All three morning shows on Friday skipped an exclusive Washington Times report which asserted that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama attempted to delay an agreement by the Bush administration to maintain a military presence in Iraq.
Writing in the October 10 edition of the Times, Barbara Slavin explained, "Iraqi leaders purported to The Times that Mr. Obama urged Baghdad to delay an agreement with Mr. Bush until next year when a new president will be in office - a charge the Democratic campaign denies." ABC's "Good Morning America," NBC's "Today" and CBS's "Early Show" all skipped any mention of this story.
Slavin, who is the paper's assistant managing editor for world and national security, goes on to write:
Mr. Obama spoke June 16 to Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari when he was in Washington, according to both the Iraqi Embassy in Washington and the Obama campaign. Both said the conversation was at Mr. Zebari's request and took place on the phone because Mr. Obama was traveling.
However, the two sides differ over what Mr. Obama said.
"In the conversation, the senator urged Iraq to delay the [memorandum of understanding] between Iraq and the United States until the new administration was in place," said Samir Sumaidaie, Iraq's ambassador to the United States.
[Emphasis added.] Considering the intense scrutiny over the so-called October Surprise allegations that the 1980 Ronald Reagan campaign attempted to delay the release of American hostages in Iran in order to help boost the candidate's chances in the presidential election, it will be interesting to see how the mainstream media react to serious charges against a Democrat. (Those allegations against Reagan were thoroughly discredited in two separate congressional investigations.)
See the Washington Times article for more on the subject.
