All along I have believed, and have said in this space, that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright matters. As far as we can tell, no single person had a greater influence on Barack Obama's thinking than did the radical, race-baiting Wright. To a far lesser but still significant degree, the unrepentant domestic terrorist Bill Ayers matters; as someone brought up the other day, if John McCain's political career had been launched in the home of an abortion clinic bomber who was not sorry he did it, there's no question but that the media would have made a huge deal about it.
Stanley Kurtz wrote an excellent piece about what Obama's association with both men and their milieu reveals about the man who would be president. In short, it reveals that Obama is a by-the-books leftist who is rather comfortable moving among people who strike most Americans as radical. I anticipated that the Wright-Ayers stuff would be a significant part of this fall's election. I am troubled by what Obama's connection to these men says about the kind of man he is, and the way he would govern.
And yet, this week, with the economy in free fall -- the Down's down over 500 points as I write this -- and the economic crisis threatening to bring down the entire global finance system, and with McCain and Palin having run a crap campaign to this point ... well, I confess that I don't care much about Wright and Ayers at this point. If McCain and Palin are going to try to make this campaign about one or both of those fools, with the massive crisis now before us, a crisis unprecedented in the lifetimes of most Americans -- well, they deserve to lose, and lose badly. If banging on Wright and Ayers is the best conservatism has to offer at this critical moment, then it truly is intellectually bankrupt.
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Boy, I do admire the Obama supporters with the courage and energy to go comment-to-comment with the lockstep McCain/Palin supporters. I don't have the stamina. They are up in arms about Wright/Ayers, but complacent about convicted felons Keating and Liddy, who demonstrably had far more influence and friendship on McCain. Not to mention secessionist Sarah, and her condoning of anti-Semitic diatribes. See? This stuff cuts both ways, the guilt-by-association nonsense, but keep playing it McCain supporters -- the wide swath of open-minded and reasonable Americans that are finally waking up after the Bush calamity aren't buying it, and the more you peddle it, the faster McCain drops. If McCain had a shred of dignity or honor, he would lose with honor -- instead, he's going to trash what's left of his reputation, and taint the incoming Obama administration. Country First ... right. It's "me first" or I upset the checkers board and stomp off home. That's the real McCain.
Do you realize where all this racist-tinged hate-mongering is going? Someone called out "kill him!" at a Palin rally yesterday. If something horrible happens, anyone who fed this Wright/Ayers BS will be complicit.
One more thing -- I just have to laugh when people say Obama will raise taxes and unemployment will go through the roof. Didn't we just finally put to rest the notion that tax cuts create jobs? I know facts are annoying, but 8 years of tax cuts, and unemployment is at a record high. Is it just that one last tax cut that will turn it all around? Right...
Boy, the Arkansas Project is starting to look like kindergarten, aina?
So, Victor, you're basically saying that you have to believe in conspiracy theories to conclude that Ayers influenced Obama in more than just education, because you spouted a whole load of NOTHING. Show something concrete, some action, some vote that shows that Obama agrees with the laundry list of junk that you said Ayers believes, other than the fact that they sat on the same board together.
As for Jeremiah Wright - that was his pastor, and he most informed Obama about his Christianity. He is the reason why Obama became a Christian. There is no evidence that he supports Black Liberation Theology. You again cited a whole load of NOTHING.
The guilt by association game cuts against McCain too, and has even more sinister implications - that our country may be controlled by foreign interests, since so many of his lobbyist friends got paid for lobbying for some of the scummiest dictators. Please.
They are up in arms about Wright/Ayers, but complacent about convicted felons Keating and Liddy, who demonstrably had far more influence and friendship on McCain.
Hey, hey. Let's not forget the mass-murderer Henry Kissinger. (For those who disagree with my word choice, look up the definition of 'murder', which is 'unlawful killing', and then explain how the president has the legal ability to bomb a neutral country for that amount of time without informing Congress.)
As long as Kissinger is roaming around free in politics, no complaint about Ayers has any legitimacy at all. Ayers, at least, didn't kill people. He was just an extreme and rather flashy vandal.
Doug Cramer, thank you. You have put it in the proper perspective.
Please realize, though, that the people who are arguing with you were always convinced that Obama is what they are claiming based on their assumptions and pronouncements. They didn't need the governess from Alaska to point it out to them. They have been expressing their hate for Obama all along. They just need to regurgitate it some more, taste it again, and then swallow.
That's all.
That's their way.
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