen

2008-10-28T09:30:32Z

Liars fear him, Wolf Blitzer envies him and informed Americans listen to him. Begala just won't stop!

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