Why Obama's Association with Bill Ayers should disqualify him from the Presidency

[jordan179]

I've heard several people claim that it is unfair for John McCain and Sarah Palin to attack Barack Obama over his association with Bill Ayers. They say alternately that the association was not a close one, or that Bill Ayers is a perfectly respectable figure in Chicago politics who many people associated with

Comments

[yechezkiel]

I don't think it's unfair. Heck, I even agree with you that these associations make Obama unfit. However, they are dumb attacks for McCain to make, because they make him seem desperate and intellectually bankrupt. And, as I mentioned on my LJ, they only open up Obama to make "Keating Five" ads about McCain, which are far more damning in the current climate.

[jordan179]

And, as I mentioned on my LJ, they only open up Obama to make "Keating Five" ads about McCain, which are far more damning in the current climate.

Except that McCain was innocent in that affair. Ayers wasn't innocent in the Weatherman bombings.

[webgodd_s]

Did some fact finding on this issue. As per usual, it's blown way out of proportion:

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/02/obamas_weatherman_connection.html

Here's the most important bit:
"Senator Obama strongly condemns the violent actions of the Weathermen group, as he does all acts of violence. But he was an eight-year-old child when Ayers and the Weathermen were active, and any attempt to connect Obama with events of almost forty years ago is ridiculous."

Here's another:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/05/fact-check-is-obama-palling-around-with-terrorists/

[irked_indeed]

I was no more than five when the Berlin Wall fell.

If I went to Mikhail Gorbachev for political advice- if he "hosted a campaign event" for me, to quote your second link- then do you think that might make my politics slightly suspect? Even if I condemned "the violent actions of the Soviet Union"?

Gorbachev's by no means the worst example I could choose there, of course, but you don't have to choose an absolute monster to make this point. No one's blaming Obama for actions the Weathermen committed forty years ago- I'm fairly certain he's incapable of time travel. But this is a man he's chosen to associate himself with, solidly outside the confines of jobs they just happened to share- a man whose past is hardly low-profile. Does that say nothing of Obama himself?

[the_mcp]

Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) hadn't even been born when Karl Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Das Kapital (1867), and the two men never even met face to face since Marx died when Lenin was only 13 years old.

Therefore, by the Washington Post's logic, any attempt to connect Lenin to a book written over 20 years before he was born is ridiculous too, right?

[webgodd_s]

As I said to irked_indeed above, these examples prove (or disprove) nothing. They're merely clarifying a point I already disagree with.

[kitten_goddess]

Both candidates have questionable associations. McCain's ties with the Moonies and his own participation in the Keating Five scandal come to mind.

Of course, Obama is tied in with Reverend Wright, and served on a board with Ayres (along with a bunch of Republicans).

[the_mcp]

Except that McCain was exonerated of any wrongdoing in the Keating 5 affair.

In fact, Bob Bennett, who was the Democratic lawyer selected by the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate the Keating 5, has since stated that he recommended McCain’s name be dropped from the investigation because there was no evidence against him; but, for political reasons (the other Senators accused were all Democrats), McCain’s name was kept on the list to create the (false) illusion that it was a bipartisan scandal.

[jordan179]

Of course, Obama is tied in with Reverend Wright, and served on a board with Ayers (along with a bunch of Republicans).

Obama chose to tie himself to Reverend Wright, and remain tied to him for 20 years. He only "changed his mind" when someone (who wasn't a Republican) called the public's attention to Wright's racism and insanity.

As for Ayers, the fact that Chicago Republicans were willing to work with him only reflects badly on Chicago Republicans, not well on Ayers.

[banner]

Here is what Obama's good friends at ACORN (Who he has direct ties to) are up to this year (Massive Voter Fraud

Man...

[brian_pegasus]

This election gets more and more discouraging as time goes by :(

[oronoda]

This reminds me of a proverb I read which read, "If you want to know the true nature of someone, look at their friends."

My mother always told me that who I choose to associate with will reflect on me so I should choose my friends wisely. People wonder why I have a small circle of friends. If you hang out with geeks, you will be labeled a geek. Maybe Obama doesn't believe what Ayers does but it does reflect how bad his judgment is.

[jordan179]

Maybe Obama doesn't believe what Ayers does but it does reflect how bad his judgment is.

Which is rather significant, since one of the President's vital tasks is to choose his Cabinet. Would a President Obama choose people like Ayers and Wright to head important departments of the Federal government?