McCain Invokes Hillary To Hit Obama Over Ayers
It's official: John McCain has now fully embraced the assault on Obama's association with William Ayers -- and he's evoking Hillary to do it.
From a McCain-voter exchange at a town hall meeting today, as reported by The Politico...
"We're all a product of our association. Is there not a way to get around this media and line up the people that he has hung with?" the man asked.McCain responded:
"Well, sir, with your help and the people in this room, we will find out. Just as Senator Clinton said in the primary that we should find out about this association.
"Look, we don't care about an old washed-up terrorist and his wife, who still, at least on Sept. 11, 2001, said he still wanted to bomb more. That's not the point here. The point is Senator Obama said he was just a guy in the neighborhood. We know that's just not true. We need to know the full extent of the relationship because of whether Senator Obama is telling the truth to the American people or not. That's the question."
Looks like Ayers isn't off the table after all: The rub here is that it was basically McCain who brought up Ayers, and he was very clearly primed to say what he said, since the attack dovetails perfectly with the campaign's talking points.
Also, I think the Hillary quote McCain's referring to here is from a Dem primary debate in which the candidates were asked about Ayers. If so, McCain is misrepresenting Hillary's remarks: She said Republicans would dredge up Ayers and use him against Obama, and she lamented that fact. She didn't say that they "should," as McCain says. Not that facts matter...oh, never mind.
Oh, please, please, please keep talking about Ayers. Every time you do your polling numbers go down.
October 9, 2008 3:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
exactly, which is why I thought it was smart for the McCain campaign to not play the Ayers card, but now they realize they really dont have any other options but to bring up Ayers.
I suspect the Obama will have another ad about McCain connections at least by Monday. And, these attack miserably failed for Hillary, I dont see how McCain invoking Hillary is going to help. Conservatives hate Hillary in their hearts. Now McCain has even tried to steal Hillary's housing strategy on buying bad mortgages.
Palin/McCain Rallies, Breeding Ground for Racists and Hostility
October 9, 2008 4:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ayers isn't working for McCain. I don't see any reason for us to spend another minute worrying about McCain's obsession with Ayers.
That said, I think Obama can now push Keating even harder, and I would sure like to know about the first dude's membership in that Alaskan succession
party. What about Governor Palin's shout out to them?
October 9, 2008 4:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
I honestly don't think that at this point anything will work for McCain. It's too late, and Obama's been thinking five steps ahead of him all along.
Dow under 9,000 and headed for 8,000 - lowest in five years.
Barack's gonna run the table.
October 9, 2008 3:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Perhaps he has heard "Say it to my face." It's getting under his skin. He needs to blow up
October 9, 2008 3:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
I still don't get the point that he's trying to make here.
This:
The point isn't that Ayers was a terrorist? The points is that Senator Obama said he was just a guy in the neighborhood and that's not true?
What is he trying to imply? That Ayers is more than just a guy in the neighborhood? Isn't that pretty easily documented? Is the point that Obama served on some board at the same time as Ayers? Obama could easily list all the boards he served on, with all the members of said boards, or list all the boards that McCain served on, and members as well. I just don't get this. By saying that the fact that Ayers was a terrorist isn't the point contradicts what Palin's been saying: Obama "pals" around with terrorists. But McCain just said the terrorism part isn't the point.
October 9, 2008 3:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
There isn't any point and everyone knows it. He's borrowed a page from Bush and thinks that if he just repeats the names together in a sentence often enough people will connect the two - like Saddam Hussein and Al Queda.
So far, people aren't buying what he's selling, which just pisses him off even more.
October 9, 2008 4:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
McScum wants to imply the eight years old black boy WAS a bomber...
Seriously, he can't actually say this (let alone to Obama's face, of course), so he wants to leave such a vague impression. Seriously, I can't think of any other explanation.
October 9, 2008 4:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Palin crowd goes by whimsical impulse (bring the torches, honey!), and that's what the Schmidt crowd counts on. Six weeks ago, these yahoos never heard of her, and now her words are magic and her enemies are from satan! But how does any of this this translate into votes from the undecided?
Guess McShame wants to be able to say he went down fighting. But does a tantrum in the sandbox really constitute a fight for some greater cause? Or is it just that a sandbox is a safe place to go when your Depends are leaking?
October 9, 2008 4:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Isn't this a lot like McCain's Social Security/Medicare answer from the debate the other night? It's total gibberish.
Has McCain popped a cog?
October 9, 2008 4:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ok, here's the point. Here's the Repub-codespeak-to-English translation.
Ayers was a wild-eyed bomb-planting terrorist radical in the 60's, and he remains a wild-eyed bomb-planting terrorist radical to this very day. All that stuff about being a university professor and on the boards of charity organizations, that's just his cover. This goes without saying; everybody knows that once you're a terrorist, you're a terrorist every second of every day of the rest of your life. The dread secret that Obama refuses to reveal, thus exposing himself to condemnation for being dishonest with the American people, is that Ayers is his mentor, his spiritual master, his political role model. Obama is a Manchurian Candidate, programmed by Ayers to carry out the radical terrorist Weatherman agenda once he completes his infiltration of the Oval Office. There's no proof of any of this, but it doesn't matter, because the issue isn't whether it's true or not; the issue is that Obama refuses to admit it, which proves that he's dishonest, which proves that he's not fit to be President.
Clear now?
October 9, 2008 8:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
McLiar good luck talking about Ayers. The stock market is now below 9000. No one outside of right wing freepers give a crap about it.
October 9, 2008 3:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Uh, meanwhile the Dow is plunging once again.
http://pufferfish.typepad.com/
October 9, 2008 3:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
The way they keep hitting on Ayers worries me - it's almost as if they have something up their sleeve with this angle. They want Obama to keep denying the link, and then they'll have something that they'll throw in his face.
I take certain comfort in knowing that if there was anything, that the Clinton Campaign would have found it.
October 9, 2008 3:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is the same campaign that thought that "suspending" itself would go over in the press as anything other than ridiculous. I think it's safe to say that they aren't very good at this "strategy" thing.
October 9, 2008 3:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
They aren't too hot on tactics, either.
Can a candidate be charged with inciting violence?
October 9, 2008 6:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, it's just what it looks like- McLame has the campaign that can't shoot straight. Relax.
October 9, 2008 4:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Republican Modus Operandi:
October 9, 2008 11:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
I doubt it. They have nothing else.
They admitted as much last weekend. And if there was something else, would Obama have basically dared McCain to say it to his face?
Obama strikes me as being very cautious and tactical. If there were "something else" out there, I think he'd know it, and not throw down the gauntlet to McCain.
October 9, 2008 4:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Say it to my face" is genius.
It implies that McCain is a coward without actually saying so.
It's meant to rattle McCain, get under his skin, and make him lose his cool.
It's a pretty good example of Democrats turning what Josh called "bitchslap theory tactics" on the very people who invented them.
October 9, 2008 11:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
They keep bringing it up because they have absolutely NOTHING up their sleeve.
October 9, 2008 4:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jonze, please. There is nothing there.
If there was anything to it, Hillary would have hit him with it long ago. They are just using it to create noise and keep the base from heading for the exits at this point. But as others have pointed out, with the Dow dropping another 500+ today, people don't give a fuck about Bill Ayers.
And BTW - where's Tough Guy McCain's response to 'say it to my face?' I'm surprised he hasn't responded yet - when you've got guys like Tom Vilsack calling you a coward, it's got to really be getting up his nose right about now.
October 9, 2008 4:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, enough already. Have you seen even a scintilla of evidence that McCain's campaign has either the competence, the subtlety or the ability to keep a secret from the MSM that would let it pull something like that off?
"Democrats are like Cubs fans--they assume something will go wrong until proven otherwise."--Nate Silver.
October 9, 2008 4:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jonze, since McLame keeps repeating himself, I really don't think you need to worry. If they had something they'd have dragged it out by now.
And if Obama and Biden were worried, neither of them would have called McLame out on this and they both have.
October 9, 2008 4:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
This will not please Hillary. Just McCain needs, a stoked up Hillary campaigning for Obama even more than she is.
October 9, 2008 3:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now if Hillary says "Senator McCain cannot bring himself to tell that to Barack's face," that woman hater would go real insane...
October 9, 2008 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, she should say: "Well, at least I had the balls to ask Obama to his face at a debate. Hey, Senator McCain - grow a pair!"
October 9, 2008 4:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ha!
October 9, 2008 4:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
No it will not.
I've gotten I don't know how many pieces of mail from her on Obama's behalf that always says on the envelope:
No Way, No How, No McCain.
October 9, 2008 4:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
October 9, 2008 3:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
All the more reason for Hillary (and Bill) to come out NON-STOP for the next three weeks and tear McCain a new one!!!
October 9, 2008 4:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
And the Ayers interview was published on September 11th, but it took place earlier. It's not as if Ayers was giving the interview as the towers fell like Republicans like to imply with their smears.
October 9, 2008 4:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
The fundamentals of this "character attack" strategy are strong, my friends.
October 9, 2008 4:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not joking! This is my job!
http://www.acmewebpages.com/midi/milton.wav
October 9, 2008 4:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fast Times!
October 9, 2008 4:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
With fingers crossed, I am thankful (now) for what Hillary Clinton did. As you say, I'm sure if there was anything more out there, Hillary would've found it.
And, in that regard, Hillary was right to vent the distractions early. Could've hurt us if this was new, today. But, seriously, everyone has already heard this stuff. There is no dirt left to throw.
I'm still angry about the primaries, but in this regard, Clinton was right. And bless her soul, and a (hopeful) Obama victory.
October 9, 2008 4:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just curious - is the military the Republican monolith I imagine it to be?
Just as liberal-minded people are drawn to jobs in higher education, I tend to suspect there's a lot of self-selection going on with authoritarian types in the military. I sense that it was much different back when there was a draft.
October 9, 2008 4:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Don't get all sentimental on us now...she was trying to win the primaries for herself without any thought as to Obama future election prospects.
October 9, 2008 5:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Palin, Cindy, Hillary and any other woman behind whom McCain can hide to make attacks he dare not make himself to Obama's face. John McCain is a wussy.
October 9, 2008 4:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Holy mackerel: now we know why McCain pulled out of Michigan. A 16 point lead????
October 9, 2008 4:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Which came first: the 16 point lead (prompting McCain to pull out), or McCain pulling out (offending MI voters and producing this margin)?
October 9, 2008 4:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Excellent point.
October 9, 2008 4:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
You mean which came first, the chicken... or the egg on his face?
October 9, 2008 4:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ha!
October 9, 2008 5:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
the chicken what? on his face?
October 9, 2008 6:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
It was leaked that McCain internals had Obama up by 12-15 points as reason why his campaign pulled out.
October 9, 2008 4:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
And in other news a 16 point Swing in WV. WEST Virginia. Wow.
9/29 it M50 - O42, now it's Obama 50 - McCain 42.
October 9, 2008 5:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Stocks CRATERING today.
Who gives a DAMN about Ayers.
October 9, 2008 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
The financial news today are frightful. Only the idiot fringe will give more importance to McCain's inanities than to their shrinking retirements funds.
October 9, 2008 4:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yesterday Obama asked, "Are you better off today than you were 4 weeks ago?"
Today's great line was, "You don't have 401K's anymore, you've got 101K's."
Next week, we won't even have "K's".
Suze Orman is wrong. Dow will bottom out around 6000. We just need to be brave enough to let it continue to slide downward until election day. Remember, bad economy, worse for "The Coward Formerly Known as 'McCain'".
October 9, 2008 4:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm terrified. What is the bottom and when will we hit it?
Those demagogues and right-wing fringes are *literally* living in a bizzaro world.
October 9, 2008 4:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Suzie Orman was on AC360 last night and said 8000 would be the basement...
One MAJOR problem right now is that America is basically without leadership. Bush is a lame duck at best and seems to be hiding away from the problem. Then you have the respective leaders of each party fighting it out in a GE, McCain telling folks Obama doesn't know what he is going, that he's risky and dangerous and Obama pointing out in every speech that McCain was saying "The fundamentals of the economy are sound" on Black Monday.
October 9, 2008 4:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
BTW, here's a taste of the hate McShame's campaign is stirring up, and the reason we must win.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itEucdhf4Us
October 9, 2008 4:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Fourth Reich, and they don't have a clue.
Scary shit. Thanks for the link.
October 9, 2008 6:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
WOW!THESE ARE THE PEOPLE I DEFENDED? I FEEL SINK TO THE STOMACH! AND I'M FEARFUL FOR OBAMA.
GOT TO SEE, THESE ARE SAD TIMES, AND PEOPLE ARE SO DIVIDED AND HATEFUL...
McCain-Palin Rally Attendees: "Obama Is A Terrorist"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/09/mccain-palin-rally-attend_n_133240.html
October 9, 2008 4:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
ALL OBAMA SUPPORTERS LIKE MYSELF WE SHOULD ATTACK CNN AND MSNBC AND PUT ON THEIR BLOGS G.GORDON LIDDY,IF U AGREE WIT THAT SAY I.
October 9, 2008 4:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Add Singlaub and Gramm to your list.
October 9, 2008 4:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Could you please unstick your caps key?
It's hurting my eye/ear. :)
October 9, 2008 4:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jesus, we're about to hit -700 on the day.
This is insane.
October 9, 2008 4:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
C'mon pussy McCain.
Let's see if you have the balls to bring this up at the debate next week, because you went limp when you had an opportunity to do it this week.
October 9, 2008 4:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
HAHA - this should cheer some people up on this miserable afternoon!
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/09/hewitt-palin-book/
October 9, 2008 4:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
How Sarah Palin saved America...by exposing McCain's shallowness and driving intelligent American women to Obama.
October 9, 2008 4:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
O my god that is too too funny! How much of a fuckwit is Hugh Hewitt?
LMAO!!!!!!
October 9, 2008 4:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
I would vote for King Fuckwit.
October 9, 2008 4:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
The wingnuts have reached the Spinal Taps stage of their era.
October 9, 2008 5:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh snap!
Repeat after me:
"If Obama is a terrorist because he knew William Ayers, then McCain is a crook because he knew Charles Keating."
Repeat ad nauseum.
October 9, 2008 4:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
And Charles Keating didn't even live in the neighborhood.
October 9, 2008 4:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain knew Charles Keating, all right..."till death do us part" and all that.
October 9, 2008 11:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
What? Conditions aren't bad enough in the United States today so Senator McCain and Governor Palin have to conjure up extra, ugly fears? We need a fireside chat from Senator Obama today. Today.
October 9, 2008 4:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
CTVoter, I wish his dad had pulled out!!
October 9, 2008 4:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Say it to his face, old man.
October 9, 2008 4:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
This week, the Obama campaign will be the recipient of the largest free targeted mailout in the Campaign.
The Joe six packs, should be receiving their 401K statments as we speak.
What timing.
October 9, 2008 4:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain's fundamental problem is that Hillary Clinton full on attack on Obama in the primaries completely vetted Obama to the White House, there's nothing the McCain's can do from this point on except whine because they know they are losing.
October 9, 2008 4:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes and to everyone who said so during the primary, I'm sorry if I got mad about it. I was mad at Hillary for this, but in the long run it will most likely turn out to have been a good thing.
October 9, 2008 4:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
She was not trying to do Obama any favors in the primary; she was trying to win it all for herself. The real credit goes to Obama for his response and handling of it.
October 9, 2008 5:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
My cousin works in one of Obama's Chicago offices - just got an e-mail from her stating that McCain's campaign is spinning Obama's "Say it to my face" comment as a physical threat.
They're planning to start using it on the campaign trail and possibly in ads to show how "MEAN and UGLY" Obama can be in a time of crisis.
October 9, 2008 4:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
We can expect nothing but the most despicable, ugly lies from the McCain campaign. Expect it to only get worse, it's how they operate.
October 9, 2008 4:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
hahaha, what a fucking baby.
Nothing like a 72-year-old veteran playing the victim card.
October 9, 2008 4:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Do they think anyone will fall for that whine?
October 9, 2008 4:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why not? Every other strategy they've tried has worked pretty well. Oh wait...
October 9, 2008 4:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Makes no sense in that Gibson and Obama were talking about how McCain didn't bring up Ayers in the debate. So the Republicans are saying Obama wanted to fight McCain during the debate on live national television while 60M+v viewers watched?
October 9, 2008 4:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
yeah...i hope that happens...that would be sweet
October 9, 2008 4:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, I guess the counterspin is: Why is John McCain so afraid of Barack Obama?
October 9, 2008 4:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
hee hee!
October 9, 2008 4:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Silly. Because he's friends with terrorists!
October 9, 2008 4:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Missed you, anneeliz.
October 9, 2008 4:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just when you think they can't get any more pathetic.
Buncha babies.
October 9, 2008 4:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
No offense to anyone, but the kind of people who are supporting Palin's comments and cheering her on aren't exactly the 401K type.
Palin's type are Joe Sixpacks who sit on a stained recliner all day and night and think NASCAR is the greatest creation since pork rinds.
October 9, 2008 4:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain and Palin are doing well with retiree's in Florida, look for a spike next week!
October 9, 2008 4:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Please refrain from the trendy practice of trying to form the plural of a word by adding an unnecessary apostrophe.
Retiree - one
Retirees - two or more
October 9, 2008 4:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
What is your point with this?
Seriously?
The people supporting Sarah Palin are a minority, and they're going to believe any piece of crap about Obama. The people that both campaigns should care about, those "swing voters", those "independents" are going to care very much about their 401ks. So what is your point?
October 9, 2008 4:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
What exactly is a "401k type"? There are very few jobs these days that offer traditional retirement plans. Most people who work a steady job instead have access to a 401k or other equivalents such as a 403b. I worked at a hospital for a very long time where there were plenty of "Joe Six Pack" type people...and they all had such plans.
October 9, 2008 4:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let them keep on talking about it. That crap is only working with their rabid right wing base. The McCain campaign is wasting their time preaching to their own choir. The people that support his smears against Obama, were never going to vote for Obama anyway. It is the Independents, stupid. They hate smear campaigns.
Keep it up, Original Mav-Erratic. Keep on preaching to your choir of rabid right wing racists. That is all you will have left.
Keep on using your pet Barbiecuda to attack: she is a perfect AyersHead.
October 9, 2008 4:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fear, Hate, Intolerance, Violence! The new small town values.
That's all the McMobs are calling for at his events. Quite scary.
October 9, 2008 4:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just saw part of Obama's rally in Cincinnati this afternoon.
The crowd was singing along with Stevie Wonder's "signed, sealed, delivered" at the end.
Say "G'night," Grampy & Vampy, you're finished.
October 9, 2008 4:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
God I love that! Thankyou for telling us.
October 9, 2008 4:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama buys half hour of prime time (8:00pm-8:30pm) on CBS for Oct 29th!! And he is negotiating with other stations as well!!!!
http://www.thrfeed.com/2008/10/obama-primetime.html
October 9, 2008 4:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Whoa. Very cool.
October 9, 2008 4:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Close to deal with NBC, though Fox could be an issue as it could be blocked by baseball play-off coverage.
Obama must have CRAZY money to spend. I hope the networks don't give McCain free coverage to counteract this paid for time.
October 9, 2008 4:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOL
Read the comments on that page. Damn. People are becoming unhinged.
October 9, 2008 4:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
For most of those people it sound like "unhinged" is the baseline.
October 9, 2008 4:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
I love the smell of burning-with-rage winguts in the morning. It smells like...victory!
October 9, 2008 4:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
"We need to know the full extent of the relationship."
That is the truly vile part of what McCain said. Because we DO know the full extent of the relationship: casual and not long-term. What McCain is saying is that he thinks we're all a bunch of goddamned uninformed fools. And that attitude, in a presidential candidate is truly reprehensible and truly, truly vile.
We're not a bunch of goddamned uninformed fools, Senator. Only your supporters are.
October 9, 2008 4:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
We're just one small step from "I have here in my hands a list . . ."
Have you no shame at long last, Senator McCain?"
October 9, 2008 4:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
If McCain is the Maverick, is Palin the Goose???
Sorry, just looked at the cover of Rolling Stone this week and that suddenly came to mind. HAHA
October 9, 2008 4:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
I haven't seen the cover, but it's hard to see Sarah Palin as a goose since she doesn't have the sense god gave a goose
(boy I miss my mother sometimes - she was full of expressions, epithets and sayings that were sometimes so damn funny. She practically collected them.)
October 9, 2008 4:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
This brings up another question (and I could just not know), but where the hell is Hillary? If I were her, I would campaign my butt off for Obama right now. And she can set the record straight on this Ayers thing by saying that this whole thing was settled during the primaries, it's old news, and maybe, just maybe...we should focus on the issues.
October 9, 2008 4:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nice!! I wonder if McCain can afford to buy airtime like that with the pocket change he'll have left by the 29th!
October 9, 2008 4:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jeez, this makes me happier than ever that I threw another two-fiddy in last night.
October 9, 2008 4:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Everything is going our way regarding this election. However, this is not the time to play prevent defense. I can not understand why the Obama campaign and the DNC are not going after Mrs. Moose burger. She and her husband have direct ties to the AIP. I mean this is a slam dunk. All they have to do is force the media to exam this group for the next fews day with a very clever ad and force old man cloud and her to go on the defense. We can not under any circumstance allow her to hit the stump day in day out without attacking her.
October 9, 2008 4:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Concerning his remarks on September 11, 2001. It was just a weird coincidence that an interview with Ayers happened to be published in the New York Times the morning of 9/11. He had actually done the interview with the reporter some weeks before it was published.
October 9, 2008 4:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
I know I'm probably the only one, and I know that in the larger scheme of things it probably doesn't really matter, but when this whole guilt-by-association Ayers bullshit first started being tossed around back in the winter, I actually went back and read all the interviews, etc. that were being cited.
Again, I know this won't matter to anyone but me, but Ayers was badly misquoted in that NY Times piece. His "didn't do enough" comment was taken out of context and used to say essentially the opposition of his intent. While he did say that he felt the Weathermen hadn't "done enough" to protest the Vietnam War, and that he "didn't regret" having participated in those actions, he has also repeatedly and emphatically stated that he does not endorse violent protest now. He has learned that "domestic terrorism" (or "setting bombs" or whatever you want to call it) is not the way to get your point across. He's an avowed pacifist. So he's not an "unrepentant terrorist." He's a fricking Professor of Education, a well-respected member of his community, and a person who felt strongly at the time that he was involved in acts of civil disobedience for the good of his country. He recognizes now that his tactics were wrong, but doesn't regret his commitments. There's a huge difference between that and saying he wishes he'd "bombed more," which is how that interview gets read.
I know this is beside the point, but it pisses me off that people can't even be bothered to quote someone correctly before maligning them. And then, maligning someone else through a misquote of an acquaintance? That's like dunking a Poincaré donut in an Alaskan latte.
October 9, 2008 6:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
It certainly matters, but when you're standing in a shit-storm you rarely take the time to sort one pile from the other.
Ayers was a revolutionary. Bush inc. are terrorists.
October 9, 2008 6:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why the 29th? Why not Monday the 3rd?
Does McCain attempt to match and blow his ad budget for the rest of the campaign? Or does he just whine about Obama's money advantage and how he is trying to buy the Presidency.
October 9, 2008 4:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
To reach those who are still undecided, and those who are not fully locked on to a candidate, before they have picked who they are going to vote for.
October 9, 2008 4:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
I guess Cindy didn't love him enough to loan him the money.
October 9, 2008 5:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
There are straws in the wind that indicate that Senator Obama took in over a hundred million in Sept.
October 9, 2008 4:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Axelrod recently said Obama has over 4M donors to his campaign now, which is about 1.5M new donors since the GE started (Hello Hillary supporters).
Obama doesn't have to report his Sept haul until Oct 20th, and I expect he wait until the last moment and then try to bury the news in order to keep his supporters donating. I expect he'll make one last donation push before then saying "Make your last donations now so we know how much we can spend the rest of the campaign". He'll probably use his CBS and NBC prime time buys to raise money off of as well...
October 9, 2008 4:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
To clarify I mean he'll send out emails asking for donations to pay for the timeslot purchase, not that he'll ask for donations on the 29th.
October 9, 2008 4:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
I sold some mutual funds, withdrew money from my IRA, and maxed out in September. Worked out great...it would be gone now anyway. Obama's a better investment by far than anything the financial markets could offer.
October 9, 2008 6:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
trough half-full type, aren't you? Oink.
October 9, 2008 6:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Ayers situation reminds me of the Rev Wright situation. The Obama camp is ignoring this at their own peril. It it being presented all all over the main stream media and Fuax news. This has been going on for the the last few day. I suggest that the Obama camp go up with a AD on Mrs Mooseburger ties to the AIP. At a minimum, it will at least give the media to present her ties to this radical group. Right now, I do not think the strategy to not going after her is a good one
October 9, 2008 4:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just WTF do you mean by "ignoring this"? Obama discusses it with Gibson, Biden's on the campaign trail talking about it, and Hillary Clinton is now weighing in.
October 9, 2008 4:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Careful, Optimus - people might mistake you for a concern troll.
For 20 months, people like me have been moaning over how Obama is not attacking like he should and we've been proven wrong over and over and over again.
This guy planned this campaign with every possible contingency down to the last day and time two years ago.
He's been five steps ahead of everybody from the beginning, and still is.
If where he is today doesn't convince you that he knows what he's doing, nothing will.
October 9, 2008 4:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Last day and DIME!
PREVIEW!!!!
October 9, 2008 4:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
You Are Correct Sir!
I caught myslef getting anxious after the "Palin bounce" that Barack wasn't hitting back hard enough.
Harkens back to how he managed his campaign against Hillary - he never got ruffled, he had a plan and stuck with it and he (once again) is proven right in the end.
This is the kinda guy we need running the show. I'll try to stop doubting, but keep on donating and canvassing and arguing until Nov 4th.
Will there be beer here then?
October 9, 2008 5:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's discipline we can believe in.
October 9, 2008 6:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
yeah, but the stock market tanked today. people dont care about ayers
October 9, 2008 4:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
I thought I was the only person who saw the symbolism of a war hero using women as surrogates to attack his opponent. Is this hero counting on his opponent not wanting to hit back at a woman -- and certainly never someone's wife? It occurred to me today that, like Dubya, McCain was a fly boy. He never went hand-to-hand with anybody. Never carried a rifle through jungle, fired on and fired back. So when the time came to go toe-to-toe with Obama, McCain didn't have the guts for it. As someone said, Hilary showed more guts. Bringing to mine the end of the first Palin/Fey SNL skit when "Hilary" says "and if they need a pair, I can loan them mine."
October 9, 2008 4:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Republicans are so cute when they're angry. It's unfortunate that we didn't see any of that republican anger in the past eight years. If they had held Bush and the Republican Party accountable, they might not be so angry now.
October 9, 2008 4:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Everything angers them. When Bill Clinton gave them 8 years of peace and prosperity they spent every ounce of energy hating him.
October 9, 2008 5:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tena,
I was making a TOP GUN joke above, but I like your take on it even more! :-)
October 9, 2008 4:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
I posted this on another thread, but I think folks should read it -- Matt Taibbi on Karl Rove's stealth role in the McShame campaign. It explains a lot about why things are getting so nasty and ugly:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/23482821/the_return_of_rove/print
October 9, 2008 4:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tena,
I was making a TOP GUN reference above, but I like your take on it even more! :-)
October 9, 2008 4:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
You're being nice - I just totally failed to get the reference again - like a dummy!
October 9, 2008 4:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, Animal House.
October 9, 2008 4:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Damn it, meant for Opus upstream
October 9, 2008 4:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Doofus,
Dickinson's piece in Rolling Stone rocks, too - and he's a Republican!!
October 9, 2008 4:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jonze,
The 29th is perfect timing - this will allow clips to be saturated on YouTube and all over the net, giving it 3 or 4 days to spread like wildfire and garner five times the audience the original tv airing did.
29th is perfect!!!
October 9, 2008 4:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, probably right. the 30th would be too expensive and have too much prime time competition being a Thursday Night, and the 31st is a Friday and Halloween. The weekend wouldn't make any sense and Monday would probably be too late.
The 29th is probably when McCain will launch his last smear ad so Obama will be able to answer it directly if he feels the need to.
Also it will allow folks to go to work the next day to talk about it, and get free coverage the following days, both the next morning on the early shows, and then on the Sunday Talkies.
October 9, 2008 5:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yellowdog, the point I am trying to make is that she is being allowed to to continue a rants unabated. The media will not do our job for us unless we put information about her directly out to the media. The Ayers story for us intellectuals is a non-story. We get it. But the the Main Stream media, its a juicy story. So they will run with it until something us comes along to distract them. That distraction should be an AD about Mrs. Mooseburger association with AIP or McCain Associations with savory character as well.
October 9, 2008 5:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
USAGE POLICE:
Greg, I believe Grandpa Simpson was "invoking," not "evoking," Hillary.
http://www.bartleby.com/68/21/2321.html
October 9, 2008 5:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
USAGE POLICE:
Greg, I believe Grandpa Simpson was "invoking," not "evoking," Hillary.
http://www.bartleby.com/68/21/2321.html
October 9, 2008 5:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think it is clear that McCain is willing to bet everything on this gambit. Obama has no choice but to call him on it. That means, "let the bodies hit the floor" foo!
October 9, 2008 5:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
O damn - the economy is bad alright.
Mr. Tena just told me that he sacrificed his bonus this year so the lower tier employees could get theirs. That's why I love him, but boy that threw my plans off a bit.
I have to rethink the holidays now. O well something tells me it's going to be like this from now on -
October 9, 2008 5:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
what a chickenshit McLame is.
October 9, 2008 5:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Boy, I am truly confused. One day the McCain camp said they would not raise Ayers as an issue. Another day they raised it. Maybe Bob Barr, the Libertarian candidate, was right: McCain said he is bipartisan but he is actually bipolar.
October 9, 2008 5:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Josh's article about McCain's fear and loathing of Obama, and Obama's ability to use that lever to pry McCain's psycho rage out into the public eye, made me think of the Caine Mutiny. I think I'm going to start referring to McCain as "Old Yellowstain McCain" every time I talk about him from now on. See if we can get him to start muttering about stolen strawberries during the next debate.
October 9, 2008 5:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
McLame is a cross between Montgomery Burns and Count Chocula.
October 9, 2008 5:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let's get busy, MMM and investigate Sarah Palin's connection with the Alaska Independence Party. If she and McCain are going to play the "guilt by association" game, then take a look at her associations. If she is so patriotic, why is she "palling around" with secessionists? Here's a little educational video to get you started:
Sarah Palin: Palling Around With Secessionists
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eniG9l_7its
October 9, 2008 5:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
"The Obama campaign will air a half-hour primetime special on Wednesday, Oct. 29, at 8 p.m. Sources say the Obama camp is also in talks with NBC and Fox. NBC is said to be very near a deal. With Fox, the matter is likely to remain uncertain as the time period could conflict with Game 6 of the World Series."
Or: "The Obama campaign refused Fox's conditions that the word 'Terrorist' would flash underneath Obama's name every 5 seconds throughout the broadcast."
October 9, 2008 5:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
-Good one! I've been linking to TPM for a while, but I've just recently tuned in to the forum. I'm laughing a lot more than usual, (which hasn't been enough in the last seven years). Things are looking up.
October 9, 2008 7:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
More for the McWar camp, Senator Obama is "a guy of the street",
and they are raising the drug use...
October 9, 2008 5:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain's drug use of Ambien and several other prescriptions? Or his wife's overuse of Vicodin and others? Guess it's OK if you use drugs off the pharmacist, legally or not.
October 9, 2008 5:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Ayers line is only affecting low information voters who were going for McCain anyway. Keep riling up your base and watch the rest of the nation (and world) leave you behind.
GoBama: http://tinyurl.com/6xr3b7
October 9, 2008 5:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
"McCain Invokes Hillary To Hit Obama Over Ayers"
But to what end? I guess if you are going to lose, and lose big, maybe there is some consolation in knowing that the "base" is fired up and maybe they will still be in another four years. But by then, McFool will be eating pureed peaches and Palin will be just another Fox "News" bimbo.
October 9, 2008 5:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
They are referring to the Cocaine use...
They are so desperate at this point...
I betcha the donations for Senator Obama are going way over the roof:)
October 9, 2008 5:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can you people please stop this bullshit about how Hillary would have "hit" Obama with Ayers stuff if there was anything there? I can't believe you can see what McCain's doing and still claim Hillary ran a dirty campaign. If you're so sure Hillary would have used Ayers against Obama, please tell me how many of Hillary's ads had Rev. Wright in them. (The correct answer is none.) Wright was a much bigger deal than Ayers, and Hillary barely touched the subject.
This quote says it all: "...she was trying to win the primaries for herself without any thought as to Obama future election prospects." Imagine the nerve! She was actually trying to beat Obama in an election, instead of treating him like the nominee he was destined to be. So I guess when Obama called Hillary a divisive politician who would do anything to win, he was trying to make sure people only had a positive view of her? Are you really accusing someone of trying to win an election "only for herself?" Do you really think Obama is being reluctantly dragged into the campaign only by his desire to serve his country? Give me a break.
October 9, 2008 6:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
I just paid a closer look at the Gallup poll today, and according to their poll Obama won 56 to 23...
I betcha you, you are happy about that one...
Take this Senator McWar...
October 9, 2008 6:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
What happened to: 'We won't throw the first punch, but we will throw the last?"
Obama campaign's been awful quiet today about Keating and the Alaska Independence Party and all...
can we suppose that they're saving their powder to jump all over Troopergate?
October 9, 2008 6:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
If Magoo weren't such an odious little shit, one could almost feel sorry for him. The pathetic comb-over, the herky-jerky meat-puppet walk, the disjointed thinking that comes out as Grandpa Simpson-talk, the blatant desperation of his tactics...but...fuck 'im. What kind of patriot wants to put Snow-Shoe Barbie a heart-beat away from the Oval Office?
While the hapless Magoo drools on about Ayres, the economy tanks even further and more and more people are seeing Magoo for what he really is- a mendacious, unprincipled, amoral, vanity-crazed, senile old turd.
The more Magoo harps on Ayres, the more he's exposed as a vicious and irrelevant buffoon. Happy trails, Magoo. Don't hurry back...
October 9, 2008 6:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
And so far, the ayers story is not working. The polls have been steady for Obama for 3 weeks...
And the polls for the last several days have been the same, so It is fair to assume that while the Ayers story has been on the media for the last several days, it does not affect the race...
And McWar is showing every day how despicable he is...
October 9, 2008 6:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain is making a risky claim by accusing Obama of being a liar under the cusp of his political rhetoric.
Evan
www.beyondrace.com
October 9, 2008 6:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
There is now video proving Sarah Palin's membership in the AIP. Why is no one reporting it?
The leader of the AIP discusses Sarah Palin's membership in the party, and talks about how she became a republican in order to "go along to get along," and can be found at the link below.
If Barak Obama is being accused of guilt by association, why is Palin immune to scrutiny? And why isn't this on every news channel and on the front of every paper?
See for yourself, courtesy of Mudflats.
http://mudflats.wordpress.com/2008/09/08/palin-republican-party-infiltrator-damning-video/
This is the story of the campaign, with video, so why is no one reporting it?
October 9, 2008 6:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Read this excellent piece by Christopher Hitchens on how Magoo and The Decider have allowed the Wall St. suits to turn the US into a banana republic:
http://tinyurl.com/4w9wg8
...unimprovable.
October 9, 2008 7:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
If any of those idiots commit some violent crime, can the McCain camp and FOX be held responsible for inciting crime? Someone should raise this issue in the media.
October 9, 2008 7:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
McShit Bag saying one thing today and flip-flopping on that statement the next day, that's standard operating procedure for McSlime. McCain and Palin are typical playground bullies. All bark and no bite. They talk behind Obama’s back but never have the balls and courage to make these false accusations to Obama’s face.
By Obama calling out McCain’s lack of balls and character it turns into a lose/lose situation for McCain. If McCain goes into the last debate and starts slinging Ayers lies the voters will take a shit on McCain and it allow Obama to bitch slap McCain back into reality. If McCain never brings it up he still looks a pussy.
October 9, 2008 7:45 PM | Reply | Permalink