When the truth is a "smear"

As the AP once again swings the bat for Obama:

Obama has denounced the radical views and actions of Bill Ayers, a founder of the Weather Underground group during the Vietnam era. On Sunday, He dismissed the criticism from the McCain campaign, leveled by Palin, as "smears" meant to distract voters from real problems such as the troubled economy.

...

"The comments are about an association that has been known but hasn't been talked about," Palin said as she boarded her plane in Long Beach, Calif. "I think it's fair to talk about where Barack Obama kicked off his political career, in the guy's living room."

At issue is Obama's association with Ayers. Both have served on the same Chicago charity and live near each other in Chicago. Ayers also held a meet-the-candidate event at his home for Obama when Obama first ran for office in the mid-1990s, the event cited by Palin.

But while Ayers and Obama are acquainted, the charge that they "pal around" is a stretch of any reading of the public record. And it's simply wrong to suggest that they were associated while Ayers was committing terrorist acts. Obama was 8 years old at the time the Weather Underground claimed credit for numerous bombings and was blamed for a pipe bomb that killed a San Francisco policeman.

For one thing, Palin didn't suggest they were associated when Obama was 8 years old.  An unrepentant terrorist is STILL a terrorist. 

I don't regret setting the bombs...I feel we didn't do enough.

Guilty as sin, free as a bird.  It's a great country.

As for the charge they "pal around", just because the AP hasn't reported it doesn't make it a stretch.  According to the AP all they did was serve on a charity board together.  Talk about a stretch. 

The McCain campaign responded:

“The last four weeks of this election will be about whether the American people are willing to turn our economy and national security over to Barack Obama, a man with little record, questionable judgment, and ties to radical figures like unrepentant domestic terrorist William Ayers. Americans need to ask themselves if they’ve ever befriended an unrepentant terrorist, or had a convicted felon help them buy their house — because those aren’t smears, those are true facts about Barack Obama.” —Tucker Bounds, spokesman McCain-Palin 2008

Comments

[Don]

Julie, this could aptly be described as a "MUST READ" article: http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/09/barack_obama_and_the_strategy.html

[Don]

Sorry, I'm not gonna' try the tiny URL thing again :-)

[Julie]

Oh, come on Don. Jump out there!!

I'm reading the article now. Thanks for the link.