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Palling Around With Terrorists

Congressman John Lewis ridiculously compares the McCain campaign to George Wallace's 1968 campaign on a segregationist platform.

When you say ridiculous things, people stop listening to you. Even if you're a civil rights hero.

Obama's camp, through Bill Burton, wisely quick to distance himself from Lewis.

"Sen. Obama does not believe that John McCain or his policy criticism is in any way comparable to George Wallace or his segregationist policies.

But John Lewis was right to condemn some of the hateful rhetoric that John McCain himself personally rebuked just last night, as well as the baseless and profoundly irresponsible charges from his own running mate that the Democratic nominee for president of the United States ?pals around with terrorists.?

Two points:

1. The statement actually praises McCain in a weird way. McCain "personally rebuked" hateful rhetoric. So why was John Lewis right to condemn the McCain campaign? This hate is bottom-up, not top-down. McCain is rebuking it, remember.

2. The statement takes a weird shot at Palin's Ayers statements, which include the line that Obama was "palling around with terrorists."

Burton calls this line "baseless and irresponsible." I don't know if we can tell, for sure, whether or not it's irresponsible. But Burton is within his rights to say so.

But the phrase "palling around with terrorists," even if it's irresponsible, obviously isn't baseless. It has a pretty clear base, actually. The fact that Obama was, in fact, palling around with terrorists Bernadine Dohrn and Bill Ayers.

Why isn't that a really *good* base for the claim. We know Dohrn and Ayers are terrorists. So is the question really just whether Obama was palling around with them? That's hard to argue.

Obama began his political career at their house. He had professional relationships with Ayers on 2 charity boards (helping the poor and children).

There are plenty of other ties, if you believe this GOP page.

So I think it's obviously false that it's baseless to say Obama wasn't, at one point, palling around with terrorists. He maintained political and professional friendships with two unrepentant domestic terrorists. If McCain had his political career launched at Timothy McVeigh's house *after* the Oklahoma City bombing, certainly I'd say McCain was palling around with terrorists.

So, Bill Burton, remember: When you say ridiculous things, people stop listening to you.

Full post as published by Expressio Unius on October 12, 2008 (boomark / email).