William Ayers GMA Interview About Obama - 11/14/08

Fingers crossed, we may be in that coveted Post Vietnam, DFH era.

PS- The interviewer is a total dick.

Newsweek goes behind the scenes: McCain In The Dark, Obama Threats, And More

By GottaLaff

Paddy covered Palin's little shopping spree, but here's a recap of what Newsweek will be reporting on in a Special Election Project, which allowed reporters to gather behind-the-scenes information on the presidential campaigns with an agreement that none of their reporting would be published until after Election Day:

-- McCain himself rarely spoke to Palin during the campaign and aides kept him in the dark about the details of her spending on clothes because they were sure he would be offended. Palin asked to speak along with McCain at his Arizona concession speech but campaign strategist Steve Schmidt vetoed the request.

-- The Obama campaign was provided with reports from the Secret Service showing a sharp and very disturbing increase in threats to Obama in September and early October, at the same time that the crowds at Palin rallies became more frenzied. Michelle Obama was shaken by the vituperative crowds and the hot rhetoric from the GOP candidates. "Why would they try to make people hate us?" Michelle Obama said to a top campaign aide.

-- On the Sunday night before the last debate, McCain's core group of advisers--Steve Schmidt, Rick Davis, adman Fred Davis, strategist Greg Strimple, pollster Bill McInturff and strategy director Sarah Simmons -- met to decide whether or not to tell McCain that the race was effectively over, that he no longer had a chance to win. The consensus in the room was no, not yet, not while he still had "a pulse."

-- The Obama campaign's "New Media" experts created a computer program that would allow a "flusher"--the term for a volunteer who rounds up nonvoters on Election Day--to know exactly who had, and had not, voted in real time. They dubbed it Project Houdini, because of the way names disappear off the list instantly once people are identified as they wait in line at their local polling station.

-- Palin launched her attack on Obama's association with William Ayers, the former Weather Underground bomber, before the campaign had finalized a plan to raise the issue. McCain's advisers were working on a strategy that they hoped to unveil the following week, but McCain had not signed off on it, and top adviser Mark Salter was resisting.

-- McCain also was reluctant to use Obama's incendiary pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright as a campaign issue. He had set firm boundaries: no Jeremiah Wright; no attacking Michelle Obama; no attacking Obama for not serving in the military. McCain balked at an ad using images of children that suggested that Obama might not protect them from terrorism; Schmidt vetoed ads suggesting that Obama was soft on crime (no Willie Hortons); and before word even got to McCain, Schmidt and Salter scuttled a "celebrity" ad of Obama dancing with talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres (the sight of a black man dancing with a lesbian was deemed too provocative).

-- Obama was never inclined to choose Sen. Hillary Clinton as his running mate, not so much because she had been his sometime bitter rival on the campaign trail, but because of her husband. Still, as Hillary's name came up in veep discussions, and Obama's advisers gave all the reasons why she should be kept off the ticket, Obama would stop and ask, "Are we sure?" He needed to be convinced one more time that the Clintons would do more harm than good. McCain, on the other hand, was relieved to face Biden as the veep choice, and not Hillary Clinton, whom the McCain camp had truly feared.

-- McCain was dumbfounded when Congressman John Lewis, a civil-rights hero, issued a press release comparing McCain with former Alabama Gov. George Wallace, a segregationist infamous for stirring racial fears. McCain had devoted a chapter to Lewis in one of his books, "Why Courage Matters" and had so admired Lewis that he had once taken his children to meet him.

-- The debates unnerved both candidates. When he was preparing for the Democratic primary debates, Obama was recorded saying, "I don't consider this to be a good format for me, which makes me more cautious. I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, 'You know, this is a stupid question, but let me ... answer it.' So when Brian Williams is asking me about what's a personal thing that you've done [that's green], and I say, you know, 'Well, I planted a bunch of trees.' And he says, 'I'm talking about personal.' What I'm thinking in my head is, 'Well, the truth is, Brian, we can't solve global warming because I f---ing changed light bulbs in my house. It's because of something collective'."[Laffy Note: Paddy posted this part here]

The Newsweek report also includes news about a cyber attack from an "unknown entity" that hit the presidential campaigns' computers in the summer, prompting an FBI investigation.

You can read a summary of their report here, and the first chapter of their book here.

H/t: SharonAustinTX

From the Dep't. of Desperation: Republican Congressman tries to prove Bill Ayers wrote Obama memoir

By GottaLaff

This is $10,000 worth of pathetic:

Nutball Congressman Chris Cannon (R-UT) tried to hire an Oxford don to use his special computer program to prove that Obama's memoir was actually written by Bill Ayers. The program "can detect when works are by the same author by comparing favourite words and phrases." Apparently, he got cold feet after the he learned that the Oxford academic, Dr Peter Millican, would release the results publicly no matter what they showed.

Yes, it cost Cannon $10,000. More:

Robert Fox, a California businessman and brother-in-law of Chris Cannon] contacted Millican, who said : “The $10,000 was a standard fee for 25 hours’ work. He sent me electronic versions of the text from both books.”

Millican took a preliminary look and found the charges “laughably unsubstantiated”. A deal was agreed for more detailed research but when Millican said the results had to be made public, even if no link to Ayers was proved, interest waned.

Millican said: “I thought it was extremely unlikely that we would get a positive result. It is the sort of thing where people make claims after seeing a few crude similarities and go overboard on them.”

He said Fox told him that Cannon had got “cold feet about it being seen to be funded by the Republicans”.

This is who Utah elected to represent them. I'm sure they'll be thrilled by his priorities, not to mention his sense of ethics.

Three more days.

VIDEO: So, IWRC* Palin, abortion clinic bombers aren't terrorists?

By GottaLaff



Via Oxdown Gazette:

She could have just said yes. Instead Sarah Palin decided to talk about Bill Ayers. Brian William's even gave her a second chance to answer the question.

Notice in both answers, her wording is VERY specific. She talks about "innocent Americans." But from everything I've read about Palin's religious beliefs and her views on abortion, I doubt she thinks doctors who preform abortions are "innocent." Furthermore I doubt she views abortion clinics as "innocent."

It was a simple question and deserved a simple answer.

It's a-okay to bomb your neighbors if you disagree with them.... as long as you're not a Democrat.

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

Maine Republican party leader asks Collins to resign for challenging robocalls

By GottaLaff

It's simple: If you disapprove of Gramm-pa McCain's smear campaign, then you should resign:

Earlier today, the Maine Democratic Party called on U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Bangor) to call on Republican Presidential candidate John McCain to halt robocalls that tie Democratic candidate Barack Obama to 60’s radical activist Bill Ayers. Collins agreed.

“They don’t serve John McCain well,” Collins said in a follow-up interview. “This kind of campaign call does not reflect the kind of leader that he is.”

She said she disapproves of the negativity being used in both presidential campaigns.

In response, the party countered. Spokeswoman Rebecca Pollard issued a statement saying that if Collins is truly concerned about the calls, then she should resign from her position as co-chair of McCain’s campaign in the state.

What a mess.

H/t: Palin's No Hillary

VIDEO: Chris Matthews v. Michele Bachmann

By GottaLaff

Bachman seems unable to articulate a coherent thought beyond "Obama's leftist, liberal, anti-American mentors." She even claims that Rezko is a "leftist, liberal, anti-American." Matthews points out that Rezko is a businessman, not a liberal. Bachman didn't seem to understand the difference.

Wow. Even Tweety was a little freaked out by this whack job.

Ayer, Ayers and More Ayers

In the words of the Pretzledent, Bring. It. On.

McCain's ad buys are still heaviliy about Bill Ayers, even as the candidate seems to de-emphasize an issue that hasn't seemed to drive up Obama's negatives the way Republicans had hoped.

And Halperin reports that McCain is promising to take Obama up on his challenge to attack him on it to his face in tomorrow's debate.

Gramm-pa McCain: "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn"

By GottaLaff

"Very frankly, Dana, I don't give a damn about an old unrepentant terrorist."
-- Sen. John McCain, in an interview with Dana Base [sic] on CNN, obviously getting tired of talking about Barack Obama and 1960s radical William Ayers.

1. If he doesn't give a damn, then why has he been running a smear campaign with Ayers as the centerpiece?
2. He's "tired" of talking about something that he doesn't give a damn about? How can he be tired of something he clearly relishes? Oxymoronic. Emphasis clearly on the moronic.
3. If Grammps is tired of all that talk, imagine how Obama feels. What a sweet, thoughtful, compassionate, caring candidate Gramm-pa has turned out to be, my friends.
   
4. Old? Did Gramm-pa just refer to Ayers as "old"?
5. There are apparently a lot of voters who don't give a damn about an old, unrepentant candidate.
   

Lead federal prosecutor of the Weathermen writes a letter

By GottaLaff

In full, in case you missed it:

To the Editor:

Re “Politics of Attack” (editorial, Oct. 8) and “Obama and ’60s Bomber: A Look Into Crossed Paths” (front page, Oct. 4):

As the lead federal prosecutor of the Weathermen in the 1970s (I was then chief of the criminal division in the Eastern District of Michigan and took over the Weathermen prosecution in 1972), I am amazed and outraged that Senator Barack Obama is being linked to William Ayers’s terrorist activities 40 years ago when Mr. Obama was, as he has noted, just a child.

Although I dearly wanted to obtain convictions against all the Weathermen, including Bill Ayers, I am very pleased to learn that he has become a responsible citizen.

Because Senator Obama recently served on a board of a charitable organization with Mr. Ayers cannot possibly link the senator to acts perpetrated by Mr. Ayers so many years ago.

I do take issue with the statement in your news article that the Weathermen indictment was dismissed because of “prosecutorial misconduct.” It was dismissed because of illegal activities, including wiretaps, break-ins and mail interceptions, initiated by John N. Mitchell, attorney general at that time, and W. Mark Felt, an F.B.I. assistant director.

William C. Ibershof

Mill Valley, Calif., Oct. 8, 2008

Dear Mr. Ibershof,

Thank you for reminding us about illegal wiretaps, and for setting the record straight.

Love, Laffy

McCain Campaign Now Attacks Michelle Obama Over Ayers

Pretty soon they're going to claim that Sasha and Malia smiled at the couple. This is low. More and audio at the link. I think I've finally tipped over into loathing of this man.

The McCain campaign is now broadening their attack on Obama's past association with William Ayers to include Michelle Obama -- even though McCain has repeatedly said spouses should be off limits during the campaign.

The attack? Bernardine Dohrn, Ayers' wife and fellow former Weatherman, went to work in 1984 for the major Chicago-based national law firm of Sidley & Austin, and three years later, Michelle joined the mega-firm as well.

That's the entire attack. We wish we were joking. But we aren't.

(snip)

The attack on Michelle came on a McCain conference call with reporters this afternoon featuring John Murtagh, who has been hitting Obama over the Weather Underground's attack on his family's home back in 1970. Murtagh noted that Dohrn and Michelle Obama had both worked at the firm starting in the late 1980s.

The firm's Chicago office currently employs more than 500 lawyers. Murtagh didn't even bother alleging that the two even knew each other, instead suggesting that they might have. If so, he said, the Obamas have known the two longer than suspected.

"If it is true" that the two women knew each other, Murtagh said, "the relationship is almost a decade older than Senator Obama has acknowledged. And that can very easily be resolved by Senator Obama, by Mrs. Obama, by Mr. Ayers and by Ms. Dohrn."

No Air for Gramm-pa McCain's Ayers

By GottaLaff

Ayerhead:

John McCain's campaign released an 'ad' this morning linking Barack Obama to Bill Ayers Conservatives cheered! Yay -- McCain's getting tough! Nope. The ad, so far as media buying sources can tell, isn't running anywhere. Or if it is, they can't find it. Even the RNC ad mentioned below is airing in limited markets. Why? The McCain campaign worries that tough Ayers talk that's link to McCain will hurt them among certain demographic groups. So -- the campaign has yet to back up its talk with action.

I guess Gramm-pa finally took a little gander at the polls. But I have faith in him. I just know he'll find a way to use it somehow. That's just the kind of guy he is.

Imagine if the Obamas had hooked up with a violently anti-American group in league with the government of Iran.

By GottaLaff

Via Salon:

"My government is my worst enemy. I'm going to fight them with any means at hand."

This was former revolutionary terrorist Bill Ayers back in his old Weather Underground days, right? Imagine what Sarah Palin is going to do with this incendiary quote as she tears into Barack Obama this week.

Only one problem. The quote is from Joe Vogler, the raging anti-American who founded the Alaska Independence Party. Inconveniently for Palin, that's the very same secessionist party that her husband, Todd, belonged to for seven years and that she sent a shout-out to as Alaska governor earlier this year. ("Keep up the good work," Palin told AIP members. "And God bless you.")

What? IWRC* Palin is blessing Say It Ain't So Joe Vogler? A raging anti-American? Why, that's positively anti-American! It's a good thing he doesn't have ties to any of our enemies, because that would spell real trouble!

Vogler's greatest moment of glory was to be his 1993 appearance before the United Nations to denounce United States "tyranny" before the entire world and to demand Alaska's freedom. The Alaska secessionist had persuaded the government of Iran to sponsor his anti-American harangue.

That's right ... Iran. The Islamic dictatorship. The taker of American hostages. The rogue nation that McCain and Palin have excoriated Obama for suggesting we diplomatically engage. That Iran.

Doggone it, it's a good thing IWRC is white. Otherwise, she'd never hear the end of this, you betcha.

The Republican ticket is working hard this week to make Barack Obama's tenuous connection to graying, '60s revolutionary Bill Ayers a major campaign issue. But the Palins' connection to anti-American extremism is much more central to their political biographies.

Imagine the uproar if Michelle Obama was revealed to have joined a black nationalist party whose founder preached armed secession from the United States and who enlisted the government of Iran in his cause? The Obama campaign would probably not have survived such an explosive revelation. Particularly if Barack Obama himself was videotaped giving the anti-American secessionists his wholehearted support just months ago.

Where's the outrage, Sarah Palin has been asking this week, in her attacks on Obama's fuzzy ties to Ayers? The question is more appropriate when applied to her own disturbing associations.

Where's the good ol' corporate media on this one? Tom Brokaw should get right on it. He's got that awesome "fairness" thing going for him.

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

Republican Clears Obama On Ayers

By GottaLaff

Via JustForTheRecord over at DKos:

[T]his NPR piece speaks to the Republican funded cause that Obama and Ayers worked on together. And that:

"It was never a concern by any of us in the Chicago school reform movement that he had led a fugitive life years earlier," said former Illinois state Republican Rep. Diana Nelson, who worked with both Obama and Ayers over the years. "It's ridiculous. There is no reason at all to smear Barack Obama with this association. It's nonsensical, and it just makes me crazy. It's so silly."

Call me crazy, but I bet they don't take it back. Snerk. Story and audio here.

First, Obama began working with Ayers and others (Republicans, Independents, and Democrats) at the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. Well, what is the Anneberg Challenge? Who is Annenberg? Well according to NPR,

The Obama campaign says he first met Ayers in 1995, when Obama became chair of the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a $50 million fund that awarded grants to groups trying to implement new programs to improve inner city education in Chicago.

Walter Annenberg, a lifelong Republican and former ambassador who was appointed by Presidents Nixon and Reagan, funded an ambitious program to reform urban education in many cities in the mid 1990s. Ayers was an important member of the group that developed and wrote the grant proposal to the Annenberg Foundation.

A Republican community organizer? Say it ain't so, Walter!

Second, there were people of all political persuasions working on this effort with this "terrorist" Ayers and who saw him as acceptable and Obama was no closer than any of the others.

...no one on the board or on the Annenberg Challenge staff remembers Obama being any closer to Ayers than to any other member of the board. The Annenberg board also included several civic, business and education leaders, many of them Republicans...

But wait! There's more!

"I don't remember ever hearing anyone raise concerns or questions or concerns about [Ayers'] background," says Anne Hallett, who has worked closely with Ayers on the Annenberg Challenge grant and with Obama on education and other community and legislative matters. "And that included everybody I was engaged with," including prominent Republicans, and corporate and civic leaders in Chicago, Hallett adds.

Well shut my mouth and call me a terrorist supporter.

So not only was Obama working on a Republican funded initiative, but prominent Republicans were involved on the board with Ayers.[...]

Obama was new to Chicago. [...] However, Ayers had been there for years, building a reputation that was so mainstream that a life long Republican, who was a former Ambassador appointed by Nixon and Regan, allowed the release of $50 Million to let him, prominent Republicans, corporate, civic leaders, and a Harvard trained community organizer form a board to oversee the disbursement of these funds related to school reform.

Hey righties... Don'tcha just hate it when your premise to smear and destroy gets utterly obliterated? Gramm-pa McCain? IWRC* Palin? ::cricket, cricket::

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

H/t: I forgot again. Apologies.

VIDEO: CNN's truth squad refutes Palin's lies about Obama

By GottaLaff

CNN puts IWRC* Palin's lies to rest:


I repeat, it's pleasantly surprising to see these smears get demolished by the media, as well as by Obama, of course.

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

AP: IWRC* Palin's words carry racial tinge

By GottaLaff

IWRC* has a big mouth that spews hatred. That little attack on Obama about Ayers? It could backfire on Gramm-pa McCain:

“…her attack was unsubstantiated and carried a racially tinged subtext that John McCain himself may come to regret.”

“Palin’s words avoid repulsing voters with overt racism. But is there another subtext for creating the false image of a black presidential nominee ‘palling around’ with terrorists while assuring a predominantly white audience that he doesn’t see their America?”

“Whether intended or not by the McCain campaign, portraying Obama as ‘not like us’ is another potential appeal to racism. It suggests that the Hawaiian-born Christian is, at heart, un-American.”

“When the 2008 campaign is over McCain might regret appeals such as Palin’s perhaps more so if he wins.”

More here, but take a look at one more excerpt:

John McCain occasionally looks back on decisions with regret. He has apologized for opposing a holiday to honor Martin Luther King Jr. He has apologized for refusing to call for the removal of a Confederate flag from South Carolina's Capitol.

Which brings us right back to this.

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

H/t: Jack

Shallow Thoughts: Fighting Back edition

By GottaLaff

Despite the smears from IWRC* Palin, it is pleasantly surprising to see CNN and other media outlets (including the L.A. Times and the New York Times) refuting Barack Obama's so-called "relationship" with William Ayers.

Thank you for wading into today's Shallow Thoughts.

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

Finally: Obama camp raises Todd Palin's secessionist ties

By GottaLaff

Marc Ambinder:

In response to Gov. Sarah Palin's invocation of Barack Obama's "terrorist" "pal" William Ayers, Democrats have settled on a rhetorical response that inquires, innocently enough, whether Todd Palin's association with anti-American secessionists is fair game, especially in light of Palin's charge that Obama "is not a man who sees America as you and I do."

Todd Palin, a former member of the Alaska Independence Party, might well have seen America unlike his wife did -- that is, an America that one can secede from. He was comfortable belonging to and being associated with a political party whose founder seemed to delight in denouncing the principles that hold our union together. [...]

Conservative groups have spent more than ten million dollars on ads tying Obama to Ayers, and so far, Americans don't seem to give a heck. (This tells us what about how we're going to make that mortgage payment?)

Maybe Palin's willingness to go there changes all that.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Via TPM Election Central:

McCain apologists will argue that Sarah Palin was not a member of this group. But Obama wasn't a member of any Ayers anti-American group, either. And again, Palin repeatedly courted the AIP, and her husband was a member for years.

The main takeaway from today's Times story is that Obama's ties to Ayers are, if anything, less substantial than commonly alleged. So if the Ayers association means Obama "palled around" with "terrorists," as Palin put it today, surely Palin can be said to have "palled around" with a secessionist party whose founder openly professed hatred of America.

If Palin is going to directly question Obama's patriotism over his association Ayers, surely all these facts are now fair game and freshly relevant.

As Ambinder says in his piece, Obama wasn't influenced by Ayers, someone he barely knew, but IWRC* eats, drinks, and sleeps with Todd. He influences her daily, in ways that I don't even want to think about. I hope there's more where this came from, Team Obama.

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

SIDEBAR, UPDATE:

Gov. Sarah Palin's going to visit Omaha tomorrow night, the local paper reports.

Remember, Obama's campaign wants -- and thinks it can get -- the electoral vote that NE allocates.

UPDATE #2:

Gov. Sarah Palin's husband is planning to speak to an investigator looking into abuse-of-power allegations against the governor, Todd Palin's lawyer said Saturday. He previously refused to testify under subpoena in a separate probe. Attorney Thomas Van Flein said he asked the investigator, Anchorage attorney Timothy Petumenos, to reserve the third week of October to interview Todd Palin, but a date has not been set because he is waiting to hear back from Petumenos. [...]

The two investigators could interview Todd Palin together or Branchflower could use Petumenos' interview in his own investigation, Van Flein said, though Branchflower is scheduled to end his probe at least a week before the planned interview.

Obama team responds to IWRC* Palin's smears

By GottaLaff

Swift response to Swiftboat tactics:

The Obama campaign responded swiftly to Palin’s comments. “Governor Palin’s comments, while offensive, are not surprising, given the McCain campaign’s statement this morning that they would be launching Swiftboat-like attacks in hopes of deflecting attention from the nation’s economic ills.” Obama-Biden spokesman Hari Sevugan said in a statement released by Obama’s campaign. “In fact, the very newspaper story Governor Palin cited in hurling her shameless attack made clear that Senator Obama is not close to Bill Ayers, much less ‘pals,’ and that he has strongly condemned the despicable acts Ayers committed 40 years ago, when Obama was eight. 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,” Sevugan added.

Gramm-pa McCain and IWRC are dying to change the subject and redirect the limited attention span of the media to a simplistic war of words. The economy is too complicated and painful. This is easily understood and can be reduced to sub-human, sewer-level entertainment.

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

Obama controls the message, for now

By GottaLaff

Obama's campaign is zeroing in on health care:

After days of focusing on the financial crisis facing the country, Barack Obama gave a fresh speech for the first time in a week, trying to open up a new front against John McCain on the issue of health care. [...]

The new timing of the speech gives Obama a chance to dictate part of the narrative heading into the second presidential debate on Tuesday. And, it puts Obama on the attack at the very time that the McCain campaign says it is about to take a more aggressive tone.

Today, it was the McCain campaign on defense, via e-mail at least. In the campaign's third email response to Obama's speech today, Bounds alluded to Obama's ties to William Ayres, a former member of the radical group, The Weather Underground. Ayres, who is now a professor at the University of Illinois, served on a board with Obama and donated to his campaign.

"On a day when new reports have surfaced about Barack Obama's long association with a domestic terrorist, our Democratic opponent had the audacity to call John McCain's health care plan 'radical.' The American people know radical when they hear it, and John McCain is not the candidate in this election they should be concerned about," Bounds said.

Gramm-pa's kneejerk, cowardly response would be laughable if it weren't so reminiscent of outright Swiftboating.

IWRC* Palin says Obama 'palling around' with terrorists

By GottaLaff

Here's me getting livid. See the scary face, the steam shooting out of both ears? No, not Cartoon Guy above, over here! The one at the computer typing this with the red hair and face to match. Yeah, me.

Here's why:

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is accusing Democrat Barack Obama of "palling around with terrorists" for his association with a former 1960s radical.

Here's who she is referring to. And here is what IWRC* Palin, that paragon of honesty, is saying:

"[H]e's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country."

That is what the next month will look like. Smears, lies, and desperation.

Obama served on a charity board with Ayers in Chicago and has denounced his past activities.

From my earlier post:

What "radical" ideas did Obama and Bill Ayres come up with to foist on the Chicago school system?

What specific projects -- "radical" projects -- did Obama work on with Ayres? Is there evidence that they collaborated and schemed to ... do anything "radical" together? Ever?

Or just that they served on a board of a fairly well-respected liberal charity at the same time? And that left-leaning charities tend to give money to left-leaning organizations, a la ACORN?

Is the real story here that Obama once served on the board of a liberal education charity?

Fasten your seat belts.

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"