Palin: Obama associates with terrorists.

[Gandalf]

BBC News

US Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin has accused the Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama, of associating with terrorists.

She said he had been "palling around" with an ex-member of US-based militant group Weather Underground, which opposed the Vietnam War in the 1960s.

Mr Obama once served on a charity board with a member of the group, but he has denounced its activities.

A Democratic spokesman accused the Republicans of gutter politics.

"What's clear is that John McCain and Sarah Palin would rather spend their time tearing down Barack Obama than laying out a plan to build up our economy," Hari Sevugan said.

Commentators say Mrs Palin's attack forms part of a broader Republican strategy to attack Mr Obama's character.

Denunciation

Speaking to supporters in Colorado and later in a Los Angeles suburb, Alaska Governor Palin said the time had come to take the gloves off.

She attacked Senator Obama over his link to Bill Ayers, a founder of the Weather Underground, which waged a violent campaign against the Vietnam War.

The group was blamed for a number of bombings in the US in the 1960s.

Mrs Palin described Mr Obama as someone who saw the US "as being so imperfect... he is palling around with terrorists who would target their own country".

Mr Obama served on a charity board several years ago with Mr Ayers, who is now a professor at the University of Illinois.

The White House hopeful, who was a child when Weather Underground was active, has denounced Mr Ayers' radical past.

Focus on healthcare

The Alaska governor also said she wished the McCain campaign had not this week pulled out of the battleground state of Michigan, effectively conceding it to the Democrats.

Mr Obama meanwhile attacked the healthcare plans of Republican presidential nominee John McCain.

Speaking to some 18,000 people at a rally in Virginia, Senator Obama described the Arizona senator's policy as "radical" and claimed 20 million people would be left out by it.

A spokesman for Mr McCain, who is in his home state preparing for Tuesday's second presidential debate, said that was "a bald-faced lie".

Healthcare is important to voters and the Obama campaign has unveiled new adverts attacking Mr McCain on the issue in every battleground state.

Mr Obama's Virginia rally came ahead of a Monday deadline for voters to register there and in more than a dozen other states, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Florida.

Voter turnout could be vital in deciding the outcome of the 4 November presidential election.

Meanwhile, viewing figures show a record 69.9 million people tuned in to watch Mrs Palin take part in Thursday's televised vice-presidential debate with Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

Yeah, this is a new low from Failin' Palin. Too bad Obama wouldn't be able to retort by pointing to McCain's association with the Bush junta.

Anyone remember when right wingers here tried to defend stuff like this?

[Tribun]

This is clearly an appeal to people's stupidity.
I hope it won't work, now that they have more pressing prolems, eg., a crumbling economy.

Also the Obama team already has basically said that this is just an attempt to distract from the real problems of the country and told Palin to fuck off, that they won't play this game.

[Rye]

I'm only surprised she didn't stress the name Hussein when she said this. Has anyone in the mainstream liberal media pointed out she hangs around with secessionist christian dominionist whackoes and hasn't even condemned them like Obama's condemned Ayers' unsavoury past? Repulsive.

[wautd]

Dear Palin...

[Eframepilot]

I'm only surprised she didn't stress the name Hussein when she said this. Has anyone in the mainstream liberal media pointed out she hangs around with secessionist christian dominionist whackoes and hasn't even condemned them like Obama's condemned Ayers' unsavoury past? Repulsive.

The mainstream media are not liberal. (I may be missing your sarcasm here.) On the other hand, they have been surprisingly willing to call McCain and the Republicans on their lies this election cycle and the AIP have gotten occasional play... so I think it's likely that Todd Palin's membership in a secessionist organization will get mentioned a lot if the Republicans push the Ayers "connection".

But it's such a transparent desperation ploy and the American people are so sick of the Republicans' collective shit that it's not going to work. They saw through McCain's pitiful campaign suspension stunt, after all. Obama is already pointing out how McCain is trying to shift focus away from the economy, which will anger everyone still furious at Wall Street and the bailout. At this point in the campaign, preferences have calcified and only a HUGE event can change them.

Also, the fact that the Republicans haven't pushed Ayers until now shows that they didn't think it would be very effective and are only turning to it as a last resort.

[Tribun]

I also think they call him a "semi-terrorist", because they can't openly call him a "nigger".

[irishmick79]

If attacking Obama over Bill Ayers didn't work for Hillary, I doubt it will work for McCain. Hell, Hillary couldn't even work Tony Rezko to her advantage against Obama - why would McCain be successful when Hillary wasn't? If anything, McCain has even less credibility to make these kind of attacks work than Hillary did.

Frankly, I'm very encouraged by this. McCain has declared open season on Obama, and if their version of "taking the gloves off" is trotting out Bill Ayers, Obama is in pretty good shape.

[CmdrWilkens]

If attacking Obama over Bill Ayers didn't work for Hillary, I doubt it will work for McCain. Hell, Hillary couldn't even work Tony Rezko to her advantage against Obama - why would McCain be successful when Hillary wasn't? If anything, McCain has even less credibility to make these kind of attacks work than Hillary did.

Frankly, I'm very encouraged by this. McCain has declared open season on Obama, and if their version of "taking the gloves off" is trotting out Bill Ayers, Obama is in pretty good shape.

Following up on that given that this comes just a few days after the campaign all but admitted that it can't win on the issues I don't see it playing well at all. In the current environment people are already starting to distrust gimmicky campaign stunts, the favorability ratings for both Palin and McCain have sunk to a net negative in several polls and trying to force an issue shift on to territory already covered just doesn't have the same impact as something new. The media may report the statements but they are also, this time, far more likely to point out the hypocrisy and lack of any real meaning behind those statements. Given that kind of context I don't think it will have nearly the impact that the summer ad blitz had. That and McCain doesn't have enough cash to put the ad in more than a few places between now and election day. Yes the RNC can ramp up attack ads but they can't use HIS ads and he can't use THEIR ads. This means both groups have to spend the cash to produce and distribute seperate ads. The RNC has the money but also has a ton of downballot races that are now highly endangered and McCain doesn't have the money but he also doesn't have to (though he should) worry about the downballot races.

[RedImperator]

The downballot problems for Republicans are worth noting. Right now, the GOP is in danger of losing seven Senate seats. The situation in the House is even more dire. I wonder if, at some point, people in the RNC are going to decide McCain is a lost cause and try to stop the bleeding in Congress. Even Saxby Chambliss (Georgia) and Mitch McConnell (Senate Minority Leader, Kentucky) are in uncomfortably tight races (and oh, how I'd dance if McConnell and Chambliss lost).

[Knife]

The downballot problems for Republicans are worth noting. Right now, the GOP is in danger of losing seven Senate seats. The situation in the House is even more dire. I wonder if, at some point, people in the RNC are going to decide McCain is a lost cause and try to stop the bleeding in Congress. Even Saxby Chambliss (Georgia) and Mitch McConnell (Senate Minority Leader, Kentucky) are in uncomfortably tight races (and oh, how I'd dance if McConnell and Chambliss lost).

Wow, I didn't know that little bit about Kentucky and Georgia. Obviously I knew a lot of senate and house seats were up fo grab. I worry a bit that the Dems will have a smashing victory and the pendulum will swing too far the other way, even though I'm more than supporting a lot of this happening. Saddly, the land of Zion will continue to be both red for the nation and have a super majority in the state congress.

[Guardsman Bass]

The downballot problems for Republicans are worth noting. Right now, the GOP is in danger of losing seven Senate seats. The situation in the House is even more dire. I wonder if, at some point, people in the RNC are going to decide McCain is a lost cause and try to stop the bleeding in Congress. Even Saxby Chambliss (Georgia) and Mitch McConnell (Senate Minority Leader, Kentucky) are in uncomfortably tight races (and oh, how I'd dance if McConnell and Chambliss lost).

Wow, I didn't know that little bit about Kentucky and Georgia. Obviously I knew a lot of senate and house seats were up fo grab. I worry a bit that the Dems will have a smashing victory and the pendulum will swing too far the other way, even though I'm more than supporting a lot of this happening. Saddly, the land of Zion will continue to be both red for the nation and have a super majority in the state congress.

McConnell was up 9 points in one of the latest polls, so I wouldn't jumping for joy, yet. Unless the economic situation continues to get worse, dislodging him will probably be very difficult (although very sweet if done, when you consider that the Republicans did the same thing with Tom Daschle 4 years ago).

As for the Zion Curtain, well - I'm afraid we're stuck, Knife (especially since you live down near Provo, right?). Matheson will probably win back his seat, since it is a Democratic year and Bill Dew is getting virtually no assistance at all from the national Republicans (and he thoroughly trounced the last Republican contender, LaVar Christensen). Bob Springmeyer is going to get his butt handed to him by John Huntsman for Governor, and Jason Chaffetz (he of the prison camps for illegal immigrants) is probably going to win in the south. The worse thing is that I can't see it changing, either; even if a whole bunch of people continue to immigrate here and reduce the concentration of conservative Mormons even more (like it is being done in Salt Lake City), the Republicans have a perpetual lock on the State Senate due to all those more-conservative-than-God rural folk.

[Elfdart]

If Palin wants to play the Guilt By Association Game, the Democrats should bring up: Palin's husband, who wanted to break up the Union; her preacher, who not only gave her an exorcism, but led a mob of African villagers to terrorize an old woman into fleeing her home in fear of her life; and the fact that she quoted a Nazi favorably in her acceptance speech.

[Covenant]

It's pretty absurd, and I'm with Elfdart here, there's way more to be said of Palin than Obama. Ayers doesn't do shit around here anymore except support a few community programs, and how many people actually know who he is? Or about the Weathermen? I think she's talking to her base in coded phrases to say "See, we found something! Keep repeating this!" Without them knowing what it is at all. It's frustrating to see lies and fabrications repeated without any kind of fact-check or accountability. I can tolerate distortions of the truth since the truth is always something of a subjective quantity, but Ayers? Guilty by association? So you have to vet someone's past entirely before you can even allow them to help the people, eh? What a narrow world they live in.

[General Zod]

It's pretty absurd, and I'm with Elfdart here, there's way more to be said of Palin than Obama. Ayers doesn't do shit around here anymore except support a few community programs, and how many people actually know who he is? Or about the Weathermen? I think she's talking to her base in coded phrases to say "See, we found something! Keep repeating this!" Without them knowing what it is at all. It's frustrating to see lies and fabrications repeated without any kind of fact-check or accountability. I can tolerate distortions of the truth since the truth is always something of a subjective quantity, but Ayers? Guilty by association? So you have to vet someone's past entirely before you can even allow them to help the people, eh? What a narrow world they live in.

Which is a pretty hilarious double standard given Palin went through virtually no vetting whatsoever. But it's really not like the Republicans have a lot left except these kind of attacks.

[Ender]

Everyone is paying attention to that part of the speech, but not the part that came directly before it, and is much more threatening.

We see America as the greatest force for good in this world," Palin said at a fund-raising event in Colorado, adding, "Our opponent though, is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country."

linka

Look familiar? It should. Its almost a direct lift from some of Rumsfeld's speeches, including his thanks to the troops in Dec 2006. If not for the fat that Palin loves her run on sentences I think a case could be made for plagarism from a RUmmy speech. The neocons have been in retreat since he was tossed out, this shows that their ideology is coming back.

[RedImperator]

They're not bringing up Ayers because they think Obama's association with some old man who threw bombs forty years ago is going to sink him. They're bringing up Ayers because it lets them use the word "terrorist" and "Obama" in the same sentence. I'll bet you $50 that tomorrow on right-wing talk radio, they'll be emphasizing Obama's middle name every single time they mention Ayers. This is yet another racist dog-whistle attack.

[The Kernel]

If Palin wants to play the Guilt By Association Game, the Democrats should bring up: Palin's husband, who wanted to break up the Union; her preacher, who not only gave her an exorcism, but led a mob of African villagers to terrorize an old woman into fleeing her home in fear of her life; and the fact that she quoted a Nazi favorably in her acceptance speech.

I disagree, I think Obama should avoid bringing up Charles Keating, the Alaska secessionists, Cindy McCain's drug use or anything else like this. Let me explain...

Right now, the economy is on everyones mind and it is clear that people are overwhelmingly ready to trust Obama with fixing it over McCain. It is increasingly clear that the latest poll trends have everything to do with the economic state of the country.

What Obama needs to do is slam McCain back for trying to use petty issues to change the subject rather than come up with a plan to fix the economy. Fortunately, the appear to be exactly what Obama is doing, and it is going to pay off for him big time. He will be seen as above the mud (while not just letting it get thrown around unanswered the way Kerry did) and using the attacks to further undermine McCain's position. Personally I think that these attacks against Obama are going to backfire for just this reason; the American people don't give two shits about some whack-o-loon that Obama may have associated with once, the give a shit that they have lost 20% of the value of their 401k this year and are scared to death of losing their job, house, wealth, etc.

[The Kernel]

The downballot problems for Republicans are worth noting. Right now, the GOP is in danger of losing seven Senate seats. The situation in the House is even more dire. I wonder if, at some point, people in the RNC are going to decide McCain is a lost cause and try to stop the bleeding in Congress. Even Saxby Chambliss (Georgia) and Mitch McConnell (Senate Minority Leader, Kentucky) are in uncomfortably tight races (and oh, how I'd dance if McConnell and Chambliss lost).

Agreed, Saxby Chambliss is one of the most despicable human beings ever to grace the Senate and I would just love to see him thrown out of Washington on his ass. After the campaign he ran against Max Cleland (a Vietnam vet who lost both his legs to a grenade) where he showed pictures of Cleland with Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussain it's about time we gave the guy the boot.

[Durandal]

Big words coming from a woman who actively courted the Alaskan Independence Party, whose founder said he would not be buried under the flag of the United States and that he hated the federal government.

[Tribun]

LONG BEACH, Calif. - Sarah Palin is defending her attack on Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama after accusing him of "palling around with terrorists." ADVERTISEMENT

The Republican vice presidential nominee on Sunday said it was legitimate to raise Obama's association with 1960s radical Bill Ayers. Ayers and Obama are acquainted, but the charge that they "pal around" is unsubstantiated.

"The comments are about an association that has been known but hasn't been talked about," she said. "It's important to talk about how Barack Obama kicked off his political career in the guy's living room."

Oh yes, and how your carreer looks like, you bitch? All the dirt in your past will be digged up.

[Tribun]

Sorry for the double-post, but Obama reacted.
Omama calls McCain on his shit

ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama counterattacked on Sunday against a new Republican tactic by saying rival John McCain was more interested in a smear campaign than fixing the U.S. economy.

With McCain losing ground in opinion polls, a campaign strategist was quoted as saying the Republican presidential candidate needed to "turn the page" on the economic issue and make the election about Obama's experience and character.

That effort started on Saturday when Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin accused Obama of "palling around with terrorists" in reference to his acquaintance with Bill Ayers, a former member of the Vietnam War-era militant Weather Underground.

Obama came back at the Republicans at a rally in Asheville, North Carolina, a swing state where the Democratic presidential candidate was preparing for his second debate with McCain on Tuesday.

"Senator McCain and his operatives are gambling that he can distract you with smears rather than talk to you about substance," Obama said in prepared remarks. "They'd rather try to tear our campaign down than lift this country up."

"It's what you do when you're out of touch, out of ideas and running out of time," he said a month before the November 4 election.

Obama's improvement in the polls was fueled by the public's perception that he can best handle the ailing economy. The Illinois senator tried to keep the focus on the economy and used the "turn the page" quote as a way of keeping the issue alive.

"We're facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and John McCain wants us to 'turn the page?'" he said in the Asheville remarks.

"Well, I know the policies he's supported these past eight years and wants to continue are pretty hard to defend. I can understand why Senator McCain would want to 'turn the page' and ignore this economy."

NEW ADS

The Obama campaign released a new ad hitting McCain as erratic during the past two weeks of economic crisis, a reference that could be interpreted as subtle reminder of McCain's age. The Arizona senator, age 72, would be the oldest person elected president for the first time.

But McCain's supporters were not backing down. They pushed the issue of Obama's character on the Sunday television talk show circuit and defended linking Obama with Ayers.

Ayers was one of the leaders of the Weather Underground when it was involved in a series of bombings in the 1960s when Obama was 8 years old. Obama met him in the 1990s when first starting his political career in Chicago and the two served on a board together.

Obama has said he knows Ayers, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, only slightly and has denounced his actions with the Weather Underground.

Republican Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida said on ABC's "This Week" it was not what Obama did when he was 8 but "what occurred when he was 35 - 38 years old and was initiating his political campaign."

"It's about his judgment and who he associated with during those years and right on into his political campaign," he said.

"It is fair game," Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut who supports McCain, said on "Fox News Sunday" when asked if it was legitimate to bring up Ayers.

But Democrats responded that the Republicans were just trying to trivialize the race and take the spotlight off McCain and the economy."

"How ridiculous," Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri said on Fox. "American people deserve so much better."

"You have seen a 26-year Senate veteran morph into an angry, desperate candidate in the last few weeks, especially in the last few days," Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio told ABC. "And it just kind of makes me sad ... that John McCain and Sarah Palin are resorting to these tactics."

(Writing by David Wiessler; editing by Jackie Frank)

[Knife]

As for the Zion Curtain, well - I'm afraid we're stuck, Knife (especially since you live down near Provo, right?).

Davis county actually, however it makes little difference in politics though, since the people around here are every bit as red as those down in god's country south of Salt Lake.

[CmdrWilkens]

The downballot problems for Republicans are worth noting. Right now, the GOP is in danger of losing seven Senate seats. The situation in the House is even more dire. I wonder if, at some point, people in the RNC are going to decide McCain is a lost cause and try to stop the bleeding in Congress. Even Saxby Chambliss (Georgia) and Mitch McConnell (Senate Minority Leader, Kentucky) are in uncomfortably tight races (and oh, how I'd dance if McConnell and Chambliss lost).

Agreed, Saxby Chambliss is one of the most despicable human beings ever to grace the Senate and I would just love to see him thrown out of Washington on his ass. After the campaign he ran against Max Cleland (a Vietnam vet who lost both his legs to a grenade) where he showed pictures of Cleland with Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussain it's about time we gave the guy the boot.

overall its a damn rosy picture. 538.com's Senate projections looking at 7 likely and 2-5 unlikely pickup targets. Chambliss still hasn't seen enough of his built in advantage decline to really call it a toss up and McConnell has a huge warchest (though Bruce Lunsford is a multi-millionaire willing to toss a lot of cash at this race) so both of those are iffy at best. Still if Obama continues to push forward in the national polling his coattails (or more likely depressed Republican base voter turnout) could easily make some of these seats much more competitive.

[Elfdart]

What Obama needs to do is slam McCain back for trying to use petty issues to change the subject rather than come up with a plan to fix the economy. Fortunately, the appear to be exactly what Obama is doing, and it is going to pay off for him big time. He will be seen as above the mud (while not just letting it get thrown around unanswered the way Kerry did) and using the attacks to further undermine McCain's position. Personally I think that these attacks against Obama are going to backfire for just this reason; the American people don't give two shits about some whack-o-loon that Obama may have associated with once, the give a shit that they have lost 20% of the value of their 401k this year and are scared to death of losing their job, house, wealth, etc.

I've been waiting 28 years for a Republitard smear campaign to backfire. I'm still waiting.

[Rye]

The mainstream media are not liberal. (I may be missing your sarcasm here.)

You are. I thought the irony would be pretty obvious from context, but whatever. Even the NYT has, in the past, been more in step with American cultural supremacism in its reporting (for instance, reporting on war crimes in countries with american interests and ignoring similar scale conflicts elsewhere).

On the other hand, they have been surprisingly willing to call McCain and the Republicans on their lies this election cycle and the AIP have gotten occasional play... so I think it's likely that Todd Palin's membership in a secessionist organization will get mentioned a lot if the Republicans push the Ayers "connection".

I'll believe it when I see it, frankly. Republicans always seem to have media trends stacked in their favour to the point this absurd farce (that outsiders can see for what it is) may be the only time in the last 10 years that their abundant hypocrisy, evil and stupidity might overcome the public's racism and animosity towards liberalism.