Patterico's Pontifications

10/6/2008

McCain & Keating, Obama & Ayers

Filed under: 2008 Election,Politics — Karl @ 4:30 am



[Posted by Karl]

The Politico’s Mark Allen reports:

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Monday will launch a multimedia campaign to draw attention to the involvement of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in the “Keating Five” savings-and-loan scandal of 1989-91, which blemished McCain’s public image and set him on his course as a self-styled reformer.

This attack is ostensibly in retaliation for McCain’s “guilt-by-association” tactics, presumably Sarah Palin reminding voters of Obama’s longtime association with unrepentant domestic terrorist Bill Ayers.

The McCain campaign ought to use Obama’s attack as an opportunity to educate. 

In the Keating Five case, Senate Ethics Committee Special Counsel Bill Bob Bennett, who did the preliminary investigation of the matter, recommended that no further action be taken against  McCain:

This was perhaps the first time the recommendation of a special counsel not to charge a senator was rejected. This was pure politics as the Democrats on the committee did not want to cut McCain loose so that only Democrats would remain in the proceedings.

Ultimately, the committee found that McCain’s actions were not improper.  Indeed, McCain took no action on Keating’s behalf after regulators said they intended to recommend a criminal investigation of Keating and his savings and loan.

In contrast, Obama has always known that Bill Ayers is an unrepentant domestic terrorist and chose to work with him anyway.  Other “progressives” have chosen to avoid the association.  Thus, while Obama’s website once openly defended Ayers and his equally radical wife Bernadine Dohrn, the site later underwent some creative rewriting.  Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod lied to the press about the Obama-Ayers relationship. Obama lied about it in an nationally-televised debate in Pennsylvania.  Even the New York Times whitewash of their relationship admits that Obama “has played down his contacts” with Ayers.  What Obama has not done is express any disagreement with the underlying hard Left agenda Ayers continues to pursue to this day.

Rather than an official representing a constituent (as was the case with McCain and Keating), Obama chose to chair a $150 million effort spearheaded by Ayers on the important issue of public education, which funded “awful” projects and “had little impact on student outcomes.”  Given that Obama’s work on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC) was Obama’s biggest executive experience and biggest attempt at reform, the releationship — and the failure of the project — should be newsworthy even if Ayers had not been involved in bombing the Pentagon.  That Ayers would like to transform the public schools into revolutionary indoctrination centers and used the CAC to advance that agenda also seems newsworthy.  Indeed, Obama touted the effort as a qualification in running for Congress.

Nor was education the only issue on which Obama and Ayers were allies, as Stanley Kurtz notes in deconstructing the NYT’s apologia:

Obama was perfectly aware of Ayers’ radical views, since he read and publically endorsed, without qualification, Ayers’ book on juvenile crime. That book is quite radical, expressing doubts about whether we ought to have a prison system at all, comparing America to South Africa’s apartheid system, and contemptuously dismissing the idea of the United States as a kind or just country. Shane mentions the book endorsement, yet says nothing about the book’s actual content. Nor does Shane mention the panel about Ayers’ book, on which Obama spoke as part of a joint Ayers-Obama effort to sink the 1998 Illinois juvenile crime bill [or mention Michelle Obama’s involvement in setting up the panel. – K] . Again, we have unmistakable evidence of a substantial political working relationship.

Of course, this contemptuous view of the United States could also be heard regularly at the church to which Obama belonged for 20 years and left only when it threatened his presidential campaign.  It is the sort of viewpoint Obama has sought out his entire adult life.

Thus, on the one hand, we have McCain representing a constituent, stopping when he heard Keating might have engaged in wrongdoing, being found to have done nothing improper, yet devoting his career to the cause of reform because he believed he had been made to look less than honorable. 

On the other hand, we have Obama knowingly embracing unrepentant domestic terrorists like Ayers and Dohrn and working to advance their political agendas as part of a lifelong pattern of seeking to associate with the hard Left in the US.

The Politico reports what Obama hopes to achieve with the Keating attack:

The Obama campaign, including its surrogates appearing on radio and television, will argue that the deregulatory fervor that caused massive, cascading savings-and-loan collapses in the late ‘80s was pursued by McCain throughout his career, and helped cause the current credit crisis.

To push this argument, Obama has to ignore that: (1) banking deregulation was not a primary cause of the current problem, was supported by Democratic leadership, and lessened the current turmoil by permitting the takeovers of Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch; (2) McCain supported tighter regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (and that such was not the only instance where McCain supported tighter regulation of financial markets); and (3) Democrats in general and Obama in particular get much more money from Wall Street.

If the McCain campaign is unable to point out Obama’s dishonesty — not only about his lifetime of hard Left associates, but also about the current economic situation — he will deserve to lose the election.

Update: HotAir-lanche!

–Karl

62 Responses to “McCain & Keating, Obama & Ayers”

  1. It galls me when I hear Sarah Palin talking about the Ayers connection particularly in light of her husband’s participation in the secession movement in Alaska. i would think she is more closely associated with her husband that Sen. Obama is with Mr. Ayers.

    steph g (9a26b8)

  2. If you are counting on the McCain campaign to have a consistent message capable of getting thru the blatant advocacy of the MSM then you better think again.

    Mr. Pink (eae12c)

  3. “Rather than an official representing a constituent (as was the case with McCain and Keating), Obama chose to chair a $150 million effort spearheaded by Ayers on the important issue of public education, which funded “awful” projects and “had little impact on student outcomes.” Given that Obama’s work on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC) was Obama’s biggest executive experience and biggest attempt at reform, the releationship — and the failure of the project — should be newsworthy even if Ayers had not been involved in bombing the Pentagon. That Ayers would like to transform the public schools into revolutionary indoctrination centers and used the CAC to advance that agenda also seems newsworthy. Indeed, Obama touted the effort as a qualification in running for Congress.”

    Patterico:

    I agree that the attack should be directed towards the education project which spent $160 million to improve education without improving education. That, and what Ayers has been doing as an educator.

    Obama spent $160 million on education and did not improve education. Imagine what he could do to the federal budget.

    davod (bce08f)

  4. Wow steve g that comment was so insightful and well thought. Also well researched. And also a bucket of horseshit.

    Mr. Pink (eae12c)

  5. Comment #1 smells like astroturf. Say “hi” to Axelrod for me.

    Obama has caclculated that the MSM will have his back in claiming the equivalence of Keating and Ayers, etc.

    We’ll see. He may be right.

    jim2 (6482d8)

  6. steph g,

    AYERS WAS A TERRORIST

    A political party is the OPPOSITE of a terrorist. They go for votes, doing things legitimately. Instead of killing people and terrorizing people, using fear to get what they want, political parties use ARGUMENTS and follow the LAW.

    Go fuck yourself

    Juan (4cdfb7)

  7. steph g,

    AYERS WAS A TERRORIST

    A political party is the OPPOSITE of a terrorist. They go for votes, doing things legitimately. Instead of killing people and terrorizing people, using fear to get what they want, political parties use ARGUMENTS and follow the LAW.

    Juan (4cdfb7)

  8. well darn, the website’s delay made me think I had a chance to censor myself. But the original sentiment stands steph. It’s simply disgusting to all those who follow the rules and have their political arguments and parties… and don’t follow one of the two major parties, to compare a third party with actual bombing of innocent people.

    It’s outrageous to compare them. And it’s a line that is being parroted around the internet by obama sychophants who are utterly unable to think for themselves.

    This post is a devastating description of a similar deflection by Obama and his dishonest hacks. If you’re an independent or third party voter, Steph thinks you’re as bad as a terrorist.

    Juan (4cdfb7)

  9. The connections between both Obamas and Ayers go deeper than previously revealed. Via Drudge, a report from 1977:

    Ayers, who spent a year observing the Cook County Temporary Juvenile Detention Center in Chicago, is one of four panelists who will speak on juvenile justice at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20, in the C-Shop …

    Ayers will be joined by Sen. Barack Obama, Senior Lecturer in the Law School, who is working to combat legislation that would put more juvenile offenders into the adult system …

    Michelle Obama, Associate Dean of Student Services and Director of the University Community Service Center, hopes bringing issues like this to campus will open a dialogue between members of the University community and the broader community.

    Evil Pundit (843b74)

  10. My recollection of the McCain and John Glenn’s involvement in the Keating Five scandel was that the five, including glenn and mccain, was that they were involved in the initial meeting but both decided they wanted no part of the deal. Both backed out & decided they did not want to particpate. glenn may have been slightly more culpable, but neither had any involvement past the initial proposal. the other three did have significant involvement.

    Basically, McCain was offered the standard stuff politicians get offered in exchange for helping the Keating Five which he essentially turned down.

    Joe - Dallas (d7c430)

  11. EvilPundit,

    That’s 1997, not 1977. And linked in the main post.

    Karl (1b4668)

  12. I always enjoy Karl’s “look, soem guy knew a bad man” posts. The level of innuendo and guilt by association makes me nostalgic for the Clinton Chronicles (Karl, can you do an expose on the Mena airport or the Vince Foster suicide! Classics of a genre!).

    I really enjoyed this too, right up until the time Karl maintained Wall Street is a bunch of Commie libs. That was just “jumping the shark.”

    To think I had high hopes for you as an opposition researcher and all you have is that Obama and a man never convicted of a crime read each other’s books and knew each other. And, in his old age William Ayers seeks to reform the juvenile justice system!!!Eleventy

    Facing a financial crisis and 2 wars and a staggering budget deficit, McCain fiddles as the country burns and Karl dances to his tune.

    Oh, and please rebut this with some cherry-picked figure regarding campaign contributions for this cycle, because the view through a straw-hole is always encompassing.

    Wall Street = pinko commies ruing America and supporting the Weathermen (who stopped existing in 1970 and all, but that’s not important)

    timb (a83d56)

  13. If the McCain campaign is unable to point out Obama’s dishonesty — not only about his lifetime of hard Left associates, but also about the current economic situation — he will deserve to lose the election. Karl

    Karl could not be more correct! I am very very disappointed at the spinelessness of McCain these past two weeks. He should have been crucifying the Dems over the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac disaster, but noooooo, he stands there, and has Palin stand there during the debate, and let the Dems spew so much BS you needed hip waders and did not set the freakin record straight! Dem Jummy Carter 1977 Community Redevelopment Act, Clinton 1992 and 1999 pushed for more credit to high credit risk individuals, in 2003 and 2005 REPUBLICANS (not Dems you lying **rks) warned of the looming crisis with Fannie/Freddie and the Dems all said, nothing wrong here, nothing wrong, you’re just racsist! McCain needs to unload both freakin barrels of a 12 gauge shotgun into OBiden, reload, then unload again, reload and unload again on these guys. But Nooooooo, he doesn’t want to risk upsetting the Black Caucus. Newsflash Johnny Boy, the Blacks aren’t going to vote for you by 95% to maybe if you’re lucky 5% for you. WAKE UP MCCAIN, start kicking some *ss!

    J. Raymond Wright (d83ab3)

  14. I believe it was Bob Bennett, Bill Bennett’s brother who was Senate Ethics Committee Special Counsel.

    T Wharton (f562bc)

  15. timmah,

    Conversely, I’m really disappointed that you choose to ignore the vast wealth of evidence that the supposedly post-partisan Obama has spent his life cozying up to the hard Left.

    Does that menat that Wall Street is filled with Commies? No, and I never said it did. I don’t think people who pay protection money to the mafia love the mafia, either. I will note, however, that Obama got introduced to Wall Street bigs courtesy of felon, speculator and Leftist George Soros.

    Karl (1b4668)

  16. It galls me when I hear Sarah Palin talking about the Ayers connection particularly in light of her husband’s participation in the secession movement in Alaska.

    I’m sure it does gall you, considering that the AIP has never blown anything up or caused someone to die, while Ayers and his merry little band of anarchist have.

    You really can’t see the difference, can you?

    Scott Jacobs (a1c284)

  17. Also, timmah knows that Ayers admits his terrorism and was not convicted due to prosecutorial misconduct,

    That timmah chooses to dishonestly imply that Ayers was somehow not a terrorist says far more about timmah that he will ever have to say about me.

    Karl (1b4668)

  18. timmah – Thanks for that vapid contribution.

    You got nothing, huh?

    daleyrocks (d9ec17)

  19. What Juan said. The first time.

    Old Coot (b63ab3)

  20. I used to think that someone who wanted to be elected to a political office, let alone president, would think twice before beginning his political career in the living room of an unrepentant domestic terrorist. I used to think that someone who aspired to a position of elected leadership in this country probably would think twice before indulging in recreational pharmaceuticals, and, he certainly would think twice before bragging about it in writing after his political career had begun. I used to think that it wouldn’t be prudent for a politician to attend a church where “God damn America!” was shouted from the pulpit, to exclamations of approval from the congregation. And I used to think that the American people would have little tolerance for someone who would abandon his church when it became poltically expedient to do so.

    I was wrong. Warm up your vocal chords:
    “God damn America!
    Land of Barack!”

    I’m not a lyricist; perhpas someone can help me out here.

    Diffus (cb9f4f)

  21. Karl, I believe the exact quote from Ayers upon leaving court was “Guilty as sin, free as a bird.”

    Scott Jacobs (a1c284)

  22. Timb –

    You know why Ayres isn’t in prison or strung up for his crimes – the exclusionary rule
    Don’t pretend you don’t.

    And you know what Ayers has said about it himself:

    “Guilty As Hell, Free As A Bird”

    Plus, you know that he is a “very bad man” indeed.

    And, you know that O really did participate in enacting Ayer’s radical agenda. Fellow travelers and close associates at minimum.

    SarahW (a6e80b)

  23. Timb –

    You know why Ayres isn’t in prison or strung up for his crimes – the exclusionary rule
    Don’t pretend you don’t.

    And you know what Ayers has said about it himself:

    “Guilty As Hell, Free As A Bird”

    Plus, you know that he is a “very bad man” indeed. You pretend ignorance of his acts, but you know better.

    And, you know that O really did participate in enacting Ayer’s radical agenda. Fellow travelers and close associates at minimum. What is it about O that makes you want to overlook this?

    SarahW (a6e80b)

  24. The fact people are trying to excuse the actions of this terrorist piece of shit is disgusting. Defend Obama all you want but wtf you got to defend this walking piece of human excrement for? Allegiance to a political party should not go hand in hand with a loss of sanity.

    Mr. Pink (eae12c)

  25. I used to think that someone who wanted to be elected to a political office, let alone president, would think twice before beginning his political career in the living room of an unrepentant domestic terrorist.

    I know, right? Didn’t AltaVista exist in 1995, even if google didn’t?
    It seems to me an aspiring politician would check out with whom he is about to get involved. Kind of like an Olympic athlete would only drink out of his own water bottles- you just can’t take a chance.
    Obama, having lived abroad through his childhood, had no emotional ties to the US during Vietnam and was prone to not caring what people like Ayres did in that era. I’m sure Obama holds many of the rest of Ayres’s (and Wright’s) views about America.
    He used to say things that gave that away (especially w/r/t foreign policy), but has learned how to couch his words as the campaign has progressed.

    MayBee (c0df75)

  26. I completely agree with this article, and its something that I brought up immediately with the democrats that I work with (sole republican here and we have some “lively debates” around the office, but always friendly): that Obama is making a big mistake going after the Keating 5, since McCain was exonerated in that scandal, but Obama KNOWINGLY spent YEARS in apparent open, friendly contact with a known unrepentant terrorist and other bad people of questionable judgment…which in turn show the kind of judgment that OBAMA has and his personality. Someone’s character is DEFINITELY important in who you pick to be president.

    Highlar (8fc55c)

  27. The defusing of Ayers is already well underway (Go to Huffpo and read “30 lies refutes about Ayers and Obama”, and everyone who doesn’t completely agree with “conservative” views 100% has been called a “hard left liberal” for about the last 12 years, so those words have become meaningless too. This kind of manipulative shtick only plays to the choir now.

    If people want to go after Obama they need to talk about how his school reform program SUCKED. Not how he worked with the boogeyman while he was trying to implement the sucky school reform plan.

    I starting to think the Republicans are trying to throw the election. If the fix is in, it’s a “taking a dive” sort of fix.

    EdWood (c2268a)

  28. Hey, did anyone note Karl’s hometown paper (the Trib) has a great rebuttal to this drivel, regarding McCain’s palling around with a convicted, unrepentant, lying felon names G. Gordon Liddy? A man who advocates the shooting of federal officers. a man who actually did bring down a government. A man who was convicted of felonies. A man who has held multiple fund-raisers for McCain.

    Whereas, Obama has explictly rejected Ayers’s ideas from the ’60’s and condemned his acts, McCain seems silent on Liddy’s crimes and misdeeds.

    Let me guess, Liddy is cool with you guys and karl, because subverting democracy with a gun and a bunch of 100 dollar bills is cool when the guy’s on your team.

    timb (a83d56)

  29. McCain and Keating (mccain cleared by clinton’s own attorney – but that doesnt matter does it)

    versus

    obama and
    – ayers
    – dohrn
    – rev wright
    – flegll
    – marshall
    – schmidt
    – Rezko
    – Kwame Kilpatrick
    – numerous other America haters
    – and on and on and on

    palin needs to line them up and beat them to death. cuz we know that mccain wont.

    the numbers are not in obama’s liking

    watch the attacks on the facts.

    Jack Kennedy (aed530)

  30. timmah – So Liddy actually paid his debt to society, but Ayers, not so much?

    daleyrocks (d9ec17)

  31. A man who advocates the shooting of federal officers. a man who actually did bring down a government. A man who was convicted of felonies. A man who has held multiple fund-raisers for McCain.

    You dimwit…

    In order of your drooling idiocy:
    1) He does not advocate the shoot of federal (or state or local, for that matter) authorities. He did, however, state the best places to shoot them should they decide to bust into your house. A suggest, I would note, that becomes more and more important as it becomes ever-more likely that Obama will be elected with a Democrat majority in both houses of Congress, and thus what I suspect will become not unlike a police state for those who dare dissent.

    2) He did nothing of the sort. His actions (or more correctly, the administration’s actions) caused the downfall of a President. A President an entire government does not make.

    3) Indeed, he was convicted. He made little to no excuse for his actions, and admits they were illegal. I don’t think Ayers shares a similar openness about what he did in the past.

    4) Sweet jesus! The HORROR!!!

    Seriously, are you REALLY this dense? Liddy didn’t cause anyone to die, didn’t blow anything up.

    Let me guess, Liddy is cool with you guys and karl, because subverting democracy with a gun and a bunch of 100 dollar bills is cool when the guy’s on your team.

    Considering there was never a gun involved, and that the people who commited the acts were punished, I’d say that’s fine. Now, show me where Ayers paid for him crimes… Oh, wait…

    And quote for me ONE instance where Obama flatly, categorically denounces Ayers and his prior actions. I dare you.

    Scott Jacobs (a1c284)

  32. Obama supports to this day Ayers’ radical agenda for “education.”
    I guess you do too, Timb.

    SarahW (a6e80b)

  33. It should be noted that the Obama campaign actually filed a complaint with the Department of Justice about an ad by the American Issues Project linking Obama with Ayers.

    By contrast, I do not know of any complaint by the McCain campaign to the Justice Department about Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain.

    why was Obama so afraid of the Ayers ad that he filed a complaint with the Justice Department?

    Michael Ejercito (a757fd)

  34. AYERS IS A COMMUNIST PIGSCUM. KEATING WAS MERELY A CROOK. AYERS GOT OFF BECAUSE OF HIS RICH DADDY. FUNNY HOW THE “WEATHERMAN” HAD THE LIKES OF BILL AYERS(WHOSE DAD WAS CEO OF COMED OF ILL) SUSAN WILKERSON(WHOSE DAD WAS CEO OF WR GRACE) AND TED GOLD(WHOSE DAD WAS A BOARD MEMBER OF BANK OF AMERICA). OBAMINATION IS EVERY BIT AS MUCH A COMMIE AS AYERS,WRIGHT ,AND THE REST OF HIS SHADY ASSOCIATES. HE MUST BE DEFEATED-I CERTAINLY GUARANTEE THE COMMIE DIMS LIKE PIGLOSI WOULD NEVER IMPEACH HIM NO MATTER WHAT HIS CRIMES ARE. WE THE DOLTS OF AMERICA NEED TO WAKE UP OR WE WILL END UP AS AMERIKA.

    kevin c (8a3235)

  35. The bigger issue should be how Obama campaign demanded that the Department of Justice prosecute one of the donors to the American Issues Project, which had produced an ad linking Obama to Ayers.

    Michael Ejercito (a757fd)

  36. Gramm was always Wall Street’s man in the Senate. As chairman of the Senate Banking Committee during the Clinton administration, he consistently underfunded the Securities and Exchange Commission and kept it from stopping accounting firms from auditing corporations with which they had conflicts of interest. Gramm’s piece de resistance came on Dec. 15, 2000, when he slipped into an omnibus spending bill a provision called the Commodity Futures Modernization Act (CFMA), which prohibited any governmental regulation of credit default swaps, those insurance policies covering losses on securities in the event they went belly up. As the housing bubble ballooned, the face value of those swaps rose to a tidy $62 trillion. And as the housing bubble burst, those swaps became a massive pile of worthless paper, because no government agency had required the banks to set aside money to back them up.

    The CFMA also prohibited government regulation of the energy-trading market, which enabled Enron to nearly bankrupt the state of California before bankrupting itself.

    The problem with this exercise, of course, is that Gramm’s relationship to McCain is not comparable to the relationships that Ayers or Wright have with Obama. The idea that either Ayers or Wright would have any impact on the workings of an Obama administration is nonsensical. But Gramm and McCain do have an enduring political and economic alliance. McCain chaired Gramm’s short-lived presidential campaign in 1996; Gramm is co-chair of McCain’s current effort. McCain has not repudiated reports that Gramm is on the shortlist to become Treasury secretary if McCain is elected, even after Gramm labeled America “a nation of whiners.”

    Readnek (105b91)

  37. Anyone notice how timmah has nothing but ad hominem and tu coque to offer?

    I missed the part where Liddy bombed the Pentagon and McCain then went to work for him, spending $150 million on groups trying to implement Liddy’s agenda. Maybe timmah and Steve Chapman can nail those down for me.

    Karl (f07e38)

  38. I think Prof. Caric and the American Society of Historical Fiction Writers just awarded timmah A+’s for that piece of creative writing in comment 28.

    Congratulations timmah!

    daleyrocks (d9ec17)

  39. Readnek – If you understood 1/4 of what you cut and paste here I think it would be a miracle.

    daleyrocks (d9ec17)

  40. Readnek quotes Harvey Meyerson:

    Gramm’s piece de resistance came on Dec. 15, 2000, when he slipped into an omnibus spending bill a provision called the Commodity Futures Modernization Act (CFMA), which prohibited any governmental regulation of credit default swaps, those insurance policies covering losses on securities in the event they went belly up.

    Ramesh Ponnuru responds:

    The provision of the bill at issue came out of a Clinton administration working group on financial regulation. The idea that Gramm sprang it on an unsuspecting administration that accidentally signed the bill is pure invention. Meyerson also, naturally, repeats the long-discredited canard that Gramm is responsible for setting Enron free to wreak havoc. The Washington Post had to run a correction on this claim years ago; I hope it does so again.

    Tom Maguire had the full explanation in June.

    Karl (f07e38)

  41. “The CFMA also prohibited government regulation of the energy-trading market, which enabled Enron to nearly bankrupt the state of California before bankrupting itself.”

    Beautiful blame shifting. California dicided it would not let utilities build enough capacity to generate enough electricity for its own needs so it was forced to buy electricity outside of the state or raise prices enough to reduce demand by California consumers and that becomes the fault of third parties. Brilliant analysis WaPo.

    The description of the Enron failure is just the standard lefty boilerplate of the scandal and ignore the copious material written on the affair in an attempt to smear Phil Gramm.

    daleyrocks (d9ec17)

  42. The Democrats have been in control of Congress for two years. They have not closed the so-called Gramm loophole. Why?

    Stu707 (7fb2e7)

  43. They have not closed the so-called Gramm loophole. Why?

    Because they worked to put it there in the first place.

    Scott Jacobs (a1c284)

  44. Mr. Pink writes: If you are counting on the McCain campaign to have a consistent message capable of getting thru the blatant advocacy of the MSM then you better think again.

    There is a very effective workaround, but for some reason it seems to be disfavored, despite the fact that it would make both BHO and the MSM look very bad.

    24AheadDotCom (44943b)

  45. 24AheadDotCom regularly throws out the suggestion that regular people ask Obama tough questions, as though Obama takes questions from regular people on the campaign trail — which he does not.

    Karl (61d1c1)

  46. Ayers is may be an unrepentant domestic terrorist. But he is definitely not a former radical as the MSM is trying to portray him. He is very adamant that he is just as radical as he ever was. He has just altered his tactics a bit. As he said recently, violence is “not necessarily” the best means to bring about the socialist revolution he has been trying to bring about for the past 40 years.

    In the 1960s and ’70s he thought bombing government buildings and employees would be most effective.

    Dohrn helped him.

    Later he decided that warping young minds through “social justice” indoctrination would be the best way to bring about the revolution. So he set up the Chicago Annenberg Challenge to help bring about the revolution.

    And Obama helped him.

    Obama’s claims to the contrary, he never “repudiated” Ayers radical beliefs; he actively attempted to help him achieve his goals.

    Steve (1b3f1b)

  47. Ayers may be an unrepentant domestic terrorist. But he is definitely not a former radical as the MSM is trying to portray him. He is very adamant that he is just as radical as he ever was. He has just altered his tactics a bit. As he said recently, violence is “not necessarily” the best means to bring about the socialist revolution he has been trying to bring about for the past 40 years.

    In the 1960s and ’70s he thought bombing government buildings and employees would be most effective.

    Dohrn helped him.

    Later he decided that warping young minds through “social justice” indoctrination would be the best way to bring about the revolution. So he set up the Chicago Annenberg Challenge to help bring about the revolution.

    And Obama helped him.

    Obama’s claims to the contrary, he never “repudiated” Ayers radical beliefs; he actively attempted to help him achieve his goals.

    Steve (1b3f1b)

  48. If McCain was leading in the polls, would you guys be pulling this dead stuff about? Don’t think so. It is clear, McCain is sliding very fast and Obama is gaining. What is McCain to do? Go negative. Resurrect dead issues and dead names like Ayers, Dorhn, Wright, ObL, etc. Since he has no answer to the economic turmoil we have found ourselves in. But remember, this is a lost fight. Most Americans know about these names. Hillary did a lot to make it an issue. Still she lost. Why? Americans ain’t that stupid. We can see what John McCain does when he is desperate. Erratic. This coming from someone who promised to run a clean, issues-based campaign. But then, a little dishonesty won’t hurt much, right?

    love2008 (0c8c2c)

  49. love2008…we have been talking about Ayers, Dohrn, et al. constantly. Including the period post-conventions, when McCain was quite clearly on the upswing, and Obama was floundering. These issues are not dead. In fact, they may FINALLY be actually getting the attention they truly deserve from the press (probably not, but one can always hope).

    And…Hillary lost because of identity politics. Pure and simple. There’s not a dime’s worth of policy difference between the two. She lost because the “RACISM!!” wolf-cry still works with Democrats. That’s all.

    Chris (95a123)

  50. #49
    So you think that suddenly people will hear about Ayers and decide that McCain is the man to fix this economic mess? Keep dreaming.

    love2008 (0c8c2c)

  51. love,

    I wrote about Ayers during the primaries elsewhere and again here to make the point that Obama’s biggest executive experience and biggest reform credential was adjudged a failure, even by the CAC’s internal reports. That Ayers is an unrepentant terrorist is just the frosting on that cake.

    And if you have some polling data that shows most people know who Bill Ayres is, I’d be glad to take a look at it. But Ayers has appeared in a tiny fraction of the Obama coverage, so i’m guessing there is no such poll.

    Karl (61d1c1)

  52. love,

    icymi, McCain and others are talking about the economy as well. That’s undoubtedly the top issue, but it’s not the only issue.

    Karl (61d1c1)

  53. Actually, I think that most people will think that Obama is definitely not the guy to fix the economy. Considering he took a lot of money to help create the subprime lending crisis and still thinks these bad loans are a good idea.

    Especially when they know that he aided the self-described “radical, Leftist, small ‘c’ communist” in his project to bring about the revolution. That was the kind of project Obama thought was a worthwhile use of his time when he wasn’t a part-time state legislator.

    Unless, of course, that’s what you Obamatons mean when you talk about “fixing” the economy. Finally bringing about the “radical, Leftist, small ‘c’ communist” revolution the unrepentant terrorist couldn’t through his bombing campaign.

    In which case you’re all doing a fine job. Obama by turning a blind eye to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s negligence and mismanagement. And the rest of you turning a blind eye to Obama’s defining ideology.

    Steve (1b3f1b)

  54. If I’m not mistaken, 4 out of the 5 Keating senators were Democrats.

    Richard Romano (b96fd9)

  55. Little advice. It is not smart for Republicans to go about talking about Ayers and co. It is a stupid move. This is not the time.

    love2008 (0c8c2c)

  56. Like we are about to take any advice from an Obama enabler who has baracky’s feces covering his head. You see that Ayers has not changed that much from his youthful days as an anarchist other than trying to change the system from within by controlling and shaping young minds within the school system. Fortunately he had a rich daddy in the mode of a Joe Kennedy to cover for his pathologically criminal ways. Pity he and Bernedette were not also blown up in the “accident”. Wouldn’t it be dandy is some caped avenger offed scum like this? The sick bastard reveled in his hatred for America right after 911 by desecrating the flag. Idiots like him should just move to Zimbabwe. Even Alec Baldwin is getting a clue and is pissed by the acts of liberal con artists like Barney Fag.

    madmax333 (0c6cfc)

  57. #57
    I would watch that blood pressure, madmanx. You could get a stroke.

    love2008 (0c8c2c)

  58. Actually, Republicans are really talking about Obama. The common thread that runs through all of every close associations he has actively sought is that capitalist America is a militaristic racist oppressor.

    That has informed every decision Obama has ever made. From the overtly political church he selected that used hatred of America as the common bond between pastor and congregants, to the boards he sat on that dispensed hundreds of millions of dollars promoting the educational ideology of unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers, to the woman he married who thinks this country is just “downright mean” and isn’t afraid to say so.

    In any case, it’s amusing that Obama supporters are warning McCain not to go down this road. I’m sure you’re deeply concerned that this will lead Obama to play the “guilt by association” game and open up McCain’s past to scrutiny.

    Has it really not dawned on you that Obama’s entire campaign has been an accusation of “guilt by association” from the very start?

    And that McCain’s history has been opened up time and again already?

    Thanks for the concern. Save it.

    Steve (1b3f1b)

  59. Hey Steve. Give it up. Join the winning side. There is still room for you. Infact, from now, I will be known as Love2008, “the Merciful”. I will reach out a bipartisan hand to you losers and offer my forgiveness for your blasphemous behavior. Now, kiss my ring and all will be forgiven. 🙂

    love2008 (0c8c2c)

  60. Senator McCain, your status of American hero deserves protection. But it’s up to you to teach young people by giving them a true example of leadership or not. As advice: do not be negative because negative creates negative impact in your honor and campaign.

    You should speak about issues and not about Obama. By speaking about the Senator Obama, you are giving him victory and a true momentum for success. Think about it!

    Remember this: “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones”. This means that you shouldn’t criticize Obama when you are equally at fault in number of subjects.

    Also, if you lack respect to the younger generation, no one of them will gonna respect you. Now, we are in.

    nathayan (f03699)

  61. If you’re talking about Ayers, that “younger generation” was working with the Vietcong when McCain was in a North Vietnamese prison camp being tortured. While that was going on, Ayers and Dohrn where collaborating with the Vietcong to “bring the war home” to the US. Ayers writes that when he was given some sort of medal made out of a part of a shot-down US aircraft, he cried and realized he lived in the belly of the beast, the most evil country on earth.

    He tried bombing to bring the war home. He got into teaching at the same time to bring revolution to the “belly of the beast,” the US.

    Later, an even “younger generation” joined as foot soldiers in his campaign against the US; Barack Obama.

    There is nothing there that deserves respect.

    Steve (9bacc2)


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