{"id":320,"date":"2008-10-04T19:16:32","date_gmt":"2008-10-05T02:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2008\/10\/04\/obama-friend-of-terrorists-really-no-kidding\/"},"modified":"2008-10-05T17:08:29","modified_gmt":"2008-10-06T00:08:29","slug":"obama-friend-of-terrorists-really-no-kidding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2008\/10\/04\/obama-friend-of-terrorists-really-no-kidding\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama, friend of terrorists&#8230;  really, no kidding"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Continuing to demonstrate the inability to just give the news without editorializing, <a href=\"http:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/s\/nm\/20081004\/pl_nm\/us_usa_politics\">Yahoo news leads with this.<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin accused Democratic candidate Barack Obama on Saturday of &#8220;palling around with terrorists,&#8221; in the latest sign the campaign is turning increasingly nasty.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Just a question:  if Obama has actually &#8220;paled around with terrorists&#8221;, is it a sign the campaign is &#8220;turning increasingly nasty&#8221; to point that out?<\/p>\n<p>Not until the sixth paragraph do we get anything about the nature of Obama&#8217;s relationship to the terrorist Bill Ayers: (the earlier ones are all devoted to he said\/she said type reporting)<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Palin cited a New York Times story on Saturday that examined Obama&#8217;s relationship with Bill Ayers, a former member of the Vietnam-era militant Weather Underground organization who is now a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The Times concluded they were not close.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Ah, the NYTimes, that bastion of Olympian fairness, has decided Obama is not &#8220;close&#8221; to Ayers, a self-admitted terrorist and bomber.  Apparently, the NYTimes thinks you aren&#8217;t &#8220;close&#8221; to someone unless you share a toothbrush or something.<\/p>\n<p>Just a question, for the reader: do YOU even know someone who knows someone who knows a terrorist?<\/p>\n<p>I didn&#8217;t think so.\u00a0 Here&#8217;s paragraph NINE of the story:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Obama served with Ayers on the board of a foundation in Chicago, and has said he was only eight-years-old when the Weather Underground committed its best-known bombing. He has also noted that former President Bill Clinton pardoned two members of the group during the last days of his presidency.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Clinton also pardoned some <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CLrZKM6vS6Y\" target=\"_blank\">Puerto Rican terrorists<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldnetdaily.com\/news\/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=21595\" target=\"_blank\">Marc Rich<\/a>.  This is a recommendation?<\/p>\n<p>This is not simple &#8220;guilt by association&#8221;.  It isn&#8217;t like they both went to Denny&#8217;s at the same time and happened to be placed at adjacent tables.  Obama and Ayers served on boards together, were associates who worked together for &#8220;education initiatives&#8221; in Chicago, etc.  Obama chose to continue his association with Ayers, and the first campaign kickoff for Obama was at Ayers&#8217; house.<\/p>\n<p>In the following video, Obama wants us to believe that Clinton is worse for having pardoned Weather Underground terrorists than Obama is for having associated with Ayers, one of the terrorists who WASN&#8217;T pardoned, but <a href=\"http:\/\/www.moonbattery.com\/archives\/2008\/05\/obama_pal_bill.html\" target=\"_blank\">got off on a technicality<\/a> because the FBI botched the investigation.\u00a0 Ayers: &#8220;Guilty as sin and free as a bird.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube-video\"><object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\" codebase=\"http:\/\/download.macromedia.com\/pub\/shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\" \/><param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/CLrZKM6vS6Y\" \/><\/object><\/div>\n<p>Try to understand this.\u00a0 Even Obama admits knowing Ayers was a terrorist, an unrepentant one, and tries to pass off his relationship as &#8220;being on a board together&#8221;, and minimizes Ayers&#8217; evil behavior as &#8220;something that happened 40 years ago&#8221;, as if evil done 40 years ago and not repented for is less evil, and his association with the perpetrator less suspect.\u00a0 In fact, they worked closely on that board, and in other organizations, and Ayers was a prime supporter launching his political career.<\/p>\n<p>The &#8220;40 years ago&#8221; approach is masking something that is revealed by changing a couple of details, in a sort of thought experiment.\u00a0 What if Ayers had been a virulent racist, enthusiastic member of the KKK, burning crosses on lawns of black people, beating them when possible, encouraging lynchings, and the like?\u00a0 What if he was now unrepentant about it, and said, &#8220;We didn&#8217;t do enough.&#8221;?\u00a0 Would Obama pass it off as &#8220;something that happened 40 years ago&#8221; and essentially ignore it?<\/p>\n<p>You know the answer, and so do I.\u00a0 The only reason the &#8220;40 year ago&#8221; excuse works in his mind is because <strong>he doesn&#8217;t think having been a terrorist bomber and killer of police is all that bad<\/strong>.\u00a0 So since it happened way back there somewhere, we can just sort of ignore it.<\/p>\n<p>Except that we can&#8217;t.\u00a0 And if you can&#8230;.\u00a0 well, I have some words for your judgment that I can&#8217;t really commit to print right now.<\/p>\n<p>As for the quality of reporting in the article referenced above, it&#8217;s just more evidence that the media is morally blind, dumb and deaf, and totally in the tank for Obama.\u00a0 Imagine if McCain had that racist friend just suggested in the &#8220;thought experiment&#8221; above.\u00a0 Would the NYTimes conclude &#8220;they weren&#8217;t that close&#8221;?<\/p>\n<p>Hah.<\/p>\n<p>UPDATE:\u00a0 To no one&#8217;s particular surprise, Stanley Kurz has done an excellent job covering this entire matter, and gives his analysis of the NYTimes &#8220;reporting&#8221; <a href=\"http:\/\/corner.nationalreview.com\/post\/?q=ZWI0MjY3NzMyODgxZGM2ZjUwNTE1MmEzOGRiZmFkNWE=\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>UPDATE:\u00a0 In the meantime, Tom Brokaw wants us to believe that unrepentant terrorist Ayers, who recently said, &#8220;We didn&#8217;t do enough,&#8221; is really <a href=\"http:\/\/hughhewitt.townhall.com\/blog\/g\/d4ab762c-a057-41b9-888d-a4c1b7c0f45f\" target=\"_blank\">just a &#8220;school reformer&#8221;<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 Maybe Brokaw means that Ayers should be in &#8220;reform school for terrorists&#8221;, but somehow I doubt it.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Share this:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-320\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2008\/10\/04\/obama-friend-of-terrorists-really-no-kidding\/?share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-twitter-320\" class=\"share-twitter sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2008\/10\/04\/obama-friend-of-terrorists-really-no-kidding\/?share=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Twitter\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-linkedin\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-linkedin-320\" class=\"share-linkedin sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2008\/10\/04\/obama-friend-of-terrorists-really-no-kidding\/?share=linkedin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on LinkedIn\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-reddit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-reddit sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2008\/10\/04\/obama-friend-of-terrorists-really-no-kidding\/?share=reddit\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Reddit\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-print\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-print sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2008\/10\/04\/obama-friend-of-terrorists-really-no-kidding\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to print\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to print (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Continuing to demonstrate the inability to just give the news without editorializing, Yahoo news leads with this. Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin accused Democratic candidate Barack Obama on Saturday of &#8220;palling around with terrorists,&#8221; in the latest sign the campaign is turning increasingly nasty. Just a question: if Obama has actually &#8220;paled around with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Share this:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-320\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2008\/10\/04\/obama-friend-of-terrorists-really-no-kidding\/?share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-twitter-320\" class=\"share-twitter sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2008\/10\/04\/obama-friend-of-terrorists-really-no-kidding\/?share=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Twitter\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-linkedin\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-linkedin-320\" class=\"share-linkedin sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2008\/10\/04\/obama-friend-of-terrorists-really-no-kidding\/?share=linkedin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on LinkedIn\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-reddit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-reddit sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2008\/10\/04\/obama-friend-of-terrorists-really-no-kidding\/?share=reddit\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Reddit\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-print\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-print sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/2008\/10\/04\/obama-friend-of-terrorists-really-no-kidding\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to print\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to print (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[65,51,6,11,8,171,9],"tags":[195,308,196],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2fhbS-5a","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.harmonicminer.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}