For weeks now, the Conservatives and Republicans have been telling John McCain to take the gloves off. Well, Governor Sarah Palin did just that this past weekend and revived the debate over Barack Obama's association with domestic terrorist William Ayers. The association is real and deserves to be looked into. But the Obama campaign came out with a response that was nothing short of misleading, if not completely irresponsible.
Here is what Rep. Rahm Emanuel, said in response on CNN:
| "If we are going to go down this road _ you know, Barack Obama was eight years old, somehow responsible for Bill Ayers," he said. "At 58, John McCain was associating with Charles Keating." "If we really want to talk who is associating with who, we will," Emanuel said. "The American people will lose in that transaction." |
No, we will not lose. We will gain a clear understanding of exactly who Barack Obama is and what his true beliefs are.
William Ayers is an unrepentent terrorist who planted bombs at the Pentagon and local Police Stations back in the 70's with a domestic terrorist organization called the Weathermen. That is a fact.
Barack Obama worked with Ayers in the Chicago Annenberg Project and even launched a political campaign from Ayer's living room but still refers to him as "just a guy in my neighborhood." We need to know more about the relationship between the Democrat Presidential Candidate and his domestic terrorist friends. Obama's actions as an adult cannot simply be chalked up to the ignorance of an 8-year-old.
As for John McCain's role in the Keating scandal, he was exonerated of any wrong-doing. Who says so? The New York Times said so back in 1999:
| Three other members of the Keating Five were more seriously rebuked by the ethics panel and all of them retired rather than face difficult re-election battles. John Glenn of Ohio, who was exonerated with Mr. McCain, was also re-elected in 1992, but retired in 1998. |
Don't you find it rather interesting that Rahm Emanuel neglected to mention the fact that McCain was exonerated by a Democrat lawyer who was investigating the whole scandal?
Yes, I agree. The omission not only misleading, it is irresponsible.
You can access these stories on-line here:
Senate Inquiry In Keating Case Tested McCain
Jill Abramson and Alison Mitchell
The New York Times
November 21, 1999
Obama Ad Links McCain To Keating Scandal
Charles Babington
Associated Press
October 5, 2008
2 comments:
Sigh. Guilt-by-association smears are slimy.
The Pharisees smeared Jesus by pointing out that he was keeping the company of prostitues, sinners, tax-collectors.
Who anybody is friendly with is an irrelevant distraction and is character assasination.
What is important is specific actions, especially actions taken in the context of public service.
John McCain was not censured by the Senate Ethics Committee, true. But he was NOT EXONERATED by that body. He was, in fact, reprimanded. How convenient that this fact gets swept under the rug by McCain supporters.
"Exercising questionable judgement" is the phrase, and it's an exceedingly valid point for discussion, particularly when McCain brags about being "exonerated" in this affair.
I think we need officials who don't "exercise questionable judgement" in their official capacities.
Yes, Steve, they are slimy. And if I recall right, Barack Obama put out a television ad mocking certain McCain advisors for being lobbyists while his own campaign employs lobbyists and employs people who were a part of the Fannie/Freddie meltdown. (e.g. Franklin Raines, Jimmy Johnson, Jamie gorelick, et. al.) Barack and his supporters should not be throwing stones from within these glass houses.
But as to your comment about McCain in the Keating Five, I used the term "exonorated" because that was the term used by the New York times and also used by Robert S. Bennett, the Democrat Lawyer who investigated the Keating Five and recommended that no action be taken against McCain or Glenn.
Having said this, I understand how you think it is "so convenient" that facts like that get swept under the rug, especially by Obama supporters like Rahm Emanuel.
Perhaps you could take it upon yourself to remind Rahm Emanuel and others in the Obama campaign of these facts.
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