Palin says Obama pals with terrorists

Sully

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

With the Republicans trailing in the polls a month before the Presidential election, Ms Palin said the time had come to take the gloves off.

Speaking yesterday at a fundraiser in Colorado, Ms Palin told supporters Senator Obama 'is someone who sees America it seems as being so imperfect that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country.'
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Her comment referred to William Ayers, who supported Barack Obama's first run for public office in 1995.

The relationship between Senator Obama and William Ayers, a member of the radical 1960s group the Weathermen that committed bombings on the Pentagon and the Capitol, was highlighted in the New York Times yesterday.

Governor Palin's sharp jab is in step with recent Republican campaign statements that the McCain camp plans to launch a fierce assault on Barack Obama with the presidential election only 30 days away.

The Obama campaign described the attack as 'desperate and false.'

'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,' said Obama-Biden spokesman Hari Sevugan.

'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,' he said.

Source: RTE

Sad state of affairs to see that she cant (or the republicans in general) debate proper politics without throwing digs at the other party to gain points.

Dave!

It's no coincidence that his middle name is Hussein........

metrovelvet

Well... my last name is Irish but that doesn't make me a member of the IRA...but it does indicate Irish descent.

Begs the question why Obama fashions himself as black rather than publically fashioning himself as Arab.

BenjAii

metrovelvet wrote: »

Well... my last name is Irish but that doesn't make me a member of the IRA...but it does indicate Irish descent.

Begs the question why Obama fashions himself as black rather than publically fashioning himself as Arab.

Why would it beg the question, he is black and he isn't an Arab. His mother was American of European descent and his father was African.

The pals with terrorist thing smacks of desperation, I doubt many people will fall for it, but we can expect more in a similar vein questioning his patriotism, etc, etc.

Pocono Joe

Has anyone here read the Annenberg Papers?

Black Swan

Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, 4 August 1961, and this is old news from last February 2008 primaries (from FactChecker):

"Obama spokesman Bill Burton noted in a statement that Ayers was a professor of education at the University of Illinois and a former aide to Mayor Richard M. Daley, and continued:

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."

What does this misinformation spin say about how Sarah Palin may act as VP if elected? Does it remind you of the current Vice President Dick Chaney just before the post-9/11 Iraq War was launched? Weapons of mass destruction that didn't exist, or the claim that Saddam had links to bin Laden, when there were none?

Overheal

Wow this thread isnt cyclical at all at all at all at all :rolleyes:

The McCampaign did 2 smart things here: 1) revived the Senator Osama issue - one which too many americans are oblivious to, and will lap up most of what they are told on the subject. 2) Used Sarah Puppet to make the accusation - it makes her look less moronic.

Pocono Joe

Just to add a bit of information missing from BL's post above... is that Ayers is still unrepentant about his terrorist actions in the 60‘s, and wishes he had done more, and Obama still chose to be partner with him on several occasions. Just one example of bad choices of judgment on the part of Obama in my opinion.

reganovich

What a stupid thing to say...hope it doesnt get taken seriously by any voters in the states

dr.bollocko

That's a fair ridiculous point. Particularly if you think that this Palin Moron is doing anything other than practicing gutter politics for the sake of scarin' up the south by getting the word "Obama" in a headline near the word "terrorist."
Flimsy, piss poor nonsense done in terrible taste from an absolute moron who is single-handedly setting back feminism in america by 20 years.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

yeah, rising up against government is so un-american.

28064212

Pocono Joe wrote: »

Ayers is still unrepentant about his terrorist actions in the 60‘s, and wishes he had done more, and Obama still chose to be partner with him on several occasions

Partner with him? On what? The only actual connection they have is that they both served on the board of the Woods Fund of Chicago, "a grantmaking foundation whose goal is to increase opportunities for less advantaged people and communities in the metropolitan area". Where's the several occasions?

Black Swan

Pocono Joe wrote: »

Just to add a bit of information missing from BL's post above... is that Ayers is still unrepentant about his terrorist actions in the 60‘s,

Yes, and Pocono Joe and Sarah Palin are conveniently leaving out the entire Vietnam Era Protest movement, a movement which seems bloody well justified reviewing the history of events. It is so convenient to overlook the fact that the US was supporting a corrupt dictator general in South Vietnam. Oh what a proud moment in your US history! Ever hear of carpet bombing, Agent Orange, or the Mi Lai Massacre? How many innocent women and children were killed or handicapped, and to what purpose? The US was saving the world from communism? And guess what, it got kicked out of Viet Nam, and today they are trading partners with the Hanoi communist government, not to mention the US's greatest trading partner, the communist People's Republic of China. What a sad, ironic course of events!

BenjAii

Pocono Joe wrote: »

Just to add a bit of information missing from BL's post above... is that Ayers is still unrepentant about his terrorist actions in the 60‘s, and wishes he had done more, and Obama still chose to be partner with him on several occasions. Just one example of bad choices of judgment on the part of Obama in my opinion.

Barack Obama on the other hand is on the record for repeatedly denouncing the violent actions of The Weatherman.

So Joe is this the best case you can make for right-wing policies, is to resort to the empty ploy of insinuating Obama is a terrorist by association ?

It says a lot for the hollowness and bankruptcy of the right wing in the US at the moment that they feel this is all they can do to win an election.

FrostyJack

Ever hear of carpet bombing, Agent Orange, or the Mi Lai Massacre? How many innocent women and children were killed or handicapped, and to what purpose? The US was saving the world from communism? And guess what, it got kicked out of Viet Nam, and today they are trading partners with the Hanoi communist government, not to mention the US's greatest trading partner, the communist People's Republic of China. What a sad, ironic course of events!

That's a slightly oversimplified version of events. America were not kicked out of Vietnam. They were winning the war militarily and if it had of been an all out war rather than a proxy one it would have been rather easy. It's easy to sit on the arm chair and revise history now. Oh what fools they were etc etc

Partner with him? On what? The only actual connection they have is that they both served on the board of the Woods Fund of Chicago, "a grantmaking foundation whose goal is to increase opportunities for less advantaged people and communities in the metropolitan area". Where's the several occasions?

+1

The Raven.

Pocono Joe wrote: »

Has anyone here read the Annenberg Papers?

Joe, I doubt very much if Annenberg Papers are available on line, unless you know otherwise. If you have a link I would love to read them. From what I have read, it would appear that they have not been available to the public until recently.

Pocono Joe

Where's the several occasions?

Personally I would rather have people ignore me than ask for additional sources (as if one was not enough in this case) if they really have no real intention of wanting additional information. I think it would be rather simple to google “Obama Ayers Connection,” but hey, what do I know! But rather than again be accused of ignoring questions posed at me, regardless of how borish or contrite, here goes: In 1995, State Senator Alice Palmer introduced her chosen successor, Barack Obama to a politically Chicago influential William Ayers and others at Ayers’ house. Obama and Ayers were to be on a University of Chicago panel organized by Michelle Obama, then an associate dean. Also, Obama and Ayers were scheduled to be on a UIC panel with this lampoon-able title: "Intellectuals in Times of Crisis."

So Joe is this the best case you can make for right-wing policies, is to resort to the empty ploy of insinuating Obama is a terrorist by association ?

Odd, I thought the role of misrepresenting my comments belonged to someone else, or has it become a tag-team effort? My point after the Ayers comment had to do with Obama’s judgment, not insinuating Obama is a terrorist. I will bold my comment this time, maybe it will be easier to comprehend. “Just one example of bad choices of judgment on the part of Obama in my opinion.”

If you have a link I would love to read them. From what I have read, it would appear that they have not been available to the public until recently.

I have only seen snipets of the Annenberg papers. I will try to link what I can in the near future.

Overheal

I can give you over 90% of John McCains judgements that turned out to be poor...

Denis Irwin

Smack of desperation from the Republicans TBH with Obama now appearing to be gaining momentum in several of the key swing states including Ohio.

Pocono Joe

Overheal wrote: »

I can give you over 90% of John McCains judgements that turned out to be poor...

With over 20 years in the Senate, showing a 90% bad judgement rate might be tough, but please knock yourself out and do show me.

is_that_so

A little reminder of where this type of stuff comes from and where it can lead. Karl Atwater was the master. Karl Rove, an Atwater protégé sank McCain in 2000.

If you want to understand why US presidential politics can be such a dirty business, and how John McCain could yet turn around a White House race in which he is now the clear underdog, I have a suggestion. Go and see a documentary that opened here last weekend, called Boogie Man: the Lee Atwater Story.

It's the best part of 20 years now since Atwater died of a brain tumour at the age of 40. But during his few years as a top White House political operative, for Ronald Reagan and the first George Bush, he was the monster that haunted Democrats' dreams, the mastermind of campaigns in which no blow was too low, no rumour too scurrilous, if it helped you win.
...

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/rupert-cornwell/rupert-cornwell-democrats-should-fear-the-boogie-man-951827.html

The Raven.

28064212 wrote: »

The only actual connection they have is that they both served on the board of the Woods Fund of Chicago, "a grantmaking foundation whose goal is to increase opportunities for less advantaged people and communities in the metropolitan area".

I think there’s a bit more to it than that:

Despite having authored two autobiographies, Barack Obama has never written about his most important executive experience. From 1995 to 1999, he led an education foundation called the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC), and remained on the board until 2001. The group poured more than $100 million into the hands of community organizers and radical education activists.

The CAC was the brainchild of Bill Ayers, a founder of the Weather Underground in the 1960s. Among other feats, Mr. Ayers and his cohorts bombed the Pentagon, and he has never expressed regret for his actions. Barack Obama's first run for the Illinois State Senate was launched at a 1995 gathering at Mr. Ayers's home.

The Obama campaign has struggled to downplay that association. Last April, Sen. Obama dismissed Mr. Ayers as just "a guy who lives in my neighborhood," and "not somebody who I exchange ideas with on a regular basis." Yet documents in the CAC archives make clear that Mr. Ayers and Mr. Obama were partners in the CAC. Those archives are housed in the Richard J. Daley Library at the University of Illinois at Chicago…

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122212856075765367.html

There are other websites relating to this, but unfortunately it seems that the actual documents are being kept hidden from the general public.

CtrlSource

Pocono Joe wrote: »

Has anyone here read the Annenberg Papers?

No. From my brief scoot around the blogs there though, it seems that they're probably just going to contain a little fodder for the Right Wing talk radio people to fill, oh i don't know, a couple of hours of airtime?

Pocono Joe wrote: »

... Ayers is still unrepentant about his terrorist actions in the 60‘s, and wishes he had done more, and Obama still chose to be partner with him on several occasions. Just one example of bad choices of judgment on the part of Obama in my opinion.

You know, it's a bit like linking George Bush with Gerry Adams. Adams is a former IRA terrorist and while he regrets the loss of life on both sides of the war, he has never condemned the IRA campaign which killed several thousand innocent people in Ireland and England over a 30 year period. Yet, Dubya somehow found it in his heart to meet with Adams et al on several occasions and even - shock horror - shake his hand! :eek:

Does this make your president a poor judge of charac... er, my bad! Silly question i guess

turgon

A hockey mom has discovered a terrorist plot.

Is it me or is there something inherently contradictory about that statement.

Kazaap

I don't see why this is considered any worse than some of Obamas attacks. Obama brought up the fact that McCain couldnt remember how many houses he owned I don't know how many times. This was completely irrelevant to the campaign as a whole, especially considering that Obama is a millionaire himself. All Palins attack does is bring attention to a person - who is probably reviled by large parts of the American population - Obama is, or this case was previously,willing to associate himself with. "...since an initial lunchtime meeting in 1995, "their paths have crossed sporadically...at a coffee Mr. Ayers hosted for Mr. Obama’s first run for office, on the schools project (i.e. the Chicago Annenberg Challenge) and a charitable board, and in casual encounters as Hyde Park neighbors."" Obama is a very intelligent man, and both men were university lecturers in Chicargo,so the notion that Obama didn't know about Ayers history would be laughable,and yet he was willing to let him host a fundraiser for him. I also think the kind of people you are/were willing to associate yourself with is more relevant than how many homes or cars you own, altough not by much.

I don't think Obama actually shares the views of Mr. Ayers, but then I don't think Palin actually claimed that. What I certainly would believe is that Obama would be an awful more sympathic to Ayers beliefs(violent protest aside) then he would ever be willing to acknowladge in public, because he knows full well how unpopular they are. And this I think is an interesting point which Rudy Giuliani(I think?) made in his speech at the Republican convention. It was that Republicans are not ashamed to say that they are conservatives(you will never hear a speech without it being mentioned), but that Democrats will not describe themselves as liberals(at least not on a national stage). And I believe this is another example of this. Obama will probably denounce Ayers just like he did with the Rev. Wright, because whether or not he himself believes that these people are 'terrorists' or 'unpatriotic' or 'evil',he knows that to be seen with them is poltically damaging for him.

Overheal

Pocono Joe wrote: »

With over 20 years in the Senate, showing a 90% bad judgement rate might be tough, but please knock yourself out and do show me.

I'll rephrase: voting with Bush 90% of the time shows a lot less judgment than this single argument against obama. Kind of like complaining about a broken tail light when a head on collision just totaled your engine.

Oshare Bones

Well doggone it, gosh darn.. barack obama is linked with a terrorist.. *Winks*

.. Stupid bint

old boy

me thinks if she appears on playboy the result would be a foregone conclusion

The Raven.

CtrlSource wrote: »

No. From my brief scoot around the blogs there though, it seems that they're probably just going to contain a little fodder for the Right Wing talk radio people to fill, oh i don't know, a couple of hours of airtime?

I knew that websites with references to the Annenberg/Ayers connection would be labelled here as right wing propaganda. However, you are not going to find much on the subject on left wing sites due to the obvious cover up. I don’t think it would be wise to dismiss this issue so easily. It is important to establish the facts and get to the root of the matter, rather than ignoring it. Here’s another interesting article:

http://www.ibdeditorial.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=304729375940845

Lirange

Oshare Bones wrote: »

Well doggone it, gosh darn.. barack obama is linked with a terrorist.. *Winks*

.. Stupid bint

Yah.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF3z-j8o39I

Craft25

Obama's response in the upcoming debate:

"The american people asked last week, what concrete plans have the candidates got to deal with the economic crisis - John McCains response; lets turn the page on this debate. ie.change the subject please.
- My response.. we need to do AB&C, tighten our belts and together we will come out the other side of this."

Game over, end of election! By ignoring the american people and bringing up an old non-issue that Obama has already survived in the primaries against Hilary, McCain is taking the biggest risk of the campaign. All Obama has to do is sit back and look presidential while his democratic allies dig up McCains past, such as the Keating affair (which is new to todays electorate!!), McCains best hope is to pray for some serious stability and good news on the economic front, and then to engage in some serious shenanigans at the polling booths a la 2000.

metrovelvet

This opinion peace by Jean Kennedy Smith doesn't help his case.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2008/1006/1222959409718.html

The Raven.

Craft25 wrote: »

All Obama has to do is sit back and look presidential while his democratic allies dig up McCains past, such as the Keating affair (which is new to todays electorate!!)...

Well he was pretty well exonorated on the Keating issue and was also re-elected shortly afterwards, so it’s unlikely to have much effect now.

norbert64

here's Bills take on the Ayers issue.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-az8NAs4ig

Craft25

The Raven. wrote: »

Well he was pretty well exonorated on the Keating issue and was also re-elected shortly afterwards, so it’s unlikely to have much effect now.

worst mistake of his career i believe he called it, says alot for his judgement - it will have an effect as it will be new news to most people.. unlike the ayers stuff

Mitch Connor

For someone with such close ties to people who don't even want Alaska to be part of America, she should keep her mouth shut on the associates of others.

She appeared an an AIP convention, telling them to keep up the good work, and her husband was a member of the party for 7 years. She has shown support for a group that want a state, her state, to be no longer part of the USA - what business does she have being one of the leaders of America?

Trojan

This woman is dangerous. Now inciting racism and violence against reporters.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/06/AR2008100602935.html

Trojan

Olberman on Palin's accusation.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/27057346#27057346

BlitzKrieg

Trojan wrote: »

Olberman on Palin's accusation.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/27057346#27057346

wow he absolutely burned her in that piece.

Trojan

The real problem I have here with smear campaigns is that they are REALLY effective. See the Swift Boat campaign last election. The Democrats took the high moral ground and didn't respond to that. What happened? Bush had a 9 point turn around and Kerry's campaign tanked.

Fsck the high moral ground - I hope Obama's campaign are a lot more savvy than Kerry's.

metrovelvet

Trojan wrote: »

The real problem I have here with smear campaigns is that they are REALLY effective. See the Swift Boat campaign last election. The Democrats took the high moral ground and didn't respond to that. What happened? Bush had a 9 point turn around and Kerry's campaign tanked.

Fsck the high moral ground - I hope Obama's campaign are a lot more savvy than Kerry's.

Ha ha. Don't bet on it, not with Michelle Obama around publically bitch slapping her husband.

"I have some difficulty reconciling the two images I have of Barack Obama. There's Barack Obama the phenomenon. He's an amazing orator, Harvard Law Review, or whatever it was, law professor, best-selling author, Grammy winner. Pretty amazing, right? And then there's the Barack Obama that lives with me in my house, and that guy's a little less impressive," she told a fundraiser in February 2007.

"For some reason this guy still can't manage to put the butter up when he makes toast, secure the bread so that it doesn't get stale, and his five-year-old is still better at making the bed than he is." New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd reported at the time, "She added that the TV version of Barack Obama sounded really interesting and that she'd like to meet him sometime."

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/JB26Aa01.html

Not with his VP pic saying he should have picked Hillary.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/09/biden-hillary-a.html

lostexpectation

ah just silly rumours....

GuanYin

metrovelvet wrote:

Ha ha. Don't bet on it, not with Michelle Obama around publically bitch slapping her husband.

How ridiculous to perceive that as negativity. That is simply a "Barak is a normal guy just like your husband" soundbyte.

If they didn't have quotes like that he'd be called out for being out of touch with common life.

metrovelvet

GuanYin wrote: »

How ridiculous to perceive that as negativity. That is simply a "Barak is a normal guy just like your husband" soundbyte.

You mean "my husband is as incompetant as yours."

kaiser sauze

metrovelvet wrote: »

You mean "my husband is as incompetant as yours."

Yeah, what are you trying to stir?

Nobody's perfect, that includes Michelle and Barack; Cindy and John.

GuanYin

metrovelvet wrote: »

You mean "my husband is as incompetant as yours."

Yes of course, because McCain makes his own bed, cleans the kitchen afterhim and is the model husband.

Just ask Carol McCain nee Shepp what a great husband he was. I believe he was having extramarital affairs while she was crippled after a car accident.

He attributed his infidelity to selfishness and immaturity, he later used these traits as an excuse for the Keating affair.

Of course, none of these things really make a difference to whether anyone should vote for them, I just wanted to highlight how idiotic your comments are.

metrovelvet

He was in the military, of course he knows how to make his own bed.

The point of the quotation was that no one really knows who Obama is, not even his own wife. I'm not sure that my comments are as idiotic as your reading of them is.

GuanYin

metrovelvet wrote: »

He was in the military, of course he knows how to make his own bed.

Ok, fair enough.

But you admit he's been a bad husband. And if he can't be trusted to stay true to his wife when things are bad, how can we trust him when things in our country are bad.

In fact, if we're going to go down the road of political sniping and dirty tricks that YOU seem to want to turn this board into, lets play your game. John McCain has already betrayed our country to our enemies by talking under torture in the POW camp. Sure, it didn't have any consequences, but he swore and oath to defend our country, and he broke that oath when he gave the enemy military information. Sure he was tortured, but he still broke his oath when times were bad.

When his marriage hit trouble, he broke the oath of marriage, when he was in trouble in the war he broke his oath.

McCain has a history of betraying his country his wife and breaking oaths to both.

Right? You agree because if you didn't you'd be exposed as having an incredibly hypocritical position and a horrible case of double standards.

Cos I mean, thats what you were saying when you put literal non-contextual weight to Michelle Obama's comments so you must feel the same about McCain, right?

Now I think this is where we draw the line under this kind of nonsense. I don't want to see anymore of this kind of tabloid crap on these boards metrovelvet.

metrovelvet wrote:

The point of the quotation was that no one really knows who Obama is, not even his own wife. I'm not sure that my comments are as idiotic as your reading of them is.

Then say it intelligently and clearly instead of leaving vague inflammatory crap on these boards.

metrovelvet

I would like to reply to this but it would be off topic. Can you suggest where we can continue this? Because it has strayed from the point being that the Obama camp will do there own sabatoage to their own campaign. You have brought the discussion to two different places: one being about who can honor contracts and the other one being about bringing tabloid to the boards, where in fact Michelle's quote was taken from the NY Times. [I don''t believe there is a list of media that boards prohibits from posters referencing.}

And who are you to decide what is said intelligently when there is so much idiocy posted on this board. I guess it's only the idiocy you agree with that is ok with you.

GuanYin

metrovelvet wrote: »

I would like to reply to this but it would be off topic. Can you suggest where we can continue this? Because it has strayed from the point being that the Obama camp will do there own sabatoage to their own campaign. You have brought the discussion to two different places: one being about who can honor contracts and the other one being about bringing tabloid to the boards, where in fact Michelle's quote was taken from the NY Times. [I don''t believe there is a list of media that boards prohibits from posters referencing.}

No, I'm telling you that twisting an innocuous interview into something negative is readily equatable to the spurious conclusions I drew on McCain above. It doesn't need to be discussed, its an axiom.

And who are you to decide what is said intelligently when there is so much idiocy posted on this board. I guess it's only the idiocy you agree with that is ok with you.

I'm the mod of the forum, it's part of the job so that kinda gives me the first call.

There is great idiocy, just today we closed a ridiculous thread on Palin's son and now I'm telling you to quit the idiocy on pulling a stupid conclusion from a fairly obvious soundbyte.

Honestly, I'm an undecided and was looking at McCain before the Palin event but it's posts like yours that will push me all the way over to the Obama ticket

Manic Moran

Acorn's Las Vegas chapter has been raided on allegations of voter registration fraud. They're a 'get people out to vote' organisation which supports Obama, and he worked with the Chicago chapter for a while.

Bear in mind that as far as I know, Obama is not affiliated with this particular chapter, and has nothing to do with its activities, such tenuous links have been brought up against the Republican side so I figure fair's fair.

Besides, there's always that one person or two who'll claim the Republicans will rely on dirty tricks. Anyone who thinks that either side has no supporters willing to take liberties is deluding themselves.

Secretary of State Ross Miller said the fraudulent registrations included forms for the starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys football team.

"Tony Romo is not registered to vote in the state of Nevada, and anybody trying to pose as Terrell Owens won't be able to cast a ballot on Nov. 4," Miller said.

NTM