Posts with the tag Ayers

The police lieutenant who came to copy down those threats deadpanned that he hoped the guy who was going to shoot me got there before the guy who was going to water-board me, since it would be most foul to be tortured and then shot.

John Lewis-Dickerson, Atlanta — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 02:34:22 EST

Bill Ayers | What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been

Bill Ayers looks back on a surreal campaign season.

Whew! What was all that mess? I'm still in a daze, sorting it all out, decompressing.

Pass the Vitamin C.

For the past few years, I have gone about my business, hanging out with my kids and, now, my grandchildren, taking care of our elders (they moved in as the kids moved out), going to work, teaching and writing. And every day, I participate in the never-ending effort to build a powerful and irresistible movement for peace and social justice.

In years past, I would now and then - often unpredictably - appear in the newspapers or on TV, sometimes with a reference to Fugitive Days, my 2001 memoir of the exhilarating and difficult years of resistance against the American war in Vietnam. It was a time when the world was in flames, revolution was in the air, and the serial assassinations of black leaders disrupted our utopian dreams.................

ENTIRE ARTICLE- http://www.truthout.org/110708R

MCCAIN'S CONNECTED TO AYERS AND RASHID KHALIDI

Juli Norwood — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:50:45 EDT

John McCain's smear tactic's against Barack Obama just backfired in his face!

Keith Olbermann blows McCain and Palin out of the water with an Expose on McCain's connection to Ayers and Rashid Khalidi.

McCain has a CLOSER relationship to Rashid Khalidi than Obama ever had, and oh my goodness John McCain is connected to Ayer's too! GASP! ;-)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27464383#27464383

Juli Norwood

John McCain: you had a chance

Jeanine — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 18:12:37 EDT

John McCain, in 2003, you came out against the president when you said the Bush tax cuts were wrong because we were at war and because they heavily favored the very rich. But you changed your tune to get support from other Republicans. Now you promise to extend the tax cuts, with no regard for the debt mounting up for our children, and you call the tax proposals of Barack Obama socialism.

You could have chosen a running mate who’d spent time working for all Americans and taken an interest in the world, but you chose a hypocrite who raised the sales tax while claiming she cut taxes, who aggressively went after earmarks while claiming independence, and who abused power at the local and state levels. Sarah Palin obtained her first passport last year. With the help of over $150,000, she brought glamour to your campaign, as you chose politics over country.

You could have run a campaign on issues. Of course, making the case for trickle-down economics is challenging, and offering a $300 million prize for a better car battery is pretty hokey, but you could have tried. Perhaps you could have followed the model of Alan Greenspan, who admitted he was wrong about deregulation and the markets. Instead, you yell socialism, brag about being a maverick, and sponsor robo-calls claiming Obama pals around with terrorists. You know all Obama did was work with a man Republicans and Democrats in Chicago have accepted into society as a hard-working educator.

Everyone, McCain had a chance to do better. Vote for Obama-Biden.

John McCain is Dishonest

Ivan Richmond — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 15:23:49 EDT

John McCain has been running a character assassination campaign against Barack Obama. He's been playing a con game to try to shift around Bill Ayers and Barack Obama to try to somehow associate Obama with Ayer's militant anti-war activities during the Vietnam War (which happened when Obama was a kid), just because Obama, along with countless respectable citizens, both Democrats and Republicans, served on the board of directors of a non-profit organization that Ayers, now a respected Professor of Education, happened also to be on.

John McCain has been playing a shell and pea game trying to make people associate Obama with certain bad apples in an organization called ACORN who were trying to make false voter registrations. The truth is that ACORN is a bipartisan get-out-the-vote organization and they were the ones who blew the whistle on their these bad apples as soon as they found out they were doing it. What that means is that all they want to do is just register as many people to vote as they can, but they leave the decisions up to those people. The problem is that some of the people they hired to get the vote out (and, as you can imagine they hire thousands of people), want to cheat to make money, so they'd fill out phony voter registration forms. This goes totally against what ACORN is trying to do. This link explains it:

http://www.acorn.org/index.php?id=17855

It's true that the Obama supports ACORN, because, as a good, honest, upstanding citizen who supports Democracy, he wants everyone who's eligible to vote to be registered and vote, regarldess of whether they vote for him, for McCain, for Ralph Nader, or for someone else. That's Democracy at it's finest. He and ACORN are both blameless in this regretable act by a few bad apples.

But, McCain didn't stop his smear games there. He's authorized robocalls and mailings to people all over America saying nasty, hateful things about Barack Obama. These robocalls and mailings try to make him out to be a terrorist or claim that he's a Muslim. The truth is that Obama's a Christian. The truth is that Barack Obama's an upstanding citizen who cares about protecting America from terrorists.

What you can do.

Contact eveyone you know and tell them this. Stop dishonest character assassination attempts this elections season. Write letters to the editors of your local newspapers (you may even be able to do this online, just go to google.com, search for your newspaper's name and you may be surprised to find that they're online and you can send a letter to the editor over the internet right now). Do whatever you can to get the word out about this dishonesty from the McCain camp.

One reason I'm voting for Obama is because I think he's simply more honest than McCain. McCain just seems like an oily con artist to me.

If you'd like to donate to my grassroots campaign for Barack Obama, click the link below:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/ivanrichmond

Joe the Secessionist

Citizen — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:52:22 EDT

Joe Vogler (I don't know if Joe was a plumber) was murdered during a sale of illegal explosives. Did Joe wear a Stars and Stripes lapel pin? No way, Joe said, "I won't be buried under their damned flag...when Alaska is an independent nation they can bring my bones home." Who was Joe? Joe was the founder of the Alaskan Independence Party. It's stated goal is " the ultimate independence of Alaska," from the United States. They are modern day secessionists.

Surely a woman like Palin, who has lambasted Obama for marginal associations with a man who shared a community board, has denounced her secessionist husband for his membership in the AIP. Oops, She was the keynote speaker for their 2006 convention. Hard to say she didn't know what they were about, she attended their 2000 convention with her Dude. She recorded the greeting for this year's 2008 convention. Say it ain't so Sarah! What, no renounciation of the Dude who wants to steal those oil reserves from US Citizens? No renounciation of the Dude or his organization that wants to rip the largest state from the Union? I presume that since Palin has read "All of them" newspapers, that she should have some understanding of what happened during the last Civil War. No renuciation, but it's okay for her to engender hatred against a man attempting to do something constructive for his community that involved sitting on a board with someone who did something horrid when Obama was only eight. Oh, Sarah, beware of the log in your own eye before you condemn the splinter in Obama's.

Should Brooklynites Protest the BROOKLYN firm doing the robocalls?

Scott — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 12:08:37 EDT

I was absolutely HORRIFIED to read in the Huffington Post that the slanderous robocalls that accuse Barack Obama of working closely with terrorists that kill Americans are coming from Brooklyn.

This past week, Shoff, a Freeborn, Minnesota Democratic County Commissioner, received the Hollywood call while at work. Because state law dictates that any such calls be made by an actual human, Shoff demanded that he be connected to the supervisor. That official, who worked at the robocall shop King TeleServices in (Red Hook) Brooklyn, New York, said that they had been contracted out by FLS-Connect.

Officials with King TeleServices did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Asked about the connection to King TeleServices, a receptionist for FLS relayed a message from her supervisors that implicitly acknowledged that they have been working on behalf of the Arizona Republican: "If it is having to do with the McCain campaign or the RNC, you will have to direct your question to them."

Believe me, I know there's lots of other fronts, and important positive action to be taken. I have canvassed in PA, donate too much of my budget to Obama, and will soon be traveling to FL (after voting absentee) to get out the vote in that state. But hear me out.

We're in a blue state, and feel at times we're impotent to affect this election. What we can do is utilize our easy access to the media, and our sheer volume of numbers to make a point.

We could seize this as a chance to REINFORCE the message I'm gratefully hearing more and more; that McCain is running a slanderous and dishonorable campaign. Also that his negative and untrue attacks are backfiring, and offending reasonable people who want to discuss the issues and elevate the level of political discourse. I think we should. I think we should send out a message that "Brooklyn don't go for that! If you wanna tear the American electorate apart with your lies and racism, I do not want you to do it in my backyard!"

Post your interest, ideas, suggested date, time, here, or email me at clarknt67ATnycDOTrrDOTcom

Scott Wooledge

Robo-calls: John McCain, have you no decency?

Jeanine — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 09:01:50 EDT

Robo-calls paid for by the McCain campaign and his supporters claim Barack Obama is a close associate of Bill Ayers, a domestic terrorist who killed Americans. People in Chicago, including Republicans, confirm Ayers and Obama only 'crossed paths' while working on an Annenberg project and as neighbors in Hyde Park. Obama did not know Ayers in the 60s.

Obama does not look to Ayers for advice. His advisors and supporters include Nobel Prize winners (62 scientists in a recent public letter); investors and business people, such as Warren Buffett; former SEC chairs; two-thirds of professional economists recently polled; admirals; generals; and the overwhelming majority of soldiers in Iraq who have made political donations.

McCain is indifferent to the impropriety of having paid lobbyists on his campaign staff, including his campaign manager, who received money from a company hired by Fannie Mae until a few weeks ago. McCain has been silent on the decision by the Alaskan legislature that Sarah Palin abused her power. During the last debate, McCain repudiated the “fringe” calling Obama a terrorist. But he allows robo-calls to carry this same message. These charges against McCain are true and important. Voters, pay attention to what matters.

McCain and AntiAmerican Message BS

Ms Lovelee — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:23:04 EDT

I am in total shock! I can not believe that McCain and Palin are saying that Voter Fraud is ocurring when it was Voter Registration errors. I am so sick of listening to the McCain campaign over and over talking about Ayers, Wright and ACORN.

ACORN was affiliated with McCain in 1996. But that is considered ok?!

Look at McCain onYouTube with ACORN:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ9wy2MI1NI

It was ok for him but not Obama??? What is this McCarthism - Unbelievable!!!!

What about Ayers?!?! Look here:

Ayers is on the Annenberg board of Directors for the Annenberg

John McCain has on a list (on his website) the name of an Annenberg! Yes, you heard me right, those same Annenbergs that have given money to Bill Ayres, 50 million worth, therefore the Annenbergs must be terrorist sponsors!

Leonore Annenberg is one of the 100 U.S. Ambassadors who support McCain.

http://www.johnmccain.com/informing/news/PressReleases/1b838127-b4a0-4868-9906-62f555376089.htm

I think Obama’s relatively weak but nonetheless real interactions with William Ayers are a legitimate campaign issue. But Obama’s best response, after telling the facts of the relationship, is to point out who else supported him. Republican machers Walter and Leonora Annenberg$50 million. They also gave money to Rick Santorum, Strom Thurmond and Mitt Romney. Annenberg was Nixon’s ambassador to Britain. If Obama is “palling around with terrorists,” the Republican Annenbergs are funding them. gave the former terrorist

Yesterday, the McCain campain put out a press release boasting that Leonore Annenberg had just endorsed him for president. Why is McCain happy to accept the endorsement of a funder of terrorism?

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/republicans-who.html

He also fails to point out the close relationship the Annenberg family had with the Reagan’s…..

This is going way too far and I believe is destroying the fabric of our Nation.

Republican Lies Should Be Taken Seriously

Jim — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 17:32:37 EDT

McCain, Palin and their foul surrogates are on TV spouting lies and distortions that are beyond the pale. I just heard on Hard Ball some far right congressperson, Bockman, from Minnesota spout the most nasty rhetoric I've heard about Obama and Democrats, in the same vein as Palin and McCain do in their stump speeches.

It's time that Obama'a campaign start to put out the names of the people that McCain associated with over the past 100 years. The junkets McCain has been on, not only the Keating Five, Palin's corrupt behavior in Alaska and her total lack of ethics. There's a lot more about both of these people that has not been looked at and needs to be aired!

Exclusive use of the high road got Democrats like Kerry no where. There has to be some return fire to counter the Ultra Negative Blitz that Karl Rove and his proteges have launched.

This whole smear campaign is geared to sew doubt in people's minds, so that once in the voting booth they will once again settle for the devil they know. The Republicans and McCain are out there trying, and in some cases succeeding, in deceiving middle and working class Americans in to thinking that the Republican Party somehow represents their concerns.

The Republicans and McCain/Palin will say and do anything so that they and their neocon friends can continue to rape this country and turn it into some notion they have of what this country should be, a place ruled by the few.

The Best Person for the Job

Jim — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:05:00 EDT

It is clear, more then ever that the best team for this country is Obama and Biden. Even though at times during this debate, I wanted Barack to go after more of McBush's lies, distortions and insults, I can see that there is a strategy in how Barack responded or didn't respond.

But we can respond. It is obvious that anything abut Ayers or Acorn is a distraction and has nothing to do with Barack Obama or the Democratic Party. I hope the Obama campaign advertising goes after McCain and Palin on issues like the Keating five, and her ethics violations. There are also some real issues like the free cell phone towers on McBush's ranch and how Pallin's million dollar plus home got built in Alaska. Palin has no credentials for the Vice Presidency. I really wanted some response to McCain's attack on Joe Biden.

The high road is fine but there needs to be some response to smears as the campaign has been doing. We need to keep emailing everyone we know to dispute smears, set the record straight and inform everyone about the negative aspects of McBush/Palin.

The media is ignoring Palin's problems in Alaska and repeating all the McCain campaign lies about Ayers and Acorn non-issues. The media needs something else to talk about and the only way to get them there is to feed them some of the real negatives of McCain and Palin. They are both really not who they pretend to be. McCain is a puppet of the lobbyists, his whole entourage is made up of Rove, his followers, the most dirty lobbyists and neo-con Republicans.

There should be more facts getting out there about Schmidt and Davis, two of the most evil, corrupt advisors McCain is being led by. The stuff McCain spouts is written by them. As was obvious in the debates he just keeps repeating their talking points over and over again, like the "Joe the Plumber" routine. McCain will be controlled by these same people if he is elected and as his dementia increases he will be replaced by Palin who is another puppet, but with her own extreme fundamentalist agenda. McCain and Palin are trying to rally their far right base but that won't do them much good if the rest of the country votes for Obama.

Moderate Republicans and Independents must recognize that a vote for McBush/Palin is not in their interests economically or in any other way. They need to vote Democratic to change the course of the country away from disaster.

Democrats need to go after Republican voter registration drives they way the Republican Party is once again going after potential Democratic voters. We also need to contest attempts by Republicans to disqualify minority voters in almost every state.

Debate 3: Missed Opportunity

Glenn — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 05:40:24 EDT

I think Senator Obama missed an opportunity when Mc Cain brought up the subject of William C. Ayers.

The real question is: Who on the Woods Fund appointed Mr. Ayers to the Board of the Woods Fund, and why was he appointed. Did the appointer know of Mr. Woods background?

There is no indication that Senator Obama had anything to do with Mr. Ayers appointment. Other people of good reputation were also on the Woods Fund Board. One's reputation is not tarnished just because you happen to be part of an organization who happens to have in it people of ill repute. Who among us has never found ourselves in the company of people who we either (a) knew we did not wish to associate or (b) did not know the person's background? Many organizations experience having in them one or more persons who disguise themselves and later deviate from the organization's main purpose and give the entire organization a bad name.

There is no evidence that Obama shared a questionable or doubtful professional or personal interaction with Mr. Ayers. Remember that people who are Board members of such organizations rarely meet and when they do meet it is for very little time and it is generally to deal with the higher level financial and directional issues of the organization. According to Wikipedia typical duties of board members are:

Governing the organization by establishing broad policies and objectives Selecting
appointing, supporting and reviewing the performance of the chief executive
Ensuring the availability of adequate financial resources Approving annual budgets
Accounting to the stakeholders for the organization's performance

And frequently those decisions are in response to the people who have put money into the organization.

The real issue to me is the judgement of Mc Cain for trying to create doubt, or fear, in the people. Doubt and fear have been Bush's main tool for manipulating the American people. We absolutely do not need another four years of doubt and fear.

With regard to the ACORN voter registration activities: Perhaps Barack Obama could not make this allegation but I would not be surprised if representatives from the Republican Party infiltrated ACORN and intentionally falsified voter registrations knowing full well that this activity would be used as yet another attempt to try and link Obama to the tarnished organization and another attempt to create doubt or fear in the minds of the American people.

We do not ever again need an administration like the Bush administration. Bush's eight years are the worst and darkest in our history. If Mc Cain had really wanted to take a stand he would have come right out and said that he was going to take a leadership position and turn the tiller on the Republican Party and steer it back on course, away from the mis-guided course that it has been on for the past 8 years. But he didn't say that, so, therefore because of the way Mc Cain is running his campaign, there is every reason to believe that he will not be his own man should he become President; there is every reason to believe that he will be but yet another puppet president who is controlled by the masterminds of the powerful Republican Party who are behind the scene.

So I say to the Republicans who continue to manipulate the American people with doubt and fear:

The first time you did this in earnest was George Bush's first election and shame on you.

The second time you did this in earnest was George Bush's 2nd election and shame on the American people for falling for this deception the 2nd time. (I didn't; I voted Democrat)

And you are trying it yet again. Well, I go to bed each night hoping that the American people have FINALLY seen the light and are wiser now and they will not permit themselves to be manipulated and controlled by tactics of doubt and fear.

NO ONE can solve all of the country's problems. What we really need is a President who will won't create more problems than were solved. Mc Cain WILL BE four more years of the same. The Republican agenda and philosophy didn't work in the past, it hasn't changed, and it won't work in the future. They are on a stinking sinking boat and while I don't wish anyone to drown, they need to sit in their lifeboats for four years as punishment for what they have done to this great country and get a reality check. They are living in so much denial, and believe so strongly that they are on the correct course (when they are not). Their failure to see their past mistakes and failure to develop a more realistic workable strategy makes them even more dangerous to the country's future.

Bush is a Republican. Mc Cain is a Republican. Mc Cain may do new and different things but they will all be built on the foundation of a failed Republican agenda.

Real Change won't happen until a different party, a new agenda, takes control of the White House.

Wacko Right Wingers

Kate Burton — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:08:26 EDT

So I was in my car and if you’ve been here before you know I’ll put the am radio on when I’m taking short trips. Why? Well if it was on for long trips I’d pull my f&^*&ing hair out. (rim shot)

Seriously though. I was in the car and listened to a few minutes of Neil Boortz who was pushing the theory that Barack Obama’s book Dreams From My Father was in fact ghostwritten by none other than…wait for it…WILLIAM “BILL” AYERS!! I was stunned until I came back and used the google. Turns out Jack Kelly of the Pittsburg Post Gazette wrote a column Sunday that “wonders” if they got together earlier.

I am not a professional journalist and apparently neither is Mr. Kelly because just in fact checking one item

Investigative reporter Jack Cashill has noted some intriguing coincidences between Sen. Obama’s 1995 autobiography, “Dreams From My Father,” and Mr. Ayers’ 2001 book, “Fugitive Days,” for which Sen. Obama wrote a dust-jacket blurb. Both books have the same lyrical style and are filled with nautical imagery, which would come naturally to Mr. Ayers, who spent a year as a merchant seaman, but which appear nowhere else in Mr. Obama’s writing.

Well you know, thanks to the internet I am able to view copies of this book, read excerpts and why golly! Look at the back cover of several editions as well as Ayers other books, just in case he confused the titles. There are blurbs on it from Studs Terkel, The Washington Post and Edward Said. Well just to give the benefit of the doubt I looked at all of the work of Ayers that I could find. WOW! Talk about blurbs. He’s got blurbs from Studs Terkel, Hunter S. Thompson, Clarence Page, Jonathan Kozol, even Scott Turow. You know, that radical writer, Scott Turow. Jack Kelly must have a special copy of the book with Obama’s blurb.

Did Obama know Ayers? Sure and I think they’ve been pretty clear about it. They sat on a couple of committees together. But Mr. Kelly takes even that truth as an opportunity to smear in his column of on September 28, 2008 where he refers to the Annenberg Challenge whose purpose was “to promote “radical” school reform”.

I don’t know how radical it could be considering it was founded by Walter Annenberg. Does the name sound familiar? He was an ambassador to the United Kingdon in the Nixon administration. His wife was the State Department Chief of Protocol under Ronald Reagan. Annenberg is also said to have been the person who introduced Reagan to Margaret Thatcher.

And here dear reader is where we find the problem with the thinking of someone like Jack Kelly. If Obama is a radical because he worked with Ayers, than is not Annenberg a radical because he employed Ayers? If so, does that mean that Nixon, Reagan and Thatcher are all radicals by “association”?

So why is this important? Why did I just spend time researching and rebutting this? Because Mr. Kelly’s column is carried in the Pittsburg Post Gazette and in the The Toledo Blade. According to the polls the fine people of the state of Pennsylvania have clearly decided who they will vote for (Obama 53% McCain 40%) three weeks from now. Smears like this will not likely change the outcome. However, the fine people of the state of Ohio have not split with such clarity with the most recent polls showing Obama 48% McCain 45%, (within the margin of error for most polls).

I’m not a journalist nor do I work for a campaign but when information is this blantantly misconstrued I get mad. So don’t let Kelly or his ilk have their way spreading lies. If someone you know mentions this garbage, just send them this. Maybe it will help.

McCain and Ayers

Al Pao in San Francisco — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 17:52:49 EDT

Fact: Bill Ayers conducted bombings of public buildings in the 60s and 70s.

Fact: Bill Ayers is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

[Bill Ayers] is now a professor in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, holding the titles of Distinguished Professor of Education and Senior University Scholar. In 1969 he cofounded the radical left organization the Weather Underground, which conducted a campaign of bombing public buildings during the 1960s and 1970s. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ayers

Allegation: Obama was associated with Ayers.

Implication: Obama is "palling around with terrorists," according to Palin.

Analysis: THEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

Palin should know (maybe she doesn’t) that Ayers is no longer a terrorist. He is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has repented. Palin apparently forgot she is Christian (assuming she is one) and forgot Jesus’ teachings about repentance and forgiveness. She is apparently unforgiving, and so is McCain.

Analysis: POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE

f they are bringing up this topic just to detract from the important issues that confront the nation and the world, then they are not qualified to be in the White House. The White House is reserved for those who are able to focus on what is important and not the trifles.

Analysis: NATIONAL SECURITY PERSPECTIVE

If Bill Ayers is a terrorist, McCain and Palin are aiding and abetting Ayers by not turning him into the authorities. They know where he is but have done nothing. They have chosen to let him remain at large, allowing him to threaten the safety of all Americans. McCain and Palin are therefore by extension terrorists themselves and are unpatriotic.

Fact: There is another known terrorist. His name is bin Laden.

Fact: McCain chooses to follow him to the Gates of Hell rather than to the mountains and caves near the Afghanistan and Pakistan border.

Speculation: Perhaps he is waiting for both bin Laden Bill Ayers to start running toward Hell before McCain as Batman will start chasing them with Palin as Wonder Woman carrying a moose-hunting rifle.

The Ayers Connection...

DJ4Obama — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:04:32 EDT

Greetings:

I am at work today and it's a little slow, so I wanted to issue a statement regarding the Ayers topic that keeps on coming up. I have grown very tired of this "last ditch effort" by the McCain campaign to revisit old topics. In an effort to cast doubt and fear in the hearts of voters and Americans in general, McCain and his team are posing inane questions about Obama's character. First of all, this whole Ayers connection was already brought up during primary. It was explained and researched. This is obviously a rather transparent attempt to use fear to win votes or at least take them away from Obama.

First of all, Obama has made it very clear that he does not agree with past the exploits of Mr. Ayers and does not hold the same beliefs or radical ideals. When his career was "launched" in Ayers living room, he was not aware of his past. I know I couldn't tell you what my mom or any other grown-up was up to when I was 8. He was more likely aware of his work for education and reform in Chicago communities . I think Obama has been very clear but McCain is hoping by repeating the same questions over and over again it will lend some sort of credibility to them. In other words if he asks the same questions enough they will magically turn into fact. What IS relevant is... that if McCain thought this was SUCH an important question then why did he wait until the LAST weeks of the campaign to make it a central issue? Obviously he too understands that this question has no actual relevance to anything except boosting his election numbers. It's a sad day when any politician will simply use fear and doubt as a tool to win. If he would do this to Obama and to voters, why wouldn't he do it for any and everything in his administration? He wants to raise judgment questions but not really speak of his own (Keating 5). On that note, what is the point of questioning that either? It happened a long time ago and people learn and gain in wisdom through poor judgment. As long as they are not exercising poor judgment now, what's the issue? Has anyone's judgment been right on from day one? I know mine hasn't (i.e. my vote for Bush first term).

All things said, I think the mere fact that Obama has been consistent with his approach throughout says more than anything. Leave it to the Republican candidate to switch up tactics and approach day after day to match the need to win versus the need of the American people to hear what he intends to do to right this country which has been on the wrong course for a while now.

I read an interesting article regarding Obama's Chicago ties to Ayers here: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/790/

Don't let fear and irrelevant questioning sway you. Vote for HOPE this November. Vote for the candidate who has shown political consistency in his approach and direction. Vote for the candidate that has the vision to move forward rather than stay mired in the policies of the past.

Sincerely,

David Jackson - Plano Texas

Suggested Ayers response

allison — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:18:51 EDT

I'd like to see the Obama campaign turn the Ayers story into one that fits the message of this campaign: The audiacity of hope. They could do so with statement such as this:

Putting Lipstick on the Hounds of Hell

Henry M — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:00:04 EDT

Rachel Maddow has a great video on the violent sentiment that has been encouraged at McPalin rallies and McCain's too-late attempt to put the bomb Obama genie back in the bottle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBmO6YAszGU

Shame on McCain and Palin, the real traitors to our democracy!

October 12, 2008Op-Ed Columnist

The Terrorist Barack Hussein Obama
By FRANK RICH

IF you think way back to the start of this marathon campaign, back when it seemed preposterous that any black man could be a serious presidential contender, then you remember the biggest fear about Barack Obama: a crazy person might take a shot at him.
Some voters told reporters that they didn’t want Obama to run, let alone win, should his very presence unleash the demons who have stalked America from Lincoln to King. After consultation with Congress, Michael Chertoff, the homeland security secretary, gave Obama a Secret Service detail earlier than any presidential candidate in our history — in May 2007, some eight months before the first Democratic primaries.
“I’ve got the best protection in the world, so stop worrying,” Obama reassured his supporters. Eventually the country got conditioned to his appearing in large arenas without incident (though I confess that the first loud burst of fireworks at the end of his convention stadium speech gave me a start). In America, nothing does succeed like success. The fear receded.
Until now. At McCain-Palin rallies, the raucous and insistent cries of “Treason!” and “Terrorist!” and “Kill him!” and “Off with his head!” as well as the uninhibited slinging of racial epithets, are actually something new in a campaign that has seen almost every conceivable twist. They are alarms. Doing nothing is not an option.
All’s fair in politics. John McCain and Sarah Palin have every right to bring up William Ayers, even if his connection to Obama is minor, even if Ayers’s Weather Underground history dates back to Obama’s childhood, even if establishment Republicans and Democrats alike have collaborated with the present-day Ayers in educational reform. But it’s not just the old Joe McCarthyesque guilt-by-association game, however spurious, that’s going on here. Don’t for an instant believe the many mindlessly “even-handed” journalists who keep saying that the McCain campaign’s use of Ayers is the moral or political equivalent of the Obama campaign’s hammering on Charles Keating.
What makes them different, and what has pumped up the Weimar-like rage at McCain-Palin rallies, is the violent escalation in rhetoric, especially (though not exclusively) by Palin. Obama “launched his political career in the living room of a domestic terrorist.” He is “palling around with terrorists” (note the plural noun). Obama is “not a man who sees America the way you and I see America.” Wielding a wildly out-of-context Obama quote, Palin slurs him as an enemy of American troops.
By the time McCain asks the crowd “Who is the real Barack Obama?” it’s no surprise that someone cries out “Terrorist!” The rhetorical conflation of Obama with terrorism is complete. It is stoked further by the repeated invocation of Obama’s middle name by surrogates introducing McCain and Palin at these rallies. This sleight of hand at once synchronizes with the poisonous Obama-is-a-Muslim e-mail blasts and shifts the brand of terrorism from Ayers’s Vietnam-era variety to the radical Islamic threats of today.
That’s a far cry from simply accusing Obama of being a guilty-by-association radical leftist. Obama is being branded as a potential killer and an accessory to past attempts at murder. “Barack Obama’s friend tried to kill my family” was how a McCain press release last week packaged the remembrance of a Weather Underground incident from 1970 — when Obama was 8.
We all know what punishment fits the crime of murder, or even potential murder, if the security of post-9/11 America is at stake. We all know how self-appointed “patriotic” martyrs always justify taking the law into their own hands.
Obama can hardly be held accountable for Ayers’s behavior 40 years ago, but at least McCain and Palin can try to take some responsibility for the behavior of their own supporters in 2008. What’s troubling here is not only the candidates’ loose inflammatory talk but also their refusal to step in promptly and strongly when someone responds to it with bloodthirsty threats in a crowded arena. Joe Biden had it exactly right when he expressed concern last week that “a leading American politician who might be vice president of the United States would not just stop midsentence and turn and condemn that.” To stay silent is to pour gas on the fires.
It wasn’t always thus with McCain. In February he loudly disassociated himself from a speaker who brayed “Barack Hussein Obama” when introducing him at a rally in Ohio. Now McCain either backpedals with tardy, pro forma expressions of respect for his opponent or lets second-tier campaign underlings release boilerplate disavowals after ugly incidents like the chilling Jim Crow-era flashback last week when a Florida sheriff ranted about “Barack Hussein Obama” at a Palin rally while in full uniform.
From the start, there have always been two separate but equal questions about race in this election. Is there still enough racism in America to prevent a black man from being elected president no matter what? And, will Republicans play the race card? The jury is out on the first question until Nov. 4. But we now have the unambiguous answer to the second: Yes.
McCain, who is no racist, turned to this desperate strategy only as Obama started to pull ahead. The tone was set at the Republican convention, with Rudy Giuliani’s mocking dismissal of Obama as an “only in America” affirmative-action baby. We also learned then that the McCain campaign had recruited as a Palin handler none other than Tucker Eskew, the South Carolina consultant who had worked for George W. Bush in the notorious 2000 G.O.P. primary battle where the McCains and their adopted Bangladeshi daughter were slimed by vicious racist rumors.
No less disconcerting was a still-unexplained passage of Palin’s convention speech: Her use of an unattributed quote praising small-town America (as opposed to, say, Chicago and its community organizers) from Westbrook Pegler, the mid-century Hearst columnist famous for his anti-Semitism, racism and violent rhetorical excess. After an assassin tried to kill F.D.R. at a Florida rally and murdered Chicago’s mayor instead in 1933, Pegler wrote that it was “regrettable that Giuseppe Zangara shot the wrong man.” In the ’60s, Pegler had a wish for Bobby Kennedy: “Some white patriot of the Southern tier will spatter his spoonful of brains in public premises before the snow falls.”
This is the writer who found his way into a speech by a potential vice president at a national political convention. It’s astonishing there’s been no demand for a public accounting from the McCain campaign. Imagine if Obama had quoted a Black Panther or Louis Farrakhan — or William Ayers — in Denver.
The operatives who would have Palin quote Pegler have been at it ever since. A key indicator came two weeks after the convention, when the McCain campaign ran its first ad tying Obama to the mortgage giant Fannie Mae. Rather than make its case by using a legitimate link between Fannie and Obama (or other Democratic leaders), the McCain forces chose a former Fannie executive who had no real tie to Obama or his campaign but did have a black face that could dominate the ad’s visuals.
There are no black faces high in the McCain hierarchy to object to these tactics. There hasn’t been a single black Republican governor, senator or House member in six years. This is a campaign where Palin can repeatedly declare that Alaska is “a microcosm of America” without anyone even wondering how that might be so for a state whose tiny black and Hispanic populations are each roughly one-third the national average. There are indeed so few people of color at McCain events that a black senior writer from The Tallahassee Democrat was mistakenly ejected by the Secret Service from a campaign rally in Panama City in August, even though he was standing with other reporters and showed his credentials. His only apparent infraction was to look glaringly out of place.
Could the old racial politics still be determinative? I’ve long been skeptical of the incessant press prognostications (and liberal panic) that this election will be decided by racist white men in the Rust Belt. Now even the dimmest bloviators have figured out that Americans are riveted by the color green, not black — as in money, not energy. Voters are looking for a leader who might help rescue them, not a reckless gambler whose lurching responses to the economic meltdown (a campaign “suspension,” a mortgage-buyout stunt that changes daily) are as unhinged as his wanderings around the debate stage.
To see how fast the tide is moving, just look at North Carolina. On July 4 this year — the day that the godfather of modern G.O.P. racial politics, Jesse Helms, died — The Charlotte Observer reported that strategists of both parties agreed Obama’s chances to win the state fell “between slim and none.” Today, as Charlotte reels from the implosion of Wachovia, the McCain-Obama race is a dead heat in North Carolina and Helms’s Republican successor in the Senate, Elizabeth Dole, is looking like a goner.
But we’re not at Election Day yet, and if voters are to have their final say, both America and Obama have to get there safely. The McCain campaign has crossed the line between tough negative campaigning and inciting vigilantism, and each day the mob howls louder. The onus is on the man who says he puts his country first to call off the dogs, pit bulls and otherwise.

If you appreciated this message, then please have a look at the rest of my blog, http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/henrymu and if you appreciate my blog, then please donate to the campaign: http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/henrymu/gGgFDD

Henry M

Write the emails...get this guy fired!!

I'm not Political, I'm GRASSROOTS! — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:04:09 EDT

Take action after you read this:

Jeff Frederick, the Republican Party, and the McCain campaign cannot be allowed a pass on smears such as this against Barack Obama. Obama supporters and other concerned parties are encouraged to contact the GOP and the McCain campaign, demand an apology from both, and demand Frederick's resignation:

McCain national campaign: info@johnmccain.com

McCain Virginia campaign virginia@johnmccain.com

Republican National Committee (Mike Duncan, Chair): chairman@gop.com

Virginia Republican Party: info@rpv.org

::::::::

The Republican national campaign reached a new low over the weekend when chairman Jeffrey M. Frederick of the Virginia Republican Party (pictured here) compared Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama to terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. Clumsily associating Obama with 60s militant William Ayers - a man with whom Obama was loosely acquainted within the context of legitimate charity work in Chicago - Frederick told McCain volunteers in Virginia that Obama and bin Laden "both have friends that bombed the Pentagon," concluding that this means Obama is "scary." These remarks were understood as talking points for the volunteers to convey to the voters of Virginia.

Democrats are understandably outraged by Frederick's comments, saying that this is only the latest in a series of inflammatory statements made by Republicans against Obama in the crucial battleground state of Virginia. First reported Oct. 12 in Time, Frederick's remarks are discussed further in the same date's Washington Post. Frederick stood by his statements when questioned later, and John McCain has declined to condemn or comment on Frederick's remarks. Meanwhile, even Republicans have conceded that smears like Frederick's against Obama are a loser's game.

Frederick's comparison of Obama with bin Laden is obviously not only inflammatory but ridiculous: Bin Laden was directly responsible for the 9/11 attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center which killed thousands of people. Ayres was a member of a group that carried out a 1972 bombing at the Pentagon in which no one was hurt or killed, and with which then ten-year-old Barack Obama was in no way associated. Ayres is now is now a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and once served on a charity board of which Obama was also a member. Obama has condemned Ayers's actions in the 1960s and 1970s, and describes him as "a guy who lives my neighborhood."

Frederick's remarks are the latest in a series of inflammatory statements by Republicans campaigning in Virginia. Recently, the head of the McCain campaign in Buchanan County, Virginia, was forced to resign after he published a column in a local newspaper including openly racist comments about Obama and African Americans as well as disparaging statements about immigrants and gay people. Recently also, John McCain's brother Joe described suburban Alexandria and Arlington County in Northern Virginia as "communist country."

False Personal Attacks---How should Obama respond?

Narziss — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 06:44:48 EDT

Ad Hominen Attacks

I hope that Obama keeps his next debate simple and direct. I thought it was very thoughtful of him to mention education at least twice in the townhall debate; an issue that I do not remember McCain even implying.

The false, negative rumors escalated against Obama gained their strength through being recognized and publicized even though they lacked validity. Regarding the contrived, personal attacks, Obama should merely dismiss any ad hominem statements against him as false. It would be a mistake to address, for example, the Ayer rumor at the level of details because a detailed, convoluted response implies its credibility. In other words, if Obama responds to the Ayer rumor in a detailed manner, he will seem deceiving and mildly self incriminating. On the other hand, if Obama dismisses these attacks as falsely poised and invented by an racist, resentful anti-Semitic, he will gain the upper hand through attacking the rumor and the source of the rumor itself. Additionally, if he criticizes the McCain campaign for even recognizing the rumors of the racist Andy Martin he will gain a greater advantage.

The Sadistic Victim versus the Scapegoat

In terms of psychology and literature, there are two scenarios of irony in which an individual is segregated and attacked. The first is as the scapegoat of a tragedy, but this victim, after being tortured and harassed, is reborn as the god of the next generation (ie. Jesus Christ, Dionysus). The second scenario of segregation is that of the sadistic comedy and its victim whose torture is cathartic and pleasant for the audience. The ad hominem attacks by the McCain campaign against Obama represent the sadistic and cathartic torture of comedy, the laughing angry mob, the second type of irony.

Within this article, a functional definition of tragedy and comedy are used. Tragedy is the protagonist and his separation from society; comedy is the integration of society.

Let me explain the differences between the two scenarios; pretend there is a group of x-children who harass a lonely y-child. In a tragedy, the perspective of the audience would follow the y-child and his separation from the group. The audience would be compelled to sympathize with the y-child to and pity this tortured scapegoat. An example of this is the story of the crucifixion of Christ where the audience sympathizes with the tortured scapegoat.

The alternate perspective occurs within a comedy. Likewise, in this scenario, the x-children inflict torture on the y-child. However, from this comedic perspective, the audience feels a sadistic catharsis through the torture of the y-child. Why?---because from this perspective the audience identifies with the x-children. Many Americans ethnically and nationalistically identify with McCain, the Caucasian Patriot, and the associated leaders of campaign. This is why you can search youtube to find some horrifying videos of republicans at campaign rallies making aggressive personal attacks against Obama. Many of his radical supporters are driven by the sadistic pleasures of a comedy and its victim. They empathisize "Hussein", his middle name, to indicate he is an outsider. An this is the least of it, there are plenty of cases were he is called Osama instead of Obama. This is the emotional state of the present, sadistic perspective that permits such segregating, ad hominem remarks against Obama.

Yes, Barack Obama will have no problem appealing to individuals that focus on policy. Some people are usually not able to distinguish correctly between the proposed policies of the two presidential candidates; nevertheless, Obama connects with these people through the clear manner in which he words his proposals making his policies pertinent to all people willing to listen. When Americans listen, they realize that Obama's policies are better for Americans now and better for the future of humanity. But how will Obama appeal to emotional Americans that can not understand policy or perceive their long term effects?

I am a little worried that Obama will lose to the McCain campaign's comedic, angry emotions of identity and segregation. I would suggest that he change the perspective of the dissenting audience from identifying with the x-children to identifying with him, the y-child. I doubt any extreme republicans will budge, but with this change in perspective, emotionally driven swing voters will feel guilty for leaping on to the angry, segregationist wagon, and will join those who sympathize with the scapegoat, the y-child. If Obama makes dissenters emotionally realize that they actually identify with his values and aspirations, the same, authentic values and aspirations set forth by our founding fathers, then he may convince a few of these dissenters.

Fundamental Values and Aspirations

Listening to Obama's words at last week's townhall debate was reassuring; he had the right experience and the right proposals. However, only until the closing statements was I really pulled in to sympathize with Obama at the emotional level. In these closing statements, he mentioned his background and how the image of a revered America inspired his father. He mentioned, in a thankful manner, the opportunity that America stood for; the opportunity that made it possible for him and his wife to receive an education. He brought us into his perspective and compelled us to relate to him with mutual respect and sympathy. I hope he moves our perspective in the days preceding the election, once again, like he did last week in those closing statements. We must be illuminated; we must associate our values and aspirations with those of Obama; we must identify the inhibiting problem within his opponents; we must realize that through Obama's values and policies our future will be realized.

Ayers Issue Put to Rest...

Nia "Hussein" J. — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 04:02:39 EDT

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/790/

For most of the election, Sen. John McCain's campaign has been somewhat subtle about trying to tie Sen. Barack Obama to the former '60s radical William Ayers.

No longer. A 90-second Web ad released Oct. 8, 2008, features sinister music, side-by-side photographs of Obama and Ayers, and a series of dubious allegations about their past connections, including this one:

"Ayers and Obama ran a radical education foundation together."

Ayers was a founding member of the militant Vietnam-era anti-war group the Weathermen. He was investigated for his role in a series of domestic bombings, but the charges were dropped in 1974 due to prosecutorial misconduct. He is now an education professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and actively engaged in the city's civic life.

The McCain campaign said the "radical education foundation" to which they were referring is the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a charity endowed by publishing magnate Walter Annenberg that funded public-school programs in Chicago from 1995 to 2001.

We'll look at whether the foundation was radical. But first we have to grapple with whether Obama and Ayers ran it.

Obama served on the foundation's volunteer board from its inception in 1995 through its dissolution in 2001, and was chair for the first four years. So an argument can be made that he ran it, though an executive director handled day-to-day operations.

Ayers, who received his doctorate in education from Columbia University in 1987 and is now a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, was active in getting the foundation up and running. He and two other activists led the effort to secure the grant from Annenberg, and he worked without pay in the early months of 1995, prior to the board's hiring of an executive director, to help the foundation get incorporated and formulate its bylaws, said Ken Rolling, who was the foundation's only executive director. Ayers went on to become a member of the "collaborative," an advisory group that advised the board of directors and the staff.

However, Ayers "was never on the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge," and he "never made a decision programmatically or had a vote," Rolling said.

"He (Ayers) was at board meetings — which, by the way, were open — as a guest," Rolling said. "That is not anything near Bill Ayers and Barack Obama running the Chicago Annenberg Challenge."

Now, was the foundation radical?

The McCain campaign cited several pieces of evidence for that allegation, including a 1995 invitation from the foundation for applications from schools "that want to make radical changes in the way teachers teach and students learn." The campaign appears to have confused two different definitions of the word "radical." Clearly the invitation referred to "a considerable departure from the usual or traditional," rather than "advocating extreme measures to retain or restore a political state of affairs."

The campaign also cited two projects the foundation funded, one having to do with a United Nations-themed Peace School and another that focused on African-American studies.

"That is radical in the eye of this campaign and we imagine in the eyes of most Americans," said Michael Goldfarb, a spokesman for McCain. "It is a subjective thing, and there are going to be people in Berkeley and Chicago who think that is totally legitimate."

Teaching about the United Nations and African-American studies may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's hardly "radical" in the same way Ayers' Vietnam-era activities were. Moreover, most of the projects the foundation funded (more on that below) were not remotely controversial.

The McCain campaign also cited an opinion piece by conservative commentator Stanley Kurtz in the Sept. 23, 2008, Wall Street Journal as evidence of the foundation's radicalism. Kurtz wrote that Ayers was the "guiding spirit" of the foundation, and it "translated Mr. Ayers's radicalism into practice."

But Ayers' views on education, though certainly reform-oriented and left-of-center, are not considered anywhere near as radical as his Vietnam-era views on war. And even if they were, there was a long list of individuals involved with the Chicago Annenberg Challenge whose positions provided them far more authority over its direction than Ayers' advisory role gave him.

Let's look at a few, starting with the funder. Annenberg was a lifelong Republican and former ambassador to the United Kingdom under President Richard Nixon. His widow, Leonore, has endorsed McCain. Kurtz might just as plausibly have accused Obama and the foundation of "translating Annenberg's conservatism into practice."

Among the other board members who served with Obama were: Stanley Ikenberry, former president of the University of Illinois; Arnold Weber, former president of Northwestern University and assistant secretary of labor in the Nixon administration; Scott Smith, then publisher of the Chicago Tribune; venture capitalist Edward Bottum; John McCarter, president of the Field Museum; Patricia Albjerg Graham, former dean of the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and a host of other mainstream folks.

"The whole idea of it being radical when it was this tie of blue-chip, white-collar, CEOs and civic leaders is just ridiculous," said the foundation's former development director, Marianne Philbin.

The foundation gave money to groups of public schools – usually three to 10 – who partnered with some sort of outside organization to improve their students' achievement.

In his opinion piece, Kurtz puts a sinister spin on this: "Instead of funding schools directly, it required schools to affiliate with 'external partners,' which actually got the money...CAC disbursed money through various far-left community organizers, such as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (or ACORN)."

Rollings said the foundation tried to fund the schools directly, but doing so proved to be a "bureaucratic nightmare." But any external group that received money had to have created a program in partnership with a network of public schools.

And though ACORN is considered a liberal organization, the vast majority of the foundation's external partners were not remotely controversial. Here are a few examples: the Chicago Symphony, the University of Chicago, Loyola University, Northwestern University, the Chicago Children's Museum, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Field Museum, the Commercial Club of Chicago, the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance and the Logan Square Neighborhood Association.

Had Kurtz chosen to accuse Obama of carrying water for the conservative Annenberg, he might have written: "CAC disbursed money to various business-friendly entities, such as the Museum of Science and Industry and the Commercial Club of Chicago."

See how easy it is?

The programs the foundation funded were designed to allow individuals from the "external partners" – whether the musicians in the symphony or the business leaders in the commercial club – to help improve student achievement. They were along the lines of mentoring by artists, literacy instruction, professional development for teachers and administrators, and training for parents in everything from computer skills to helping their children with homework to advocating for their children at school.

This last activity – something suburban parents practice with zeal – is also suspect in Kurtz's view: "CAC records show that board member Arnold Weber was concerned that parents 'organized' by community groups might be viewed by school principals 'as a political threat.'" That is typical of Kurtz's essay – relatively innocuous facts cast in the worst possible light. That's appropriate for an opinion piece, perhaps, but hardly grounds for a purportedly factual political ad accusing the group of radicalism.

We could go on and on with evidence that the Chicago Annenberg Challenge was a rather vanilla charitable group. For example, under the deal with Annenberg every dollar from him had to be matched by two from elsewhere. The co-funders were a host of respected, mainstream institutions, such as the National Science Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Chicago Public Schools.

In short, this was a mainstream foundation funded by a mainstream, Republican business leader and led by an overwhelmingly mainstream, civic-minded group of individuals. Ayers' involvement in its inception and on an advisory committee do not make it radical – nor does the funding of programs involving the United Nations and African-American studies.

Fact check: Ayers

Henry M — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:01:18 EDT

10 things to know about Bill Ayers
1. Was Ayers the leader of a terrorist group?
The FBI labeled the Weather Underground "a domestic terrorist group" whose members took credit for bombings of the U.S. Capitol, Pentagon and other government buildings. The bombings were designed to cause property damage, not hurt people. Ayers never has been accused of killing anybody.
But three Weather Underground members accidentally killed themselves while making bombs in New York City in 1970. In 1981, two police officers and a security guard were killed when other members of the group committed an armed robbery.
2. How long was Ayers "underground"?
Ayers and his wife, Weather Underground member Bernardine Dohrn, were on the lam 10 years before surrendering in 1980.
3. Were they ever convicted of "terrorism" charges?
No. Ayers faced federal riot and bombing-conspiracy charges, but those charges were dropped because of illegal wiretaps, break-ins and mail interceptions by authorities. Dohrn served less than a year behind bars for non-bombing activities tied to the group.
4. How are Ayers and Dohrn viewed now?
At least before this campaign, they were mainly seen as respected college professors. After getting his doctorate in education at Columbia University, Ayers joined the University of Illinois, where he gained a national reputation pushing innovative -- some say controversial -- approaches to educating at-risk youth. Dohrn has a national reputation for pushing reforms of the juvenile justice system. Ayers has published 15 books. He sits on civic boards with Mayor Daley, who in 1997 awarded Ayers the city's "Citizen of the Year" award. Ayers and Dohrn live in Hyde Park, not far from the Obamas.
5. So how well do Ayers and Obama know each other?
Ayers and Obama served on separate boards associated with the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, an education-reform group that Obama began chairing in March 1995 and continued to work with through 2000. Ayers served on the Chicago School Reform Collaborative, which made recommendations to the board on grant awards during those years. Ayers and Obama occasionally would see each other in those roles.
Also, Ayers served alongside Obama between December 1999 and December 2002 on the board of the not-for-profit Woods Fund of Chicago. That board met four times a year, and members would see each other at dinners the group hosted.
The RNC's statement that "Obama's first campaign was launched at a gathering at Mr. Ayers' home" stems from a 1995 "meet-and-greet" coffee that Ayers and Dohrn held for Obama at their home when Obama was making his first run for the Illinois Senate. Obama's presidential campaign has described the event as an opportunity for Ayers and Dohrn to introduce Obama to their neighbors.
In 2001, Ayers gave $200 to Obama's campaign. A year ago, the two met walking through the neighborhood where they both live.
6. How does Ayers respond to the Republicans' charges?
He doesn't. He has declined to comment to the Sun-Times or any other media since Sen. Hillary Clinton first raised him as a potential problem for Obama in April during the Democratic primary.
7. What does Obama say about Ayers?
During a primary debate, Obama underplayed his relationship with Ayers: "This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who's a professor of English in Chicago, who I know, and who I have not received some official endorsement from," Obama said. "He's not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis. The notion that somehow, as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago when I was 8 years old somehow reflects on me and my values, doesn't make much sense."
8. Is it fair for McCain to criticize Obama on this issue?
Factcheck.org has this take: "Voters may differ in how they see Ayers, or how they see Obama's interactions with him. We're making no judgment calls on those matters. What we object to are the McCain-Palin campaign's attempts to sway voters -- in ads and on the stump -- with false and misleading statements about the relationship, which was never very close. And Ayers is more than a former 'terrorist,' he's also a well-known figure in the field of education."
9. Has Ayers ever apologized for what he did with the Weather Underground?
Not exactly. In 2001, Ayers told the Sun-Times he regretted that "people were hurt, that three of my dear friends were killed, that we were stupid, immature, intolerant and unwise. I regret that I hurt people's feelings." He did not regret "throwing myself as wholeheartedly as I could figure out into opposition to war and to the system of racial injustice."
A review of Ayers' memoir Fugitive Days that appeared in the New York Times on Sept. 11, 2001, quoted Ayers saying, "I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough." Three days after the terrorist attacks, Ayers clarified: "My memoir is, from start to finish, a condemnation of terrorism . . ."
10. Are all former alleged terrorists/radicals shunned?
No. Former IRA bomber Gerry Adams is welcomed at the White House as a peacemaker. Former PLO leader Yasser Arafat was too. Former Students for a Democratic Society member and Ayers friend Tom Hayden was elected to the California State Assembly. Former Black Panther Bobby Rush is a congressman representing Chicago, as is former Puerto Rican independence activist Luis Gutierrez.

Henry M

Nyah nyah nyah, you Ayers-loving terrorist!

Llysse Smith Wylle — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:09:08 EDT

"It seemed manifestly unfair to tar him with this association," explained William C. Ibershof to the LA Times. "Sen. Obama had known Ayers during a period he was named Citizen of the Year in Chicago, not when he was committing those terrorist acts."

Ibershof is certainly qualified to speak on the subject: he's the lawyer who prosecuted Ayers in the 70s.

I have to admit that if I had been introduced to a Citizen of the Year who was a professor at an important university, my first thought would not be to hire a private investigator--or even to do a Google Search--to find out if he'd had radical views or performed criminal activities 40 years before. I have to say that I've never done any background checks on any of my former college professors, although I believe one to be a rather good amateur bluegrass musician.

Politifact further tears the Obama-Ayers association apart. Politifact's "truth-o-meter" system has several ratings, including true, mostly true, half true, mostly false, false--and pants-on-fire. The claim that Senator Obama and Ayers ran a radical education association together gets their worst, pants-on-fire rating.

Not only were Ayers and Obama not particularly close, they did not "run" the association, and it was not "radical" in the sense of using extreme (violent!) measures to accomplish its goals... but only radical in the sense that it departed from traditional educational methods. As Politifact rightly points out, there are different definitions for the word radical. I attended Sarah Lawrence College, and it uses radical!, non-traditional educational methods. I daresay it is not considered a "radical" organization, however. For that matter, home schooling might well be considered in the "non-traditional education" category. Returning to college as an adult is also "non-traditional."

Here's an excerpt of Politifact's analysis:

They conclude:

This attack is false, but it's more than that – it's malicious. It unfairly tars not just Obama, but all the other prominent, well-respected Chicagoans who also volunteered their time to the foundation. They came from all walks of life and all political backgrounds, and there's ample evidence their mission was nothing more than improving ailing public schools in Chicago. Yet in the heat of a political campaign they have been accused of financing radicalism. That's Pants on Fire wrong.

Just because McCain and Palin are liar-liars-with-their-pants-on-fire, don't expect the extreme right wing campaign rhetoric to change in any way, however. Why should it?

For one thing, as I pointed out in previous posts, the last attempt by McCain to tone things down netted him boos from his own supporters. (One suspects they are not actually supporting McCain specifically, any way, but that their underlying prejudices have merely been given voice by the dirty campaign he has run.)

Secondly, just look at the kind of loyalty this campaign has inspired in its followers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKUovpF9LWU

It's just heartwarming.

Airing Ayers

John DesMarteau, MD — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 02:26:23 EDT

The Bill Ayers story continues because the Republicans obviously do not want to focus on their association with the causes of the failing economy. The McCain-Palin campaign has a TV ad that states that Sen. Obama lied about his association with Bill Ayers. Gov. Palin goes so far to say that Ayers and Obama are "pals."

FactCheck has a different take:

In a TV ad, McCain says Obama "lied" about his association with William Ayers, a former bomb-setting, anti-war radical from the 1960s and '70s. We find McCain's claim to be groundless. New details have recently come to light, but nothing Obama said previously has been shown to be false.

In a Web ad and in repeated attacks from the stump, McCain describes the two as associates, and Palin claims they "pal around" together. But so far as is known, their relationship was never very close. An Obama spokesman says they last saw each other in a chance encounter on the street more than a year ago.
Voters may differ in how they see Ayers, or how they see Obama’s interactions with him. We’re making no judgment calls on those matters. What we object to are the McCain-Palin campaign’s attempts to sway voters – in ads and on the stump – with false and misleading statements about the relationship, which was never very close. Obama never “lied” about this, just as he never bragged about it. The foundation they both worked with was hardly “radical.” And Ayers is more than a former "terrorist," he’s also a well-known figure in the field of education.

Our democracy grants Democrats and Republicans the right to disagree on fundamental issues such as abortion and gay rights, but the McCain-Palin claims have crossed the line.

It's absolutely remarkable that John McCain, a sitting US Senator basically says that Barack Obama another sitting US Senator is at best a terrorist sympathizer or at worst actually a terrorist himself. Where is the outrage from the rest of Congress, especially the Senate? And what about the other 49 governors? How can they be silent about fellow Gov. Palin’s claims that Sen. Obama “pals” around with a terrorist?

The character assassination tactic (it’s not a strategy) that Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are using is clearly coded to incite racial bias against Sen. Obama. Chris Matthews of MSNBC has repeatedly said on Hardball that the Republicans are trying to paint Obama as “mysterious” and that they are “de-Americanizing” him. One radio host (WMAL 630 in Washington, DC) went so far to state in reply to CNN’s Don Lemon’s question about the “Keating 5” that Keating was only a banker. Yeah some banker! Ask all those people who lost their money in the Saving and Loan crisis what they thought of Charles Keating. From their standpoint he was an economic terrorist.

Sadly, this tactic could provoke someone to take a potshot at Sen. Obama. If God forbid he was killed, think what would happen next. The 1968 riots would probably look like a bunch of block parties in comparison.

Some right-wing Republicans have tried to camouflage the implicit hate speech that McCain and Palin are using by saying that if matters were reversed there would be no compunction about the Democrats using it against McCain. The problem is that they conveniently ignore the centuries of absolutely vile discrimination that African-Americans suffered. No thinking person would think it’s an apples to oranges comparison.

Keep in mind that the Atwater-Rove philosophy that winning at any cost justifies the means used is what the market manipulators used to get us into the current financial mess.

John McCain once said that he would “rather lose the election than lose the war.” By his actions is he now saying that he would rather win the election and lose the country? So much for “Country First.”

Our Neighborhood Terrorists

Cis — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 18:05:37 EDT

What about the neighborhood terrorists (ex?) on Chicago's South Side? What "makes" a "terrorist" ? Some of the pro-life (anti-abortion) people, mostly women, don't seem to have a huge problem with people (men) killing doctors who have been known or thought to have performed abortions. Yesterday, Friday, I was concerned that the Bill Ayers business (Weather Underground of the end of the 1960s - start of the 1970s) might develop into something more than slightly problemmatic. Ayers does not sound particularly repentent. Senator Obama (who was around eight years old and far away, when the Weather Underground were . . . destroying themselves as much or more than anyone else) did not seem sufficiently perturbed, to me . . . but it was 40 years ago, +/- . . . long ago and far away, in another America -- one which never would have considered either a woman or a black person as a candidate for President of the United States of America.

A semi-neighbor or mine sends me pro-life / anti-Obama email forwards, and I send them on to watchdog@barackobama.com . One this afternoon nearly bled all over the inbox: "WHY are the democrat party and the media attacking Sarah Palin?! It's reprehensible! We hsve to be sure this does not become an 'ObamaNation!' More reasons to vote Republican! :)"

We must learn to become a nation wherein people's differing views can be acknowledged, and where we can shove our shoulders together for the good of all. We need to do it speedily, too. Yes.

The media today seem to be downplaying any possible significance of the aging Ayers . . . and my neighbor is free to send unpleasant barbs to all her friends and acquaintences.

Debunking the myth of "voter fraud" and the "terrorist" Annenberg Foundation

Friedrich DerKleine — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 17:00:13 EDT

Here are some sources on election fraud debunking the myth, recently brought up against ACORN (to the point that their Las Vegas office was raided.

Articles by the League of Women Voters

Brennan Center of Justice

On the Ayers case, note that sites like Factcheck.org called the charges in McCain's Ayers ad "Groundless, False, Dubious". If you don't trust Factcheck,org because they happen to be financed primarily by the Annenberg Foundation, the organization founded by Walter H. Annenberg, ambassador to the UK under the Nixon administration. Annenberg also was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Reagan. Quite the "terrorist" organization....

The truth about Ayers

Mark — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 11:58:45 EDT

Regarding Ayers, check the facts and reference them wherever you can.

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/he_lied_about_bill_ayers.html

I've been waiting for some comprehensive compendium of facts to counteract all of the lies and distortions we've been hearing from the McCain campaign.

Please make sure you know this information, just in case somebody brings it up.

Fell free to reference this post.

How to market Obama to your Republican friends:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/18/03541/2524

-Mark

When you have nothing to say

Jeanine — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:52:03 EDT

The McCain campaign claims Barack Obama is a pal of Bill Ayers, and therefore is himself a bomb-throwing radical. Sarah Palin points out she read this in the New York Times. Perhaps she is doing that to refute the perception she doesn't read newspapers. However, she did not read the article carefully because it demonstrates that Akers and Obama only “crossed paths” while working to bring money to Chicago schools and as neighbors in Hyde Park.

The truth is, Barack Obama does not look to Bill Ayers for advice. It is hard to imagine why would Obama consult Ayers when his advisors and supporters include Nobel Prize winners (62 scientists in a recent public letter), investors and business people (such as Warren Buffett), former SEC chairs, professional economists, admirals, generals, and an overwhelming majority of the soldiers in Iraq who have made political donations. About 4 million Americans have contributed financially to his presidential campaign. So why do McCain/Palin want to associate Obama and Ayers? Because they have nothing of more substance to say to the American people.

McCain = Fear, in so many ways

Farheen Qurashi — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00:28 EDT

For years we've known the right-wing fear strategy to be a cornerstone of their operations, but now, its as if that fear has taken on a whole new level, and turned itself into rage for his supporters and fear for everyone else.

See: www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/10/mccain.crowd/index.html

DOES SARAH PALIN SEE THE WORLD AS WE DO?

AntKat — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:42:21 EDT

For the past week, Sarah Palin, has been condemning Barack Obama on the basis of an article she read in the New York Times Obama and 60’s Bomber: A Look into Crossed Paths written by Scott Shane and printed on 10/03/08. From this article she argues that “This is a man who sees America different as you and I do”. I agree with Sarah that how someone sees the world IS very important. There are so many factors to be taken into consideration as we evaluate our candidates, especially in these most difficult and complex times. A glimpse into someone’s American/world view does help us determine the candidate’s leadership qualities.

Since Ms. Palin thought that the New York Times article provided these insights into Obama’s American/World view, I read the article in full and I encourage you to do the same. When I read the article, I became confused, because, for me, the article did not support her conclusions. Although it does state that Ayres and Obama paths’ did cross, after a review of the records of projects and interviews with a dozen people who know both men, it basically states that the two men do not appear to have been close, that Ayres played no role in Obama’s appointment on the Chicago Annenberg project, that little influence has been seen and that Mr. Obama has never expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers.

What Ms. Palin seems to have missed is the full page describing Mr. Obama’s involvement in community service. How when he returned to Chicago as a young lawyer, he joined the board of the Joyce Foundation, a non-profit that “supports efforts to protect the natural environment of the Great Lakes, to reduce poverty and violence in the region, and to ensure that its people have access to good schools, decent jobs, and a diverse and thriving culture.” The article goes on to say that a year later, because of his contribution to the Joyce foundation, he was recommended to be chairman of the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a project sponsored by the Annenberg Foundation to increase the ability of schools to better themselves. I ask you, what kind of a world/American view does someone have to get involved and join programs to improve education, or environment, or to reduce violence, or have access to jobs on their spare time? What kind of judgment does this display in regards to the use of his time and the type of organizations that he wished to serve?

I then began to wonder if Ms. Palin actually read the entire five-page article, or whether she has a reading comprehension problem, or whether she just wanted to distort the article for ruthless political “shenanigans”. After reading the article, I began to question if Sarah Palin, rather than Obama, was someone who sees America different from you and me? Do we aspire to see the world in context, as a whole or do we merely want to pull out pieces of information out of context to distort our world view? Because of the complexity of the world’s problems today, can we afford to have a leader that does not take all of the information available to make judgments? What kind of “shenanigans” could such a leader cause on the world stage?

Barack needs to answer the GOP accusations on Ayers!!!

Gabi — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:01:48 EDT

Americans want a straight up answer. Not some vague and defensive statement by a campaign spokesman. I have been a strong supporter of Barack, but even my loyalties are wavering the longer he remains quiet about this issue. He cannot simply dismiss it saying he was 8 years old when these things happened. GOP rallies are turning into hate-fests and breeding grounds for racism and fear. Barack must stand up to these bloodhounds.

Counterattack to the Weather Underground Nonsense

grapesoda — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:06:19 EDT

We all know its stupid nonsense, but the Rubes and Dopes are easily distracted.

This article would make a great ad. Better yet, put this man on TV and let him explain it to the American people.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003873017

NEW YORK In a surprising a letter to the editor published in the New York Times today, the chief prosecutor of the Weather Underground in the 1970s expressed outrage over the linking of Barack Obama to Bill Ayers by the McCain campaign, adding, "Although I dearly wanted to obtain convictions against all the Weathermen, including Bill Ayers, I am very pleased to learn that he has become a responsible citizen."

William C. Ibershof also corrects a charge in the Times: "I do take issue with the statement in your news article that the Weathermen indictment was dismissed because of 'prosecutorial misconduct.' It was dismissed because of illegal activities, including wiretaps, break-ins and mail interceptions, initiated by John N. Mitchell, attorney general at that time, and W. Mark Felt, an F.B.I. assistant director."

Felt, of course (you may have already forgotten) was also known as a guy called "Deep Throat."

The full letters follows.
*
As the lead federal prosecutor of the Weathermen in the 1970s (I was then chief of the criminal division in the Eastern District of Michigan and took over the Weathermen prosecution in 1972), I am amazed and outraged that Senator Barack Obama is being linked to William Ayers’s terrorist activities 40 years ago when Mr. Obama was, as he has noted, just a child.

Although I dearly wanted to obtain convictions against all the Weathermen, including Bill Ayers, I am very pleased to learn that he has become a responsible citizen.

Because Senator Obama recently served on a board of a charitable organization with Mr. Ayers cannot possibly link the senator to acts perpetrated by Mr. Ayers so many years ago.

I do take issue with the statement in your news article that the Weathermen indictment was dismissed because of “prosecutorial misconduct.” It was dismissed because of illegal activities, including wiretaps, break-ins and mail interceptions, initiated by John N. Mitchell, attorney general at that time, and W. Mark Felt, an F.B.I. assistant director.

William C. Ibershof

Mill Valley, Calif., Oct. 8, 2008

New oped on the McCain-Palin hate campaign

Patrick Frank — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:32:30 EDT

Write a letter or oped to your own newspaper.

Will the real John McCain Please Stand up (oped submission)

By Patrick Frank

(about 500 words)

I am a grassroots volunteer, teacher-counselor, and freelance writer who has spent hundreds of hours campaigning for Obama, in South Carolina, North Carolina, and phone banking to other parts of the nation.

I admire Obama because he has refused to engage in character assassination. Not so, the McCain-Palin campaign. They have been employing incredibly dirty tactics, adopting the end-justifies-the-means philosophy of running the campaign.

A recent distortion by McCain. He said in a recent speech. “Obama says Ayres is just a guy in the neighborhood.” McCain knows that Obama has been a lot more forthcoming than that, in describing the relationship. These questions were raised during the primary season, and Obama explained his relationship with Bill Ayres satisfactorily.

Sarah Palin said that Obama “pals around” with terrorists. This is a lie. As I understand the facts, Ayres, decades ago, was a founder of the Weather Underground, a left-wing extremist group, and he was involved in several bombings. Today, he is an educational reformer and responsible member of society, a professor at the University of Chicago.

Obama is not a “pal” of Ayres. They are neighbors, and I believe Robert Gibbs said they are on friendly terms, but they see each other infrequently. They served on a couple of boards together. Ayres held a house meeting for Obama back in 1995. He is not involved in the current Obama campaign. Obama has strongly condemned the past violent actions of Ayres and Ayres has apologized for them.

By the way, Obama was about eight years old when those events occurred.

Americans are tired of the old politics of "anything goes" on the campaign trail.

Enraged people at the Sarah Palin rallies shout out, “Kill him,” “Cut off his head,” “liar.” and the words Barack HUSSEIN Obama are repeated in a mocking, menacing tone.

Palin and others have, clearly, been ginning up hatred; let’s hope this does not result in a threat to Obama’s physical safety.

McCain has taken to repeating the question, in a sneering tone, “Who is the real Barack Obama?” I might ask the same question of McCain.” Is this the true maverick who condemned detainee abuse when many others on the right defended the practice? Is this the man who devoted a whole chapter in his book on courage to the work of the Reverend Martin Luther King? Is this the John McCain who reached across the aisle in a spirit of good will on many occasions on capitol hill? Is this the John McCain who visited Vietnam after the war, to heal emotional scars, bury the hatchet, and help “turn the page” on that devastating conflict?

Sadly, it appears that John McCain has capitulated to the extreme right wing of the Republican Party in launching a campaign of hatred and lies, directed at Senator Obama.

I am asking the John McCain I respected before this presidential season to please stand up, and put an end to character assassination by your campaign. Will the real John McCain please stand up.

Patrick Frank

Grassroots Obama volunteer

Box 1283

Kingstree, SC 29556

(843) 372-8851

patrickgfrank@yahoo.com

Next debate strategy advice (optional)

NawlinsKid — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 04:04:56 EDT

Well, I see while I’ve been attending to some personal matters the market has tanked and so has the McCain campaign. I would like to offer President Obama a strategic advantage at the next debate. Have Mr. Ayers attend the debate. Have Mr. Ayers discuss the efforts and objectives of the board you both shared. Have a prominent Republican do likewise. Do this prior to the debate. Sen. McCain will be out maneuvered and utterly dismissed when he attempts to debate the issue. This should be done just prior to the debate.

Further, when Sen. McCain attempts to bypass Ayers to move to Rev. Wright I recommend the following. Forcefully affirm (in reference to Rev Wright) - “Sen. McCain you may not love this country enough to respect her citizens, but I do. I will not waste their time discussing a closed issue when the current issue is the economy – as in the word of Mr. Carvel ‘It’s the economy, stupid’. And, you will determine if ‘stupid’ applies to the quote or your actions or words. Enough!” Of course, the exact verbiage is up to you, but I’m partial to these words!

Finally, remember President Obama you are the President and this is your senator. Make it clear whose holds which position. There is no need for tic-for-tac.

When you have nothing to say

Jeanine — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 23:13:41 EDT

An ad from the McCain campaign suggests that Barack Obama is a pal of Bill Ayers, and therefore is a bomb-throwing radical. Sarah Palin points out that she read this in the New York Times, perhaps to refute the perception that she doesn't read newspapers. However, she did not read the article carefully, since it demonstrates that Akers and Obama only 'crossed paths' while working to bring money to Chicago schools and as neighbors in Hyde Park. Barack Obama does not look to Bill Ayers for advice. His advisors and supporters include Nobel Prize winners (62 scientists in a recent public letter), investors and business people such as Warren Buffett, former SEC chairs, two-thirds of professional economists recently polled, admirals, generals and the over-whelming majority of soldiers in Iraq who have made political donations. About 4 million Americans have contributed financially to his presidential campaign.

The McCain/Palin campaign wants to 'turn the page' away from the issues that matter to people's lives. The guilt by association charge on Obama is without merit. Let's consider the associations of John McCain that are relevant to banking, character, and honor. John McCain was reprimanded by the Senate for poor judgment in asking government regulators to withdraw from examination of his friend and supporter Charles Keating, who went to jail for fraud in the savings and loan crisis that also cost the taxpayer billions. John McCain said that Phil Gramm is the person he looks to on the economy, Phil Gramm who calls Americans whiners and wrote the deregulation laws that put the country on the path to the present crisis. John McCain is indifferent to the propriety of having paid lobbyists on his campaign staff, including his campaign manager, who received money from a company hired by Fannie Mae until the government took it over a few weeks ago. This charge of guilt by association is true and important. Voters: pay attention to what matters.

McCain fights from behind skirts of wife, Palin

Martin Edwin "Mick" from Churchton, MD — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:21:12 EDT

Does anyone have any information about John McCain's medical history that would shed light on whether he has had his spine and manly parts removed?

The question comes to mind after his wife, Cindy, and running mate, "Siss-Boom-Bah" Sarah Palin have made the most scurrilous Big Lie-type attacks against Barack Obama.

Yet on the night of the face-to-face debate, John McCain could only bleat out a tinny "That One," but showed no stomach--intestinal fortitude--for bringing up the McCarthyite Ayers, et. al. nonsense.

(Ayers being that guy who was funded by the foundation of a Ronald Reagan friend.)

Rumor has it if you look behind the skirts of Cindy McCain and Sarah Palin, even today you can see John McCain peeking out like Alfred E. Neuman.

Not very presidential.

Or manly.

McCain: Grumpy, and cowardly, old man

Martin Edwin "Mick" from Churchton, MD — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:07:25 EDT

Does anyone have any information about John McCain's medical history that would shed light on whether he has had his spine and manly parts removed?

The question comes to mind after his wife, Cindy, and running mate, "Siss-Boom-Bah" Sarah Palin have made the most scurrilous Big Lie-type attacks against Barack Obama.

Yet on the night of the debate, John McCain could only bleat out a tinny "That One," but showed no stomach--intestinal fortitude--for bringing up the McCarthyite Ayers, et. al. nonsense.

(Ayers being that guy who was funded by the foundation of a Ronald Reagan friend.)

Rumor has it if you look behind the skirts of Cindy McCain and Sarah Palin, even today you can see John McCain peeking out like Alfred E. Neuman.

Not very presidential.

You Take the High Road...

Bodie P — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 21:40:45 EDT

I became an Obama supporter during the primaries. It wasn't that he had extensive experience--though I was impressed by the people from whom he had sought advice--or that he had a crackerjack plan to offer. It was that he ran a clean, dignified campaign in spite of the provocation to do otherwise.

He focused on his vision, what he wanted to accomplish, and if he was light on details, at least the details he offered weren't designed to discredit his opponents through side issues. And while it won him my admiration, it cost him. The pundits said that he needed to "get tougher," that he could not win without resorting to dirty tricks.

I hoped they were wrong.

Cindy McCain Welcomes You To "The Twilight Zone"!

August — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 18:47:27 EDT

Prior to last night's debates in which Barack Obama was the clear victor, Cindy told reporters earlier that day that Obama has "waged the dirtiest campaign in American history". This coming at the onset of McCain's new strategy to stop talking about the issues, and focus on Swift Boat-style tactics to defame Obama and try to make him seem like some kind of un-American radical. Cindy is giving a response founded on emotion, not logic. She's upset that Obama is pulling away in the polls and on the Electoral map. Obama is widely considered the "nice guy" that wants to be above the bipartisan smear tactics and fear-mongering that Republicans seem to own a patent on. But, he has learned from the Kerry campaign that we should strike back when they strike at us. Calling Obama "dirty" is a stretch, but calling it the "dirtiest" in "American history" is an illogical form of desperation, and just more smearing from the McCains to say the least.

Welcome to The Twilight Zone folks. Where all forms of reality & logic has been suspended in this political parrallel universe, brought to you by the Republican Party.

Obama's "The Subject" ad (in response to John McCain's smear tactics)

The Ayers Issue

Yinka from Kirkland, WA — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:58:37 EDT

William Ayers is a distraction and such a non issue. However, the Republicans are pushing talking points to make it seem like Obama is some sort of Manchurian candidate put in place by some secret cult which Ayers is somehow supposed to be controlling.

It is a story right out of the movies and anyone looking for an excuse not to vote for Obama can latch on to it and nothing you say will change their minds even in the face of facts.

So shall we start believing the republicans now, or shall we look into the details.

1 - Obama was 8 when Ayers and his group were active.

2 - By the time Obama met Ayers, the man was trying very hard to repay his debt to the nation by working on improving education for the underprivileged.

3 - Obama, a community organizer, was bound to cross paths with Ayers since they both had the same focus of helping the underprivileged.

4 - The 50Million was grant money from a philanthropist who was giving back to the community. Obama's board (which Ayers was on for a while) got money from Richard Annenberg and as so did many others.

5 - Many underprivileged people benefited from this work. This was the point of these groups.

Seems to me we are giving Ayers way too much credit as a sinister mastermind and insulting Obama, with all his accomplishments, as a mere puppet. It seems to me that these types of events happen everyday as people try to do the right thing for the country.

The past activities of Ayers cannot be impugned to Obama in anyway because he was working on a cause that it so happens that Ayers felt a conviction to work on as well. Maybe for his self salvation or otherwise, I really don't care about Ayers's motives, but I cannot accept that he somehow is a master puppeteer and he is controlling what Obama is doing or maybe Obama somehow condones Ayers' past by not excluding him from helping the underprivileged.

We can all decide for ourselves which doctrine we will subscribe to.....

Gov. Palin's Gang Connection

ted in pdx — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:40:24 EDT

Gov. Palin has been warning us of the danger of electing a President who "Pals around with terrorists..."

I would ask Gov. Palin how she feels about the military recruiting policies which John McCain has actively supported since 2003, and who her son may be forced to pal around with as a consequence. She might want to consider the experience of another Mom with a son in our military, Stephanie Cockrell, as reported by CBS News:

(CBS) U.S. Army Sgt. Juwan Johnson got a hero's welcome while home on leave in June of 2004.

"Not only did I love my son - but my god - I liked the man he was becoming," his mother, Stephanie Cockrell, remembers.

But that trip home was the last time his family saw him alive. When Johnson died, he wasn't in a war zone, he was in Germany.

"He had finished his term in Iraq," his mother said. "I talked to him the day before his death. He said, 'Mom, I'm in the process of discharging out. I'll be out in two weeks'."

On July 3, 2005, Sgt. Johnson went to a park not far from his base in Germany to be initiated into the 'Gangster Disciples,' a notorious Chicago-based street gang. He was beaten by eight other soldiers in a "jump-in" - an initiation rite common to many gangs.

"My son never spoke of joining a gang," Cockrell told CBS News correspondent Thalia Assuras.

Johnson died that night from his injuries. His son, Juwan Jr., was born five months later.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/07/28/eveningnews/main3107316.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_3107316

Since 2003, the military has granted 'moral waivers' to over 125,000 enlistees. Those waivers have been, in most cases, for serious criminal activity, including significant numbers of convicted felons, many of them gang members. The FBI conducted an investigation into this subject, and here are highlights from it's report:

-- Gang-related activity in the US military is increasing and poses a threat to law enforcement officials and national security. Members of nearly every major street gang have been identified on both domestic and international military installations. Although most prevalent in the Army, the Army Reserves, and the National Guard, gang activity is pervasive throughout all branches of the military and across most ranks, but is most common among the junior enlisted ranks. The extent of gang presence in the armed services is often difficult to determine since many enlisted gang members conceal their gang affiliation and military authorities may not recognize gang affiliation or may be inclined not to report such incidences. The military enlistment of gang members could ultimately lead to the worldwide expansion of US-based gangs.

-- Gang members may enlist in the military to escape their current environment or gang lifestyle. Some gang members may also enlist to receive weapons, combat, and convoy support training; to obtain access to weapons and explosives; or as an alternative to incarceration. Upon discharge, they may employ their military training against law enforcement officials and rival gang members. Such military training could ultimately result in more organized, sophisticated, and deadly gangs, as well as an increase in deadly assaults on law enforcement officers.

-- Gang membership in the armed forces can disrupt good order and discipline, increase criminal activity on and off military installations, and compromise installation security and force protection. Gang incidents involving active-duty personnel on or near US military bases nationwide include drive-by shootings, assaults, robberies, drug distribution, weapons violations, domestic disturbances, vandalism, extortion, and money laundering. Gangs have also been known to use active-duty service members to distribute their drugs.

-- Military-trained gang members also present an emerging threat to law enforcement officers patrolling the streets of US cities. Both current and former gang-affiliated soldiers transfer their acquired military training and knowledge back to the community and employ them against law enforcement officers, who are typically not trained to engage gangsters with military expertise.

-- Gang members have been known to enlist in the military by failing to report past criminal convictions or by using fraudulent documents. Some applicants enter the criminal justice system as juveniles and their criminal records are sealed and unavailable to recruiters performing criminal background investigations. Many military recruiters are not properly trained to recognize gang affiliation and unknowingly recruit gang members, particularly if the applicant has no criminal record or visible tattoos.

-- Gang members commonly target dependent children of military personnel for recruitment. Military children are considered potential candidates for gang membership because the transient nature of their families often makes them feel isolated, vulnerable, and in need of companionship. Dependents of service members may be involved in drug distribution and assaults both on and off of military bases. Lax security at open installations may facilitate recruitment by allowing civilian gang members to access the base and interact with military personnel and their children.

-- While allowing gang members to serve in the military may temporarily increase recruiting numbers, US communities may ultimately have to contend with disruption and violence resulting from military-trained gang members on the streets of US cities. Furthermore, most gang members have been pre-indoctrinated into the gang lifestyle and maintain an allegiance to their gang. This could ultimately jeopardize the safety of other military members and impede gang-affiliated soldiers’ ability to act in the best interest of their country.

http://www.militarytimes.com/static/projects/pages/ngic_gangs.pdf

As I read this body of facts, I wonder about the scope of the damage which has been done to this country since 9/11 by our own ill-considered initiative in Iraq. If the larger goal was to deter terrorism, why are we providing combat training to thousands of gang members, and providing them access to our most sophisticated weaponry? Even more insidious, for any ordinary American contemplating enlisting in the military, the prospect of serving with comrades in arms who are also Crips, Bloods, or members of the 'Gangster Disciples' would, in my opinion, be reason enough to opt out, regardless of any other incentives there might be.

If Gov. Palin insists on continuing to warn us away from Senator Obama because of his casual association with Mr. Ayers, I think she owes us an explanation as to why we should support a candidate who's policies over the last 5 years have materially increased the potency of domestic gangs to terrorize neighborhoods all over this country.

William Ayers vs Todd Palin

delantero — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:33:14 EDT

Regarding the Republican attacks on the relationship between Ayers and Obama, I found this information to be helpful (from Wikipedia . . ) and some even more interesting information on the Palin's and their secessionist tendencies . . ""suggested that while Obama was "justly criticized for his ties" to Ayers, the coverage of that connection should be matched by equal coverage of John McCain's associating with convicted Watergate burglar Gordon Liddy.[33][34]"" Michael Kinsley, a longtime critic of Ayers,[30] argued in Time that Obama's relationship with Ayers should not be a campaign issue: "If Obama's relationship with Ayers, however tangential, exposes Obama as a radical himself, or at least as a man with terrible judgment, he shares that radicalism or terrible judgment with a comically respectable list of Chicagoans and others — including Republicans and conservatives — who have embraced Ayers and Dohrn as good company, good citizens, even experts on children's issues." "Ayers and Dohrn are despicable, and yet making an issue of Obama's relationship with them is absurd." [31] Truth--->Sarah Palin and her husband Todd were members of the Alaska Independence party whose motto "Alaska First" espouses Alaskan secession from the United States . . . If that isn't treasonous, then I don't understand the definition of the word. Now honestly, seriously, truthfully, with your hand on the bible and all . .. . . If Michelle Obama's family were former Black Panthers, how much vitriol would be thrown her way? As expected in the month prior to the vote however, we get attacks reminiscent of Swift Boats and Dukakis and Willie Horton. What we need, however, are solutions to the enormous challenges that lie ahead!

Debate Preparation

Cathie — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:36:34 EDT

I listened to a radio broadcast this morning on the way to work that was discussing what the McCain campaign should do to prepare for the debate, as well as what tactics they should use. The host suggested they should use the names Ayers and Wright only once or twice. Here's an idea, why doesn't the McCain campaign stick to the issues, like the economy? Another caller suggested that McCain look at Senator Obama so that he appeared more confident. Confident? Why didn't he look at him during the first debate? Surely you can't say John McCain is not sure of himself. Why does he think his opponent is not his equal? The bottom line is, that John McCain sees himself as being better then not just his opponent, but the majority of Americans. Is he out of touch? Of course he is, he is not going to be affected by the Wall Street woes, nor was he worried about the increasing cost of gas or wether or not he would have a job to support his family as the economy takes a dive. John McCain can never understand the American people, he is one of the Washington elite that Sarah Palin likes to reference in her incoherent babblings. I am excited to see Barack Obama in his debate tonight with John McCain and I am hopeful that he will display the strong character that sets him and his opponent so far apart.

Guilt by Association

Henry M — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:34:00 EDT

Wright was wrong, and now we have the Ayers (who was a terrorist when Obama was eight years old!) non-issue.

On the other hand, McCain's history of association with unsavory individuals and organizations has often been, at best, ill-chosen.

Sometimes guilt by association is valid, i.e. McCain’s economic, legal, political, and moral disgrace as one of the Keating Five

And sometimes it isn’t, i.e. McCain’s membership on the “US Council for World Freedom”

If you liked this message, then please have a look at the rest of my blog, http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/henrymu and please consider donating to the campaign: http://my.barackobama.com/page/outreach/view/main/PListe4Obama

Henry M

Aging "terrorist" Ayers and the GOP connection

Martin Edwin "Mick" from Churchton, MD — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:06:56 EDT

Aging "terrorist" Bill Ayers was funded by a foundation created by Ambassador Walter Annenberg, a close friend of Ronald Reagan, who Palin and McCain profess to adore ...

YET THE REPUBLICANS ARE HITTING OBAMA WITH HAVING A PASSING ACQUAINTANCE WITH AYERS!!!

SEEMS DILETTANTE SARAH PALIN LIKES TO DABBLE IN RACIAL PROFILING ...

http://www.annenbergfoundation.org/about/

http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/1987-95/94-084.html

The Brown University News Bureau

Distributed January 23, 1995
Contact: Mark Nickel

...

The Chicago Annenberg proposal was developed through discussions among a broad-based coalition of local school council members, teachers, principals, school reform groups, union representatives and central office staff, convened by Anne Hallett of the Cross City Campaign for Urban School Reform, WILLIAM AYERS of the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Warren Chapman of the Joyce Foundation. ...

McCain linked to Iran Contra Affair

Aloha Obama - Lisa Rey — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 08:14:01 EDT

By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - GOP presidential nominee John McCain has past connections to a private group that supplied aid to guerrillas seeking to overthrow the leftist government of Nicaragua in the Iran-Contra affair.

McCain's ties are facing renewed scrutiny after his campaign criticized Barack Obama for his link to a former radical who engaged in violent acts 40 years ago.

The U.S. Council for World Freedom was part of an international organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America. The group was dedicated to stamping out communism around the globe.

The council's founder, retired Army Maj. Gen. John Singlaub, said McCain became associated with the organization in the early 1980s as McCain was launching his political career in Arizona. Singlaub said McCain was a supporter but not an active member in the group.

"McCain was a new guy on the block learning the ropes," Singlaub told The Associated Press in an interview. "I think I met him in the Washington area when he was just a new congressman. We had McCain on the board to make him feel like he wasn't left out. It looks good to have names on a letterhead who are well-known and appreciated.

"I don't recall talking to McCain at all on the work of the group," Singlaub said.

The renewed attention over McCain's association with Singlaub's group comes as McCain's campaign steps up criticism of Obama's dealings with William Ayers, a college professor who co-founded the Weather Underground and years later worked on education reform in Chicago alongside Obama. Ayers held a meet-the-candidate event at his home when Obama first ran for public office in the mid-1990s.

Obama was roughly 8 years old when Ayers, now at the University of Illinois at Chicago, was working with the Weather Underground, which took responsibility for bombings that included nonfatal blasts at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol. McCain's vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, has said that Obama "pals around with terrorists."

In McCain's case, Singlaub knew McCain's father, a Navy admiral who had sought Singlaub's counsel when McCain, a Navy pilot, became a prisoner of war and spent 5 1/2 years in North Vietnamese hands.

McCain tied to Iran Contra Affair

Aloha Obama - Lisa Rey — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 08:09:51 EDT

By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer

McCain's ties are facing renewed scrutiny after his campaign criticized Barack Obama for his link to a former radical who engaged in violent acts 40 years ago.

"I don't recall talking to McCain at all on the work of the group," Singlaub said.

In McCain's case, Singlaub knew McCain's father, a Navy admiral who had sought Singlaub's counsel when McCain, a Navy pilot, became a prisoner of war and spent 5 1/2 years in North Vietnamese hands.

Mccain's Time With The USCWF

Nia "Hussein" J. — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 04:43:55 EDT

McCain Sat on Board of Radical

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/06/why-mccains-time-with-cou_n_132470.html

Since Sunday, Democrats have been buzzing about the re-revelation that during the 1980s, Sen. John McCain served on the board of a far-right conservative organization that had supplied arms and funds to paramilitary organizations in Latin America.

Democratic strategist Paul Begala lit the fire when, during an appearance on Meet the Press, he warned that this relatively obscure detail from McCain's past could draw him into a guilt-by-association game he was bound to regret.

"John McCain sat on the board of...the U.S. Council for World Freedom," said Begala, "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 'has increasingly become a gathering place, a forum, a point of contact for extremists, racists and anti-Semites.'"

But McCain's involvement in the U.S. Council for World Freedom, which extended from 1981 through, possibly, 1986 is significant -- not merely because it ties him to unsavory characters but because it firmly associates him with a foreign policy that was, at the time and still, controversial.

"I didn't know that [McCain had] served on the board," said Shannon O'Neil
Douglas Dillon Fellow for Latin American Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. "It is a little bit surprising to me. But all of those organizations did come from the Republican side mostly. Often the people were tied to the military and they saw the world in black and white terms... My impression is [McCain] still sees the world in back and white."

The USCWF was founded in Phoenix, Arizona in November 1981 as an offshoot of the World Anti-Communist League. The group was, from the onset, saddled with the disreputable reputation of its parent group. The WACL had ties to ultra-right figures and Latin American death squads. Roger Pearson, the chairman of the WACL, was expelled from the group in 1980 under allegations that he was a member of a neo-Nazi organization.

The U.S. Council of World Freedom claimed to be cleansed of these elements. The group's director, retired Major General John Singlaub, said he had purged some of the more "kooky" members, including a Mexican chapter that "blamed everything on the Jews," and "even accused Pope John Paul of being a Jew." The Anti-Defamation League, once critical, applauded Singlaub for his efforts. Moreover, the USCWF was granted a sense of political legitimacy when President Ronald Reagan addressed the group in September 1984.

But the group's secret activities were still controversial. It claimed to support "pro-Democratic resistance movements fighting communist totalitarianism." And during the 1980s it became a vehicle for the Reagan administration to prop up some of the more totalitarian, anti-communist efforts in Central America.

According to a March 1989 Washington Post article, the USCWF coordinated funding efforts with sources in Taiwan and South Korea to help contras in Nicaragua purchase some $5 million worth of arms. The group was charged with operating a plane that was shot down while flying supplies to these very same rebels. The council, according to a 1986 New York Times report, "provided $10 million to $25 million in cash and 'in-kind' aid: four to eight small aircraft (''non gun-mounted'') to the contras, boots to rebels fighting Soviet troops in Afghanistan, $20,000 in medicines to Cambodian resistance forces, and help for groups in Mozambique, Ethiopia and other countries." Singlaub and the council also reportedly provided Neo Hom and other factions of the Lao resistance with aid in the form of clothing and medicine - aid that the group subsequently turned into a scheme to raise fund from refugees.

The McCain campaign, in a statement to Politico, defended the efforts of the council. Brian Rogers, a spokesman, said that the Senator "disassociated himself" from the group "when questions were raised about its activities, but that in no way diminishes his leadership role in ensuring that the forces of democracy and freedom prevailed in Central America."

But Singlaub "does not recall any McCain resignation in 1984 or May 1986," the Associated Press reported early Tuesday, "nor does Joyce Downey, who oversaw the group's day-to-day activities."

Moreover, while the goal of confronting communism may be politically defensible, the methods that the group pursued elicited heavy complaint. In January 1987, Sen. Patrick Leahy criticized Singlaub and, by extension, the Reagan administration, for directly circumventing the will of Congress, which had cut off funds to paramilitary organizations like the contras.

'The open courting of General Singlaub and his groups," said Leahy, "I've never seen anything like it. The active fund-raising among wealthy people to back these programs - I think it's unprecedented... There seems to be more and more of a feeling that, 'Gee, we really want to do something to help the contras, but don't tell me what you're doing because I'm not supposed to know.'"

The funders of the U.S World Council of Freedom read like a who's who list of prominent conservative figures. Joe Coors, the Republican Beer baron was reportedly a big donor. Time Magazine wrote that the Christian Broadcasting Network was a backer as well. The Washington Times newspaper, owned by the controversial Reverend Sun Myung Moon, started a fundraising drive of its own. And Moon himself had numerous ties to Singlaub.

Through it all, McCain was a member. As reported by Politico, the council formally approached him during his run for elected office in 1982 and McCain, then a member of the House of Representatives, agreed to join, citing years later the organization's commitment to a freedom agenda. "They've got some good people involved," he said. Aides to his campaign said he resigned from the board of directors in 1984. But in 1985, McCain attended the group's "Freedom Fighter of the Year" award ceremony in Washington. And as late as July 1986, the organization's communications firm sent a letter with McCain's name on it regarding Singlaub's appearance at a conference "of nearly 40 countries... taking part in an annual observance to commemorate efforts on behalf of freedom throughout the world."

By then, the council's activities were becoming well known. In a 60 Minutes segment aired in '86, Singlaub was described as the President's "secret weapon to sidestep a Congress that will not permit him to act in the areas where he believes that our security interests are at stake." He did not contest the description.

There is no reporting to suggest that McCain was directly involved in any of the USCWF's operational decisions. Begala, in his appearance on Meet The Press, actually took time to exonerate the Senator from any charge that he was associated with the organization's early anti-Semitic fringe membership. "Now, that's not John McCain," he said, "I don't think he is that."

But McCain's association with a group that reportedly circumvented law, financed right-wing military institutions, and engaged in sometimes brutal anti-communist tactics, could be telling for some voters. At the very least his time on the board of the U.S. Council of World Freedom provides a window of sorts into the foreign policy vision that he held back in the 1980s and one that he still seemingly holds today.

"Remember this happened during a time when you were either with us or against us," said Council on Foreign Relation's O'Neil. "Somewhat like the mindset," that we have seen with the Bush administration.

To hell with Sarah Palin and the moose she rode in on ...

Martin Edwin "Mick" from Churchton, MD — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:58:09 EDT

Sarah Palin is an Ayers-head.

Response to Ayers Charge

Tom — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:34:24 EDT

Response to McCain/Palin on accusations relating to Ayers etc.

“Senator McCain, during the Republican primaries in 2000 George Bush allowed others to spread false rumors about you, claiming, among other things, that you were suffering from mental problems due to the time you spent as a prisoner of war. That was a despicable tactic to use against a patriot such as yourself.

You have always claimed to be a straight talker. But now you and your running mate are leading your campaign in the same kind of sleazy and despicable tactics against me that the Bush Campaign used against you in 2000.

You call me a liar. But the truth is you compromised your principals when you failed to challenge the flying of the Confederate flag over the capital building in South Carolina. Now you are compromising your principals about truth telling again by calling into question my patriotism. You and your campaign are attempting to spread the idea that somehow the mistakes made by people I have known or been associated with imply that I sympathize with terrorism, including attacks on the United States government. I don’t like saying this Senator McCain, but I consider your tactics to be beneath the character of one who presents himself as a straight talker. I believe, Senator McCain, that this will be one more in that list of actions and statements for which you will later express regret. Challenge my credentials if you wish. I think that over the period of this campaign my ability to lead and to show good judgment can be judged on its on merits. But, to be frank, I deeply resent that your ambition to be President of the United States has led you to make and support implications that I have or ever would be less than a patriot. I would have thought it a tactic that was beneath you.

TERRORIST AYERS AND THE GOP CONNECTION

Martin Edwin "Mick" from Churchton, MD — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:59:32 EDT

http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/1987-95/94-084.html

The Brown University News Bureau

Distributed January 23, 1995
Contact: Mark Nickel

...

The Chicago Annenberg proposal was developed through discussions among a broad-based coalition of local school council members, teachers, principals, school reform groups, union representatives and central office staff, convened by Anne Hallett of the Cross City Campaign for Urban School Reform, WILLIAM AYERS of the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Warren Chapman of the Joyce Foundation. A nominating committee has been formed by the proposal's drafters to create a permanent 20-person Reform Collaborative to oversee the project. The initial networks of schools that are funded will be selected through a competitive proposal process, with specifics of the process developed by the Collaborative. ...

Bill Ayers sponsored by foundation created by Ronald Reagan friend ...

Martin Edwin "Mick" from Churchton, MD — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:27:01 EDT

Bill Ayers was funded by a foundation created by Ambassador Walter Annenberg, a close friend of Ronald Reagan, who Palin and McCain profess to adore ...

HOW COME OBAMA GETS HIT WITH HAVING A PASSING ACQUAINTANCE WITH AYERS???

SEEMS SARAH PALIN LIKES TO ENGAGE IN RACIAL PROFILING ...

http://www.annenbergfoundation.org/about/

Another interesting blog from the Washington Post on GOP concupiescence with Bill Ayers

Martin Edwin "Mick" from Churchton, MD — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:46:18 EDT

willandjansdad1 wrote:willandjansdad1 wrote:
Obama's interaction with William Ayers on the Chicago Annenberg Project has some interesting connections. Obama was recruited to chair the board of that school reform organization funded and established by the Annenberg Foundation It was then that Obama met Ayers. Ayers was a 60's radical that is now active in education reform. The CAP was a project of the Annenberg Foundation.

Who was Walter Annenberg, this despicable funder of domestic terrorists?

Annenberg was a Nixon supporter. Annenberg introduced President Reagan to British Prime Minister Thatcher, and the Reagans often celebrated New Years with the Annenbergs. Leonore Annenberg was named by President Ronald Reagan as the State Department's Chief of Protocol as well. Annenberg was a life-long Republican.

So by McCain's logic...Reagan palled around with a guy that funds "America hating" terrorists.

I wish we had known then what we know now.

Mr.Andersen... I am Richard Anderson and my son Will in a Marine in Iraq. Thanks for helping me focus on the foolishness of the Ayers crap...Reagan hung with Annenberg who supported Ayers. QED... Reagan had a terrorist-loving pal.

Manchurian Candidate: How Bill Ayers was funded by foundation created by Reagan friend

Martin Edwin "Mick" from Churchton, MD — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:22:14 EDT

HERE IS MORE ON THE FOUNDER OF THE ANNENBERG FOUNDATION, WHICH FUNDED AYERS.

HOW COME OBAMA GETS HIT WITH HAVING A PASSING ACQUAINTANCE WITH AYERS, WHILE THE FORMER TERRORIST WAS ACTUALLY FUNDED BY A REPUBLICAN-LEANING FOUNDATION???

http://www.annenbergfoundation.org/about/

The Honorable Walter H. Annenberg

The Honorable Walter H. Annenberg
"I believe in social responsibility. A man's service to others must be at least in ratio to the character of his own success in life. When one is fortunate enough to gain a measure of material well being, however small, service to others should be uppermost in his mind." - Walter H. Annenberg (1951)

Walter H. Annenberg was born in 1908 and enjoyed a distinguished career as a publisher, broadcaster, diplomat, and philanthropist.

He graduated from The Peddie School in Hightstown, New Jersey and attended the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He entered the family publishing business in Philadelphia where he became the President of Triangle Publications in 1940 and, subsequently, Chairman of the Board.

While serving as Editor and Publisher of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Mr. Annenberg saw the need for a publication for teenage girls and, in 1944, established Seventeen Magazine. In 1953, as a result of his belief that television's growth would create a demand for more information on the part of viewers, he established TV Guide as a national publication.

Under Mr. Annenberg's leadership, Triangle Publications bought a radio station in the early 1940's in Philadelphia and built a VHF television station which was one of the first TV stations owned by a publishing house. The radio-TV division of Triangle grew to include six AM and six FM radio stations, and six TV stations. The Philadelphia station pioneered a number of broadcasting concepts among which was Mr. Annenberg's decision to use television to present a series of educational programs that ran for more than a decade. In 1951, Mr. Annenberg became an early awardee of the prestigious Alfred I. DuPont Award for pioneering education via television. He was also given the Marshall Field Award in 1958. In 1983, he received the Ralph Lowell Medal for his "outstanding contribution to public television."

A man with a deep interest in education, Mr. Annenberg founded The Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania in 1958 and The Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California in 1971. In 1983, he established the Washington Program in Communications Policy Studies in response to growing awareness that difficult government and industry problems were emerging in the rapidly changing telecommunications field.

He served as Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, Great Britain, from 1969 to 1974. By the late 1980's, having sold all of his publishing and broadcast enterprises, Ambassador Annenberg devoted his attention to philanthropy and public service.

Revealing blog from the Washington Post ...

Martin Edwin "Mick" from Churchton, MD — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:11:54 EDT

willandjansdad1 wrote:Obama's interaction with William Ayers on the Chicago Annenberg Project has some interesting connections. Obama was recruited to chair the board of that school reform organization funded and established by the Annenberg Foundation It was then that Obama met Ayers. Ayers was a 60's radical that is now active in education reform. The CAP was a project of the Annenberg Foundation.

Who was Walter Annenberg, this despicable funder of domestic terrorists?

Annenberg was a Nixon supporter. Annenberg introduced President Reagan to British Prime Minister Thatcher, and the Reagans often celebrated New Years with the Annenbergs. Leonore Annenberg was named by President Ronald Reagan as the State Department's Chief of Protocol as well. Annenberg was a life-long Republican.

So by McCain's logic...Reagan palled around with a guy that funds "America hating" terrorists.

I wish we had known then what we know now.

10/6/2008 8:08:16 PM

From Albuquerque today: ABC POLITICAL NEWS: Ayers, Keating...Kitchen Sink McCain/Palin Step Up Attacks Obama leads in OH--[Respond on editorial pages!]

Stephen Fox, Contributing Editor New Mexico Sun News — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:30:55 EDT

From Albuquerque today: ABC POLITICAL NEWS: Ayers, Keating...Kitchen Sink McCain/Palin Step Up Attacks Obama leads in OH--[Respond on editorial pages!]

By KAREN TRAVERS and RIGEL ANDERSON, October 6, 2008

[NEW MEXICO and battleground states & Obama Supporters: Time to fight back on the editorial pages of America to tear apart McCain's Albuquerque diatribe, item by item!----many political battles and whole wars can actually be fought and won on the Editorial page! Letters, 200 words; OpEds, 600: send it out to many editors, the same folks who are about to write the endorsements!-from Stephen Fox, Contributing Editor, New Mexico Sun News]

Today in Albuquerque, NM, John McCain unleashed perhaps his strongest attack of the entire campaign on Barack Obama. The Republican nominee called his opponent out on his fundraising, his (in)action on the financial crisis and even questioned his honesty and openness.

Stepping up his rhetoric against the Democratic nominee, McCain accused him of not being forthright about his record.

"Who is the real Barack Obama?" McCain asked, per ABC News' Bret Hovell. "Even at this late hour in the campaign there are things we don't know about Senator Obama or the record that he brings to this campaign."

Couple this with running mate Sarah Palin in Florida hammering Obama on his "associating" with Bill Ayers and bringing up the fear card for the first time.

"I am just so fearful that this is not a man who sees America the way that you and I see America -- as the greatest source for good in this world," Palin said of Obama to 2,000 supporters at a rally in Clearwater, Florida this morning, per ABC News' Imtiyaz Delawala. "I'm afraid this someone who sees America as imperfect enough to work with a former domestic terrorist who had targeted his own country."

"This, ladies and gentlemen, has nothing to do with the kind of change that anyone can believe in, not my kids, not for your kids," Palin added.

The Obama campaign fired back with its own "association" attack, releasing a 13-minute documentary about McCain's connection to the Keating Five scandal.

The two-front attack comes the day before the second of three presidential debates and as another battleground state poll shows McCain/Palin trailing Obama/Biden in a key state that President Bush won in 2004.

Obama leads McCain 51-45 among likely voters in an ABC News/Washington Post poll released tonight. The economy is far and away the most important issue to Ohio voters and Obama is "riding economic discontent to an advantage" there, per ABC News Polling Director Gary Langer. Obama is "bolstered in part by financially stressed voters in the state's hard-hit industrial belt and following it up with a more extensive ground campaign in this key contest."

Digging deeper into the numbers finds some interesting statistics that will have the folks on Michigan Avenue smiling tonight. Not surprisingly, Obama leads by a wide margin (71-26) in Cuyahoga County, the heavily Democratic Cleveland area. But Obama also has a 17-point lead in the northeastern region, which includes the Rust Belt industrial cities of Akron, Canton and Youngstown. John Kerry eked out a 52-47 win in that region in 2004 over President Bush. In the center and southeastern corner of the state, a region that is more rural and more solidly Republican, Obama has a 51-45 lead. Bush won this same region by 8 points in 2004.

Since wrapping up the Democratic nomination in June, Obama has had 23 events in Ohio, per an analysis of ABC News' records more than any other battleground state. McCain has had 30 events in Ohio since wrapping up his nomination in early March, second only to Florida where he has had 34 events.

Obama hits the ground with a two-day bus tour on Oct 9-10 through southern and central Ohio with stops in Dayton, Cincinnati, Portsmouth and other TBA cities. This is Obama's first visit to the Buckeye State since Sept 9. McCain was last there on Sept. 29.

Tuesday's town hall style debate gives Obama a chance to keep the focus on issues and gives McCain the opportunity to regain lost ground in a format where he is most comfortable.

Comparison = Ayers and Keating...

Mickiboop (P.O.B.) Be the Change — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:10:03 EDT

This blogger's post by Doug Renton, WA is copied from CNN's story on Barack - "Not the First Punch But the Last"

Ayers and Keating are not comparable.

Ayers is a casual acquaintance of Obama. Keating was a close personal friend of McCain who vacationed in the Bahamas together many times.

Ayers helped Obama get started in state politics by hosting a small fundraiser at his house. Keating made contributions to McCain’s senate campaign in excess of $100,000.

Ayers has never used his relationship with Obama to gain political favor. Keating managed to fend off federal banking regulators and auditors thanks in part due to his relationship with senator McCain (one of the Keating Five).

When Ayers was active in the Weathermen, Obama was 8 years old. When Keating’s S&L failed, McCain had already been in the senate for several years, and they were well acquainted.

Ayers was on the same Board of Directors as Obama, for a non-profit agency advocating education issues. Keating was a business partner in a for-profit real estate venture with Cindy McCain and her father.

The charges against Ayers were dropped. Keating was convicted of felony fraud, racketeering, and conspiracy, and he did jail time.

We need more people to blog and write letters against what McSame and Palin are doing to smear Barack. Obama - Biden '08

A Must Read

Marcia--One who believes in Dreams! — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:31:42 EDT

This is a must read from the Huffington Post...

"I was appalled (and annoyed) this weekend by the newest wave of hypocrisy to come spewing perkily forth from the ever-smiling, ever-smirking, perfectly lipsticked mouth of Governor Palin...

Finally informing us what she reads, Palin said that yesterday, while leafing through her daily copy of the New York Times, she came across a story on Senator Obama and William Ayers, the 1960s militant and member of the Weather Underground, the radical and violent anti-war group. And faster than you can say "Darn right!"she saw her opportunity - and her duty. Clearly, she must inform an unknowing nation that Obama is guilty by association with Ayers.

You, Governor, should know better. As I and many journalists have noted, you have strong ties to the Alaska Independence Party. While it was finally revealed that you technically were not a card-carrying member of the AIP, it was discovered that the First Dude, between his life of high adventure in helping you rule your northern fiefdom, his competitive snowmobiling and fishing, was a member of the organization for many years.

Yes, it is a free country. You get to associate or marry whomever you want, no matter how distasteful. Yes, Senator Obama served on a board with William Ayers, a former member of the Weather Underground and now a college professor and activist in Chicago. However, Senator Obama has clearly distanced himself on numerous occasions from Professor Ayers' actions in the 1960's. This is a non-issue. Perhaps that is why you have decided to focus on it -- better a non-issue than having to learn and think about real problems that affect everyday people, like health care, the economy and education. Those, I suppose, are just too gosh darned hard.

All snarky comments aside, I do have a concern, Governor. A big one. You have never distanced yourself from a radical secessionist movement aimed at the breaking up of the Federal Union."

Read the entire article at (& please pass it on):

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-mackey/terrorists-secessionists_b_132010.html?page=2

Gloves Off!! Fight Truth to Power!!

Nia "Hussein" J. — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 02:55:33 EDT

I've gathered some information that should help us fight back the smears and the lies. I agree that Obama needs to stay above the fray and keep the message on the economy. It's surrogates and supporters like us who have to fight back. We have come to far and worked to hard canvassing, phone calling, registering voters, convincing and informing undecideds, etc. for it to all go the way side like Kerry in 2004. We cannot afford another 4 years of the last eight. time is drawing close and we need this win. Fight back with truth. mccain and palin have allot of political skeletons that need to be forced out of the MSM closet. I've gathered some info, if you have more please share.

CNN truth report On Obama and Ayers:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMRON2GPXUA

Obama gives the go ahead to surrogates, to bring up Keating five and other associations:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/5/19317/4480/333/621072

The Obama campaign already has an ad related to it - make it viral

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHW-RO1_WN0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsI_0bV2CZo

Also bring Up Mccains lobbyist:http://www.mccainslobbyist.com

Donald Diamond:

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/23/it-goes-well-beyond-the-keating-five/

Richard Quinn:

http://politicalconsultantmisconduct.blogspot.com/2008/01/richard-quinn-associates-employee-of.html

George Gordon Liddy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6F3biK1Mb0&feature=related

Mccain Voted to protect Domestic Terrorist

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/06/mccain-abotion-bombers/

Lets also include the GOP's newest talent, Palin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xmt0rLtgmK0

Sarah Palin is an Ayers-head.

Martin Edwin "Mick" from Churchton, MD — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:51:13 EDT

You betcha!

Sarah Cries 'Wolf'

Peach McD — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:30:25 EDT

It's traditional for the VP candidate to make the sorts of attacks that would be 'bad form' for a presidential candidate. So, when 'Winkie' Palin makes ridiculous remarks about Obama "palling around with terrorists", she's just doing her job. She's parrotting a talking point given to her by campaign hadnlers who direly need the conversation to be about anything but the issues (and especially the economy!).

It would be easy to just blow it off and remind ourselves that campaigns are all for show, and a big game, yadayada.... Problem is, terrorists are a very real threat. There actually are fundamentalist wackoes out there (of both the Muslim and Christian varieties) who consider themselves to be making their abomination of a god happy when they kill people of whom they disapprove (on their god's behalf).

Making jokes about bombs is not kosher in airports for a good reason - messin' around about an actual threat can get people killed. Sarah Palin, and the GOP, use truly horrible judgement when they make use of Ayers' history with the Weather Underground for political purposes.

If Ayers were still an outlaw, underground, bombing things, it would be VERY appropriate to disclose a connection with a presidential candidate. But the guy's an English professor at an excellent university, for pity's sake. While Ayers was bombing things, Obama was still in grade school. Obama doesn't know the man well, and has condemned the actions that Ayers did time for. Everyone knows this already. Including Palin.

So if Palin and the GOP go around raising the spectre of terrorist connections when you and she and we all know it's a specious pile o' poo, what happens when they get into office and warn us of an impending threat that isn't bullshit? Who will believe them?? The same 30% who still believe Bush?

That's why my mama told me not to cry 'Wolf'. But forget what a private citizen shouldn't do. It's much more crucial that a leader in this time of uncertainty, anxiety, and insecurity think twice before stampeding the cattle.

The GOP keeps telling us that terrorists are a real threat. The government as a whole keeps infringing upon our constitutional liberties to keep us safe from these awful people, who are walking among us with suitcase bombs hating our freedoms.

But suddenly, this threat is something they want to play politics with. Bad idea. Very bad. The GOP is just full of bad ideas. Ask your Republican friends whether they think this is a topic Sarah should risk her credibility messin' with. Just to see their faces.

Mccains connection to G. Gordon Liddy

Nia "Hussein" J. — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 17:11:45 EDT

With all the re talk about a faux deep connrction to Ayers why has Mccains connection been kept under wraps?

Why is the NY Times continuing to ignore McCain's "own Bill Ayers"?

Summary: On October 4, The New York Times published a front-page article about Sen. Barack Obama's association with William Ayers -- at least the 18th Times article this year mentioning that association. But the Times has yet to mention Sen. John McCain's relationship with G. Gordon Liddy. The October 4 article quoted Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Chapman denouncing Obama's association with Ayers but did not note that Chapman has described Liddy as McCain's "own Bill Ayers" and written that "[i]f Obama needs to answer questions about Ayers, McCain has the same obligation regarding Liddy."

On October 4, The New York Times published a 2,140-word front-page article about Sen. Barack Obama's association with former Weather Underground member William Ayers -- at least the 18th Times article this year mentioning that association. But the Times has yet to mention, let alone devote an entire article to, Sen. John McCain's relationship with radio host and convicted Watergate burglar G. Gordon Liddy. Indeed, in its October 4 article, the Times quoted Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Chapman denouncing Obama's association with Ayers but did not note that Chapman has described Liddy as McCain's "own Bill Ayers" and has written that "[i]f Obama needs to answer questions about Ayers, McCain has the same obligation regarding Liddy." The Times, moreover, quoted McCain criticizing Obama for his association with Ayers without noting that Chapman has faulted McCain for what Chapman described as McCain's "howling hypocrisy on the subject."

As Media Matters for America has noted, Liddy served four and a half years in prison in connection with his conviction for his role in the Watergate break-in and the break-in at the office of the psychiatrist of Daniel Ellsberg, the military analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers. Liddy has acknowledged preparing to kill someone during the Ellsberg break-in "if necessary"; plotting to murder journalist Jack Anderson; plotting with a "gangland figure" to murder Howard Hunt to stop him from cooperating with investigators; plotting to firebomb the Brookings Institution; and plotting to kidnap "leftist guerillas" at the 1972 Republican National Convention -- a plan he outlined to the Nixon administration using terminology borrowed from the Nazis. (The murder, firebombing, and kidnapping plots were never carried out; the break-ins were.) During the 1990s, Liddy reportedly instructed his radio audience on multiple occasions on how to shoot Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agents and also reportedly said he had named his shooting targets after Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Liddy has donated $5,000 to McCain's campaigns since 1998, including $1,000 in February 2008. In addition, McCain has appeared on Liddy's radio show during the presidential campaign, including as recently as May. An online video labeled "John McCain On The G. Gordon Liddy Show 11/8/07" includes a discussion between Liddy and McCain, whom Liddy described as an "old friend." During the segment, McCain praised Liddy's "adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great," said he was "proud" of Liddy, and said that "it's always a pleasure for me to come on your program."

Additionally, in 1998, Liddy reportedly held a fundraiser at his home for McCain. Liddy was reportedly scheduled to speak at another fundraiser for McCain in 2000. The Charlotte Observer reported on January 23, 2000, that McCain's campaign vouched for Liddy's "character":

His [McCain's] campaign officials said Liddy's character will appeal to many voters because he was following orders from President Nixon and kept silent afterward.
"His (Liddy's) judgment might be in question, but I don't think his character is," said Ed Walker, the York County chairman of McCain's campaign. "He was following orders just like any good soldier, and he didn't tell on anybody. He felt like he was on a mission and kept his silence."

Liddy's 2000 speech was reportedly canceled due to bad weather.

Media Matters has documented that as of September 19, the Times had published 15 news articles and four opinion pieces referencing Obama's ties to Ayers. Since then, in addition to the October 4 article, the Times has published two more articles mentioning the association.

But despite having apparently judged Chapman's opinions on the candidates' controversial associations as being newsworthy, the Times has ignored entirely McCain's relationship with Liddy, according to a search of the Nexis database from January 1 through October 4*.

In his May 4 Tribune column, Chapman wrote:

What McCain didn't mention is that he has his own Bill Ayers -- in the form of G. Gordon Liddy. Now a conservative radio talk-show host, Liddy spent more than 4 years in prison for his role in the 1972 Watergate burglary. That was just one element of what Liddy did, and proposed to do, in a secret White House effort to subvert the Constitution. Far from repudiating him, McCain has embraced him.
How close are McCain and Liddy? At least as close as Obama and Ayers appear to be. In 1998, Liddy's home was the site of a McCain fundraiser. Over the years, he has made at least four contributions totaling $5,000 to the senator's campaigns -- including $1,000 this year.
Last November, McCain went on his radio show. Liddy greeted him as "an old friend," and McCain sounded like one. "I'm proud of you, I'm proud of your family," he gushed. "It's always a pleasure for me to come on your program, Gordon, and congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great."
Which principles would those be? The ones that told Liddy it was fine to break into the office of the Democratic National Committee to plant bugs and photograph documents? The ones that made him propose to kidnap anti-war activists so they couldn't disrupt the 1972 Republican National Convention? The ones that inspired him to plan the murder (never carried out) of an unfriendly newspaper columnist?
Liddy was in the thick of the biggest political scandal in American history -- and one of the greatest threats to the rule of law. He has said he has no regrets about what he did, insisting that he went to jail as "a prisoner of war."
All this may sound like ancient history. But it's from the same era as the bombings Ayers helped carry out as a member of the Weather Underground. And Liddy's penchant for extreme solutions has not abated.
[...]
Given Liddy's record, it's hard to see why McCain would touch him with a 10-foot pole. On the contrary, he should be returning his donations and shunning his show. Yet the senator shows no qualms about associating with Liddy -- or celebrating his service to their common cause.
How does McCain explain his howling hypocrisy on the subject? He doesn't. I made repeated inquiries to his campaign aides, which they refused to acknowledge, much less answer. On this topic, the pilot of the Straight Talk Express would rather stay parked in the garage.
That's an odd policy for someone who is so forthright about his rival's responsibility. McCain thinks Obama should apologize for associating with a criminal extremist. To which Obama might reply: After you.

And in an August 22 blog post about an anti-Obama ad highlighting Obama's association to Ayers, Chapman wrote:

But conservatives may not want to draw attention to the issue of ties to violent radicals -- since John McCain is longtime pals with convicted Watergate burglar Gordon Liddy, who once plotted a journalist's murder (which was never carried out) and has advocated the shooting of federal law enforcement agents.
If Obama needs to answer questions about Ayers, McCain has the same obligation regarding Liddy. How about they both get started?

From The New York Times' October 4 article "Obama and '60s Bomber: A Look Into Crossed Paths":

Their relationship has become a touchstone for opponents of Mr. Obama, the Democratic senator, in his bid for the presidency. Video clips on YouTube, including a new advertisement that was broadcast on Friday, juxtapose Mr. Obama's face with the young Mr. Ayers or grainy shots of the bombings.
In a televised interview last spring, Senator John McCain, Mr. Obama's Republican rival, asked, "How can you countenance someone who was engaged in bombings that could have or did kill innocent people?"
[...]
Since earning a doctorate in education at Columbia in 1987, Mr. Ayers has been a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the author or editor of 15 books, and an advocate of school reform.
"He's done a lot of good in this city and nationally," Mayor Richard M. Daley said in an interview this week, explaining that he has long consulted Mr. Ayers on school issues. Mr. Daley, whose father was Chicago's mayor during the street violence accompanying the 1968 Democratic National Convention and the so-called Days of Rage the following year, said he saw the bombings of that time in the context of a polarized and turbulent era.
"This is 2008," Mr. Daley said. "People make mistakes. You judge a person by his whole life."
That attitude is widely shared in Chicago, but it is not universal. Steve Chapman, a columnist for The Chicago Tribune, defended Mr. Obama's relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., his longtime pastor, whose black liberation theology and "God damn America" sermon became notorious last spring. But he denounced Mr. Obama for associating with Mr. Ayers, whom he said the University of Illinois should never have hired.
"I don't think there's a statute of limitations on terrorist bombings," Mr. Chapman said in an interview, speaking not of the law but of political and moral implications.
"If you're in public life, you ought to say, 'I don't want to be associated with this guy,' " Mr. Chapman said. "If John McCain had a long association with a guy who'd bombed abortion clinics, I don't think people would say, 'That's ancient history.' "

— J.S.

*Media Matters searched the Nexis database for The New York Times for "McCain and Liddy"

Posted to the web on Saturday, October 04, 2008 at 04:23 PM ET

Sometimes you do need a weatherman....

David from Jersey City, NJ — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 15:21:01 EDT

it's not surprising that the Rovian/Switfboat tactics have reared their ugly heads at this stage of the campaign. The trends are all going Barack Obama's way. Their ludicrously non-intellectual, unprepard Vice Presidential canddiate "cleared the bar" (low as it was) chiefly by not falling off the stage and randomly stringing talking points together in non-sensical verbage (to use her phrase to Katy Couric). The economy continues to worse under the disasterous policies of the last 8 years. Hell, even their use of "mavericks" belies an ignorance of what the word means (Mavericks are those without a brand; last I checked, both McCain and Palin were Republicans, which means they are branded).

Quite apart from the fact that Barack Obama's occasional work with William Ayres hardly qualifies as "palling around," left out of this debate has been Ayres himself. Palin (and the other McCain surrogates) likes to toss around "unrepentent," as though that indicates that Bill and Bernadine are down in the basement, cooking up home-made bombs to hurl at government buildings. It is true that Bill Ayres has said he has "nothing to apologize for." But he has also admitted that the tactics of the Weather Underground were misguided, and certainly the life he's lead since he came up from the underground has been as far from being a "terrorist" as is possible. (Radical in his views on education and other policitcal issues, perhaps -- but radicalism is one of the founding tenants of our country and the right to be different remains a cherised right of us all).

And let us not forget that Bill Ayres turned himself in and was prepared to pay the price for his actions. He would, most likely, have gone to jail, were it not for the fact that the government so massively violated the law and bungled the case. To put it simply, Bill Ayres played by the rules; the government did not (despite being the body making the rules).

In these time (and especially in the post-9/11 world), it becomes harder and harder to defend anyone who even remotely disagrees with the status quo (let alone those with unpopular viewpoints). I can understand why Barack Obama and the campaign would not want to be put in a position for defending Bill Ayres on any level. In the heat of a campiagn, there are some times when you do need to keep your mouth shut. Having lived through the era of the Weathermen and the Weather Underground (and having been chased by a crowd of pipe-wielding construction workers in Manhttan who didn't appreciate us long-haired hipped-pinko-commie-Fags who were against the war), I hope at some point people will recognize that those were extraordinary difficult times and not everyone may have made the best of decisions.

One would think that these holier-than-thou "Christians" would be the first to recognize the ability of people to change and the power of redemption (even absent confession and apology) over time. And as Americans, we all need to reject this notion of "guilt by association." We lived through a McCarthy era once. We need to work to prevent the wind from blowing in that direction again, or (with apologies to Bob Dylan), we'll need a lot more than a weatherman.

Ahem ... John McCain's radical friend advocated shooting federal agents in the head ...

Martin Edwin "Mick" from Churchton, MD — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 11:39:54 EDT

www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-oped0504chapmanmay04,0,6238795.column

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE ...
MCCAIN FINDS HIS OWN RADICAL FRIEND

By Steve Chapman

May 4, 2008

Can a presidential candidate justify a long and friendly relationship with someone who, back in the 1970s, extolled violence and committed crimes in the name of a radical ideology -- and who has never shown remorse or admitted error? When the candidate in question is Barack Obama, John McCain says no. But when the candidate in question is John McCain, he's not so sure.

Obama has been justly criticized for his ties to former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers, who in 1995 hosted a campaign event for Obama and in 2001 gave him a $200 contribution. The two have also served together on the board of a foundation. When their connection became known, McCain minced no words: "I think not only a repudiation but an apology for ever having anything to do with an unrepentant terrorist is due the American people."What McCain didn't mention is that he has his own Bill Ayers -- in the form of G. Gordon Liddy. Now a conservative radio talk-show host, Liddy spent more than 4 years in prison for his role in the 1972 Watergate burglary. That was just one element of what Liddy did, and proposed to do, in a secret White House effort to subvert the Constitution. Far from repudiating him, McCain has embraced him.

How close are McCain and Liddy? At least as close as Obama and Ayers appear to be. In 1998, Liddy's home was the site of a McCain fundraiser. Over the years, he has made at least four contributions totaling $5,000 to the senator's campaigns -- including $1,000 this year.

Last November, McCain went on his radio show. Liddy greeted him as "an old friend," and McCain sounded like one. "I'm proud of you, I'm proud of your family," he gushed. "It's always a pleasure for me to come on your program, Gordon, and congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great."

Which principles would those be? The ones that told Liddy it was fine to break into the office of the Democratic National Committee to plant bugs and photograph documents? The ones that made him propose to kidnap anti-war activists so they couldn't disrupt the 1972 Republican National Convention? The ones that inspired him to plan the murder (never carried out) of an unfriendly newspaper columnist?

Liddy was in the thick of the biggest political scandal in American history -- and one of the greatest threats to the rule of law. He has said he has no regrets about what he did, insisting that he went to jail as "a prisoner of war."

All this may sound like ancient history. But it's from the same era as the bombings Ayers helped carry out as a member of the Weather Underground. And Liddy's penchant for extreme solutions has not abated.

In 1994, after the disastrous federal raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, he gave some advice to his listeners: "Now if the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms comes to disarm you and they are bearing arms, resist them with arms. Go for a head shot; they're going to be wearing bulletproof vests. ... Kill the sons of bitches."

He later backed off, saying he meant merely that people should defend themselves if federal agents came with guns blazing. But his amended guidance was not exactly conciliatory: Liddy also said he should have recommended shots to the groin instead of the head. If that wasn't enough to inflame any nut cases, he mentioned labeling targets "Bill" and "Hillary" when he practiced shooting.

Given Liddy's record, it's hard to see why McCain would touch him with a 10-foot pole. On the contrary, he should be returning his donations and shunning his show. Yet the senator shows no qualms about associating with Liddy -- or celebrating his service to their common cause.

How does McCain explain his howling hypocrisy on the subject? He doesn't. I made repeated inquiries to his campaign aides, which they refused to acknowledge, much less answer. On this topic, the pilot of the Straight Talk Express would rather stay parked in the garage.

That's an odd policy for someone who is so forthright about his rival's responsibility. McCain thinks Obama should apologize for associating with a criminal extremist. To which Obama might reply: After you.

------------------------------

E-mail: schapman@tribune.com

Ayers from Palin? What about the Alaska Independence Party?

Ken Richter — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 05:53:31 EDT

Mrs. Palin yesterday began a campaign trying to tie Barack with Ayers even though all records have shown only inconsequential association at best. The Obama campaign has responded defensively.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/10/04/1492729.aspx

"This is not a man who sees America as you see it and as I see America," Palin said today.

What? From a woman whose husband was a registered member of the Alaskan Independent Party - with secessionist objective? Who attended meetings with her husband and delivered a speech there as recently as 2006?

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-aip3-2008sep03,0,6399468.story

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/04/us/politics/04party.html?ref=politics

I say the campaign needs to point this out and counter offensively rather than defensively. Same with McCain with Keating 5 if he brings up Rezko at any time or in the debates. The gall of pushing guilt by association when you have direct guilt.

Let all your friends and newspaper editors jnow about the direct problems of the McCain ticvket while they are trying to push the guilt bt association angle. We can not afford complacency.

Dick Morris Tries to "Raise McCain"

mathpol — Sun, 18 May 2008 15:59:13 EDT

"Obama Has the Upper Hand. But McCain Can Still Take Him" is the title of a column by Dick Morris in today's Washington Post. Here are a couple of choice excerpts.

Wright has become the honorary chairman of McCain's get-out-the-vote efforts. It would be nice to think that race isn't a factor in American politics anymore, but it is. The growing fear of Obama, who remains something of an unknown, will drag every last white Republican male off the golf course to vote for McCain, and he will need no further laying-on of hands from either evangelical Christians or fiscal conservatives.

Meanwhile, McCain should highlight his credentials as a reformer and a maverick to attract Democrats and independents who worry about Obama. Forget about the base. It will be there. Obama's liberalism, his pro-tax agenda and his proposed weakening of the USA Patriot Act -- as well as fears that he would appoint to office people such as Rev. Wright and William Ayers, a former member of the Weather Underground -- will all assure the full mobilization of the right.

Well, Morris is the master of the smear, and an equal-opportunity one at that. Now let's try to parse this.

End our 50-year national nightmare now: Vote Obama!

Wayne — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:26:18 EDT

(Here's a letter-to-the-editor that will be printed in my local newspaper. Permission hereby granted to use any part or all of it in letters to your hometown papers.)

Obama is EVIL.

Wayne — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 08:24:33 EDT

Reverend Jeremiah Wright said some horrible things about America. He is evil. Forget about the good he has done in his life. He is evil. I saw it on tv.

McCain: Guilt-By-Assocation For Thee, Not me!

Candy Barr 4 Obama! — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 20:01:15 EDT

After the media frenzy over Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Sen. John McCain's campaign refused to criticize Obama for the words of his former pastor. Senior campaign adviser Charlie Black said on MSNBC:

"...what Sen. McCain has said repeatedly is that these candidates cannot be held accountable for all the views of people who endorse them or people who befriend them......John McCain believes is that Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton should be held accountable for their public policy views......He believes that people who endorse you, people who befriend you are entitled to their own views, but you are not held personally accountable. That when somebody endorses you or befriends you, they're embracing your views, the candidates' views, not the other way around."

Hillary can continue, on one condition

Lindsey Allen — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 01:21:34 EDT

Hillary should not drop out. She should stop with the "kitchen sink," and focus on real issues. However, campaigning competitively in each state sets up healthy grassroots campaigns in each state that will mobilize for the general election. THAT is not a bad thing at all!

They just need to focus on the issues. Is no one else offended that the media and politicians have such a LOW opinion of the general public that they think we only need to know about flag pins, 6 degrees of separation, and twisted sound bites taken out of context. It makes me so ANGRY that they insult our intelligence in this manner! What's the point in making Americans care about politics if you aren't going to talk ABOUT POLITICS! I want to know how you will affect the world, not pointless religious speculation (separation of church and state what?) or attaching other people's beliefs to candidates unjustly. Make us care about the FAILING education system! Maybe jobs wouldn't leave this country if our citizens were educated at a competitive level with the world. Make us care about the future of our world! Renewable resources and clean green technologies! Make us care about PREVENTATIVE healthcare! Make us care that what we decide in our country affects the rest of the world! We shouldn't think ourselves better than other countries, we should collaborate and share good ideas and make the world a better place together!

Whew! Well, that was my rant for today!

Lindsey

"Distinguished Professor of Education" William Ayers

Cindy — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:20:03 EDT

Hillary Clinton and Fox News keep raising the "issue" of Obama's "association" with "terrorist William Ayers." Let's break that down.

1. William Ayers is presently Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Chicago. He received two advanced degrees in early childhood education from Columbia University, has written numerous books on early childhood education, and was tapped by Mayor Richard Daley to help reform the Chicago schools.

2. To the extent he was a "terrorist" four decades ago, his activities were exclusively dedicated toward protesting the illegal war in Vietnam. Granted, his radicalism was scary, but to those who faced mandatory conscription into the armed forces and almost certain death in an illegal war, his rage against the war was somewhat understandable even if beyond the bounds. His main sin now seems to be that he is unrepentant about his opposition to the Vietnam war and hasn't "done a Jane Fonda." Whether his views at the time were right or wrong, this is America. First Amendment, remember? He's entitled to hold those views about that particular place and time in history, even if we don't agree with him.

3. Although he may be unrepentant about his actions at that time, and even wishes he had done more, Prof. Ayers goes to great pains on his website to say he's not a terrorist. The Clinton and Fox News rhetoric would have us believe that he's presently a terrorist who is currently a danger to society, when in reality he is, and has been for decades, a very productive member of society.

4. In the ABC debate, Hillary claimed that Ayers' statement about how he wished he had done more [bombing back then] on 9/11 "very hurtful to the people of New York." First, he said it earlier in an interview with the New York Times, and the New York Times later published its article about the interview on 9/11. Second, it wasn't intended to be hurtful because it was speaking about the Vietnam War, and could not possibly have been insensitive to New Yorkers hurt by 9/11 when the attack had not yet even occurred. It was sheer coincidence that this interview was published by the New York Times when the attack was but hours away. Third, I'm a New Yorker, and I listened obsessively to every broadcast and watched endless TV coverage about 9/11 and I can verify to you that Prof. William Ayers' statements got no mention on cable or regular TV station news that I saw from the moment the first plane hit. And I saw a LOT, since I was at home unemployed at the time and just glued to the TV in horror for weeks. As with a lot of other events, his book signing was pushed right off the media table by the 24/7 coverage of the 9/11 attacks. Third, leaving out his professional designation of "Prof." deliberately and intentionally conceals from people that there might just be another, far more socially acceptable side to this complex man.

5. Even more disturbing, Hillary Clinton would have us believe, by deliberately being vague about her reference to Prof. Ayers, that he wished the 9/11 terrorists had done more. Prof. Ayers never said any such thing. His statement about wishing he had done more expressly referred to the period of protesting the Vietnam war. Yet Hillary would trash his hard-won, decades long reputation in the academic world for her own political expediency.

6. Now, I'm no fan of the Weathermen Underground, but Ayers was never tried and convicted of any crime, and he appears to have excelled within the boundaries of more conventional existence. He is now a productive member of society and a strong and respected force in childhood education reform.

Hillary would have us ostracize Prof. Ayers forever because of his actions four decades ago, and would also deem anybody who even talks to him as unfit for public office. Not only is that highly unChristian toward Prof. Ayers, but it is an insult to all who have engaged in the education reform conversation with him -- including, for a brief period of volunteer duty on a foundation board, Barack Obama.

We could all help to stop this McCarthyism of Hillary Clinton's by consistently referring to the man as Distinguished Professor of Education William Ayers.

It's not the media. It's us. We are the problem.

Wayne — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 19:57:49 EDT

How many words has Barack Obama spoken during this campaign? Hundreds of thousands? Yet we obsess over 25 words that he recently uttered about Americans’ bitterness with the way their government has let them down. And we act as if his entire essence is determined by these 25 words alone.

Community Organizers meet unsavory characters

Tennyson — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 00:05:41 EDT

I feel the Senator's campaign needs to drive home the point that the Senator is still a member of the same church and congregation he joined twenty five years ago as a penniless Community Organizer. He has never completely abandonned the mission of helping struggling communities to organize themselves to improve their quality of life. Even now he shares pews with other dedicated professionals like himself and reformed gang bangers.

In the course of a life dedicated to uplifting the disadvantaged he inevitably encountered and negotiated with and cooperated with reformed bad guys. This is an occupational hazard of Community Organizers, something elitists will never understand. Many who criticize him on this score probably do not know a single poor person socially.

Fact check: Obama, Clinton and the Weather Underground

Soldierette!! (CENSORED) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:21:27 EDT

Apr 17, 6:22 PM EDT
Fact check: Obama, Clinton and the Weather Underground

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- Sen. Barack Obama is defending his relationship with a former radical whose provocative words were wrongly linked by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Facts were loose in both Democratic presidential campaigns Thursday as Clinton sought advantage from her rival's association with William Ayers, a college professor who was once part of the violent Weather Underground group.

The dustup arose in their debate the night before when Obama was asked whether his connection to Ayers raised politically damaging questions about his patriotism.

Obama struck back by calling attention to Bill Clinton's decision to grant clemency to two former Weather Underground members who - unlike Ayers - had been convicted of crimes from that era.

President Clinton's actions freed women who had been serving sentences of 40 years and 58 years after convictions on weapons, explosives and related charges.

Members of the Weather Underground, known initially as the Weathermen, claimed responsibility for a series of bombings, including non-fatal but destructive ones at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol.

In addition, three members died when their bomb-making session at a New York City town house went awry in 1970, and several members were convicted in a botched 1981 Brink's truck ambush during which two police officers and a guard died.

Ayers was not implicated in the Brink's deaths and the two former members cleared by Bill Clinton were not convicted of killings.

THE SPIN:

Obama said Ayers is "a guy who lives in my neighborhood" and not someone who has endorsed him or talked to him regularly.

"And the notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago when I was 8 years old, somehow reflects on me and my values, doesn't make much sense," Obama said.

Clinton said the relationship was deeper than that because both men served together on the board of a charity.

Ayers, she said, made comments "which were deeply hurtful to people in New York and, I would hope, to every American, because they were published on 9/11, and he said that he was just sorry they hadn't done more.

"And what they did was set bombs," she went on. "And in some instances, people died."

THE FACTS:

Clinton's implication that Ayers made hurtful comments connected with the terrorist attacks is wrong.

By coincidence, a story about Ayers and what he called his fictionalized memoirs appeared in The New York Times on the day of the attacks.

The story was based on an interview he had done earlier, in Chicago, in which he declared, "I don't regret setting bombs," and "I feel we didn't do enough," even while seeming to dissociate himself coyly from the group's most destructive acts.

Clinton is correct that both men served together on the board of the Woods Fund, a Chicago-based charity that develops community groups to help the poor. Ayers joined the board in 1999 and is still on it. Obama left it in December 2002 after nine years.

Ayers was clearly more than someone Obama just ran into in the neighborhood on occasion. In the mid-1990s, when Obama was making his first run for the Illinois Senate, Ayers had Obama to his home to introduce him to others.

But a flub by Obama in the debate suggested he does not know him that well: He called Ayers an English professor. Ayers teaches education at the University of Illinois at Chicago and has been an education adviser to Mayor Richard Daley.

Ayers disappeared after the 1970 town house explosion, although he was not charged in that episode. He and his wife, Bernadine Dohrn, surfaced in 1980.

They both faced charges stemming from Chicago demonstrations in 1969 but his were dismissed for prosecutorial misconduct while she pleaded guilty to aggravated battery and bail-jumping.

THE SPIN:

Obama said Clinton was not one to talk about guilt by association because "President Clinton pardoned or commuted the sentences of two members of the Weather Underground, which I think is a slightly more significant act than me serving on a board with somebody for actions that he did 40 years ago."

THE FACTS:

Obama correctly sketched out the details of Bill Clinton's acts in the case. However, senior Obama strategist David Axelrod went too far Thursday when he said the two cleared by President Clinton had killed people. They were not convicted of that.

Bill Clinton created an uproar with New York lawmakers from both parties and with police when, on his last day in office, he granted clemency to Susan L. Rosenberg and Linda Sue Evans.

Rosenberg was sentenced to 58 years after being caught unloading 740 pounds of dynamite and weapons from a car in New Jersey in 1984. She was wanted on charges related to the deadly Brink's ambush but never tried on them, and Clinton's order released her after 16 years behind bars.

Evans was captured in 1985 along with one of the fugitives from the Brink's robbery, whom she was accused of harboring. Evans was sentenced to 40 years on a variety of weapons and terrorism-related convictions, including the 1983 Capitol bombing plot.

Although Hillary Clinton publicly disputed her husband's offer of clemency to Puerto Rican nationalists in 1999 because they had not sufficiently renounced violence, she is not known to have objected to his freeing of Rosenberg and Evans in 2001.

This May 17, 1982 file photo Bill Ayers, a former member of the Weather Underground, walks with wife, Bernardine Dohrn, and their son, Zayd Dohrn, 4, outside Federal Court in New York. Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, was asked about Ayers, now a University of Illinois professor who was once part of the radical Weather Underground, as part of a discussion of his patriotism during the Democratic presidential debate Wednesday night, April 16, 2008, in Philadelphia. Obama suggested he barely knows Ayers and shouldn't be held accountable for anything Ayers said or did. (AP Photo/David Handschuh, File)

---

Analysis by Christopher Wills and Calvin Woodward

William Ayers and Wife - Leading Productive Lives Now

Cindy — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:51:33 EDT

Here's an interesting "fact check" article from MSNBC on William Ayers and his wife, Bernadette Dorn, former Weather Underground members. Seems they are leading productive lives now. This article explains how Obama came to meet them.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24184752/

Hillary's politics of guilt by association are deeply disturbing. She slings mud to divert people from focusing on her lies, distortions and the quality of her promises to America, as well as the tangled web of conflict of interest posed by the contributors to Bill Clinton's presidential library.

And where is her 2007 tax return? She said she'd release it before the PA primary. That time happens to be right now.

Obama Served on a Board of Directors with a Pro-Palestinian

Judy B. in Austin, TX — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:03:30 EDT

Obama Served on a Board of Directors with a Pro-Palestinian

This is my prediction for the traditional "October Surprise" that'll hit mainstream media about 3 days before the PA Primary.

I google searched it yesterday and there was only about 12K stories. Now today, it's up to 14K. It's slowly creeping into obscure, libral blogs like so many false stories do.

It's almost like everyone is being distracted by the stupid 'bitter' thing right now. All the on-air cable news analysts who are pro-hillary will get their campaign talking points on Friday before the PA election, telling them to say the media has been ignoring this story and then the crap will hit the fan. It's always a stupid, false & highly inflamatory story that gets folks attention on Friday and then they talk about it all weekend and vote on Tuesday. It's the type of story that could start out hot and then end up to be nothing but always too late for an election.

Here's my google search so see for yourself if the number of search results increases from it's now 14,000 between now and when the election begins on 4/22/08.

I hope I'm wrong.