Tha maverick doesn't care about Ayers

[Rigs11]

GOP launches calls attacking Obama on Ayers, national security

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Republicans launched an enormous wave of phone calls Thursday blasting Sen. Barack Obama for "having worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers," party sources said.


The calls are part of a $70 million last Republican push to get out the vote for GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain on November 4, using calls, mailings and door-knocking in battleground states.

"Hundreds of thousands" of calls are being made in at least six hard-fought states including Virginia, North Carolina and Ohio, the sources said.

Some are recorded "robocalls," while others are live to comply with relevant state laws. The calls are being paid for jointly by the Republican Party and the McCain campaign, according to a script provided by the Republican Party.

The "robocalls" criticize Obama on national security, his opposition to an Illinois measure that called for doctors to provide medical care to babies who survive botched abortions, his connection with former '60s radical William Ayers and his response to the financial crisis.

An Obama spokesman said the calls were "dishonorable, dishonest" and a desperate move.

"John McCain's campaign has admitted that the economy is a losing issue for them, so he's chosen to launch dishonorable and dishonest attacks like this," Obama national spokesman Bill Burton said.

he calls come a day after McCain and Obama accused each other of running negative campaigns.

Republicans have been hammering Obama for weeks for his association with Ayers, a key figure in the Weather Underground of the Vietnam War era. The radical group took credit for a number of bombings, including that of the Pentagon.

A case against Ayers was thrown out of court because of misconduct by investigators. He is now an education professor in Chicago and has served on a board with Obama. Video Watch how candidates are getting more serious in the campaign's final weeks »

In Wednesday night's presidential debate, McCain said he did not care about "an old washed-up terrorist" like Ayers.

Obama condemned Ayers' actions of 40 years ago and said the former radical was not involved in his campaign and would not advise him as president.

Here is the text of the call referring to Ayers:

"Hello. I'm calling for John McCain and the RNC [Republican National Committee] because you need to know that Barack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, whose organization bombed the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, a judge's home and killed Americans. And Democrats will enact an extreme leftist agenda if they take control of Washington. Barack Obama and his Democratic allies lack the judgment to lead our country. This call was paid for by McCain-Palin 2008 and the Republican National Committee at 202-863-8500."

The only deaths positively attributed to Weathermen bombs were three members of the group itself who were killed when a bomb they were working on exploded prematurely. The Weathermen, along with the Black Panther organization, were investigated for another bombing that killed a San Francisco police officer, but that bombing remains unsolved.

The son of a New York state Supreme Court justice says that the Weathermen were also responsible for a bomb at his father's home in February 1970, basing his claim on a letter from Weather Underground member Bernadine Dohrn -- Ayers' wife -- sent to The Associated Press in November promising more bombings. Investigators, however, believe that letter was referring to the bombing of a New York courthouse.

The Weathermen claimed responsibility for the courthouse bombing, as they did other bombings attributed to them. No one claimed responsibility for the bombing of the judge's home, and the the case was never solved.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/16/mccain.robocalls/index.html

[peacepipe]

The McSame campaign has become a joke.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Board Founder Who Gave Ayers $49M Grant is a McCain Donor <hr style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" size="1"> <!-- / icon and title --> <!-- message --> Ooops! Ha!

Ayers Connection: Did you Know Annenberg Founder is HUGE GOP DONOR?

Glass Houses ... Throwing Stones?

If Obama is guilty by associating with Ayers on the Boards of two non-profits, the Annenberg Foundation and Woods Fund, isn't it relevant to see who else serves on those boards?

Take a peek at the Annenberg Foundation members.

1. Walter & Leonore Annenberg - founder who gave Bill Ayers a $49M grant. His widow, Leonore, has endorsed McCain. In fact, just yesterday the McCain Campaign released its list of Ambassadors supporting him. It included, Mrs. Annenberg, a former "chief of protocol" at the State Dep't under the Reagan Administration. A Republican, she also DONATED THE MAX OF $2300 TO McCAIN'S CAMPAIGN IN MAY 2008.

According to Opensecrets.com, she has donated to Republican candidates over 100 times in the past few elections cycles. Her campaign contributions have gone to George W Bush, Fred Thompson, Arlen Spector, Rick Santorum, Jon Kyle, Elizabeth Dole, Bob Dole, Richard Shelby, John Warner,David Dreier, Olympia Snowe, Jon Fox and Christine Todd Whitman.

Have each of these GOP candidates refunded her money because she's got a "domestic terrorist" on her own Board or because she gave that "domestic terrorist" a $49 million grant before Obama was on the Board?

In addition to individual contributions, Mrs. Annenberg also donated regularly to the Republican National Committee, the Republican Senatorial Committee and Republicans for Choice.

Other notable members on the Annenberg Board include:

1. David Kearns - former Deputy Secretary of Education under Bush I; former CEO of Xerox; Chairman of NASDC, a Bush I reform initiative for Education; WORKED FOR & DONATED TO McCAIN'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN IN 2000 AND AGAIN IN 2008.

2. Arnold Weber - former member of Nixon Administration; former President of Northwestern University and U of Colorado. Board Member of Tribune Company. DONATED TO McCAIN'S CAMPAIGN.

Other Board Members include leaders in the Education community including professors, deans, and presidents at some of the country's most prestigous colleges. They include: Dr. Patricia Albjerg Graham, Deborah Leff, Adele Smith Simmons, Vartan Gregorian, Ted Sizer, Warren Chapman and Anne Hallett.

Let's take a look at The Woods Fund . . .

Do you know that Presbyterian Minister Cynthia Campbell serves on the Board on the Woods Fund?. She got her Masters in Divinity from Harvard and her doctorate from SMU. She is author of A Multitude of Blessings: A Christian Approach to Religious Diversity, as well as a monograph, Theologies Written from Feminist Perspectives. She is also the current President of the McCormick Theological Seminary. Does this sound like a woman who espouses hate and would associate with domestic terrorists?

Additionally, today's Wood Fund's eight-member board includes three academics, a civic leader, a former Illinois state senator and executives from the BP oil company, UBS investment bank and Sahara Enterprises. Former board members include R. Eden Martin (1996-2004), attorney for the law firm Sidley Austin and president of the Commercial Club, Chicago's most prestigious business group. Many of these members are Republicans and supporters of McCain.

So why is it again the Obama should be chastised for serving on Boards with William Ayers? When the founder of the Annenberg Foundation gave $49 million to Ayers, then put him on her Board, and still to this day contributes thousands to GOP candidates across the country, should each of these GOP members be assailed for taking contributions from someone who associates with a "domestic terrorist" from the 60s?

http://cranegirl.newsvine.com/_news/...uge-gop-donor- (http://cranegirl.newsvine.com/_news/2008/10/09/1977693-ayers-connection-did-you-know-annenberg-founder-is-huge-gop-donor-)

[ZONA]

I think there are alot of good decent Republican people in this great country, none of them happen to be politicians.

It's the same story every frickin election with them. Even if they have a lead in polls, they flat out make up lies, the worst kinda of lies, and they hope they can scare people to death. What's that say about our country when you as a party can't win on issues and policy alone, you have to make up wild false stories and declare the other candidnate has a demon living in him or that he is the anit christ.

Republican politicians make me want to puke. They need a fresh new breed because what they have now is old tired washed up scare freaks who want people to believe lies tied to racism and other stupid ****.

I can't wait till this **** is over so they all can go stuff a cork in their pie hole for 8 years. Yes, 8 MF years.

[Rank&File]

the wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round...politics have become a giant circle jerk.

[cutthemdown]

McCain's strategy has been a total joke. Palin is a joke. He's going to lose.

[Paladin]

And to think: This is Democracy at work.....

I would imagine there are a few folks out there in the Lands of Heathens who just might want to take a second look at this Democracy crap.

I am not proud of the politicans of this country, and I include both Democrats and REpucplicans. What is worse, though is that the American people let it go on. Somehow there really has to be a reconciliation in this country, or we will crash and burn. There can be a serious civil disturbance unless the hate language is curtailed.

[NaptownChief]

http://i37.tinypic.com/e84kty.jpg

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

When we do what?

[NaptownChief]

When we do what?



You are a smart guy, I'm sure you can figure it out.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

You are a smart guy, I'm sure you can figure it out.

The thread is about Ayers.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Todd Palin's Past Political Associations A Likely Security Clearance Disqualifier (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-naif/todd-palins-alaska-indepe_b_134793.html)


Although Sarah Palin smack talks Barack Obama for "palling around with terrorists," it turns out that the Palin family has its own history of palling around with Alaska's own unique brand of America-haters. Palin's husband Todd was once an actual member of the secessionist Alaskan Independence Party (AIP). Palin herself was not a member of AIP -- but many AIP luminaries claim her as a kindred spirit and "one of their own."


A charitable characterization of AIP might be "quirky down-home Alaska politics." However, the security processes that govern access to our defense and national security institutions might not look so kindly on Todd Palin's past political associations. Indeed, if Todd Palin were applying for a job in the US government or at a contractor that required access to sensitive classified information -- a security clearance -- he would very likely be ineligible.


What's so bad about the AIP? The party officially renounces violence and disloyalty to the United States, even though its members often do not. The AIP has long been aligned closely with paramilitary militia (http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/10/10/palin_chryson/) groups -- the kind that fear black helicopters and a United Nations takeover of the US. Indeed, under the leadership of AIP's tough-talking founder, Joe Vogler, AIP allied itself with the Islamic dictatorship in Iran (http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/10/07/palins_unamerican/index.html) in 1993 so that Vogler could appear at the United Nations to appeal for Alaska's freedom from US "tyranny." A fellow AIP member murdered Vogler before he could take the UN stage. The current AIP chairwoman, Lynnette Clark, believes that Vogler's killer was framed and all but blames (http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/09/10/alaska_secession/index.html) the Federal government for Vogler's "execution."


Security clearances are a defining fact of life for the national security drones (http://www.nationalsecuritydrone.com/) who quietly toil away in secret vaults and mean foreign streets to help protect America. Entry-level defense and intelligence employees often wait months -- even years -- for the results of an exhaustive background investigation and maybe even a polygraph interrogation before they are allowed to start work with a government agency or contractor. Seasoned intelligence and defense workers routinely re-submit to the security investigation process every few years, or if their work requires them to gain access to a specialized or "compartmented" program.


The criteria for security clearances have changed with the times, but some bedrock principles always apply. When I was in the Army in the '80s for example, tattoos were actually a disqualifying factor for a clearance, as was any past drug use. Fashion and social changes forced a change to those kinds of exclusions. In the early '90s, homosexuality was still a disqualifier -- but that was overturned with Clinton-era adjustments to the clearance process. The rise of computer culture has brought new concern over illegal computer activity, which has found its way into security investigations.


However, security investigators will always be interested in particularly serious issues -- criminal activity, for example, or major financial problems like a history of debt collections and bankruptcy. And of course, loyalty to the US and foreign connections are a major focus of personal security investigations. "Is the subject a foreign spy?" the investigators ask. "Would the subject ever participate in activities intended to harm the United States?"


The security clearance investigation is based on the Standard Form 86 (http://www.opm.gov/Forms/pdf_fill/sf86.pdf), a 21-plus page government form that gathers information on an individual's family, friends, education, employment, residences, finances, law enforcement history, drug and computer use, foreign contacts, and associations with violent or subversive political groups. I have filled out the SF 86 dozens of times. When I was the security officer for an intelligence contractor, I routinely reviewed our employees' SF 86 forms before asking the government to process them for security clearances, looking for obvious disqualifications. The idea here was to avoid the costs of investigating employees who were obviously not eligible for a clearance, like the guy who "experimented" with marijuana at least 100 times in the previous year.


Above all, honesty is the rule for anyone filling out an SF 86 -- do you think CIA or DoD will want to hire or retain someone who lied on a security form?
Which gets us back to Todd Palin. From the security officer's perspective, Todd Palin the hypothetical applicant should be truthful and disclose his former association with AIP on the SF 86 in Section 29, Association Record. And because AIP has been associated with the Revolutionary Government of Iran, he probably should also disclose his AIP membership on Section 20, Foreign Activities.


How would government security officials who administer the security clearance process view the facts of Todd Palin's association with AIP? The answer is not clear cut, but his involvement in a secessionist party with foreign and violent connections would inject serious doubts about his security suitability. At best, the AIP association would raise questions that might be resolved favorably with further investigative work. However, many security officials would likely view the AIP association negatively -- especially the Iranian connection -- and deny Todd Palin a clearance.

Managers of the most sensitive special security programs are allowed wide latitude in denying clearances. These programs, called Special Access Programs, or SAPs, are scattered across government and are focused on specific tasks, such as weapons development or special operations or presidential transportation. A SAP program can exclude individuals based on connections to a foreign country, such as immigrant parents (often excluding vitally needed foreign language speakers), or very stringent financial criteria, such as $10,000 in unsecured debt (often excluding many recent college graduates). Many SAP managers would very likely deny Palin a clearance based on association with or membership in a secessionist party with known ties to a hostile foreign government.


So the Palin family is associated with a political party hostile to America in word and deed. That's a matter of record that has real impact on established norms in the national security community. According to the laws and processes that help protect national security, actually joining a fringe, gun-toting, anti-government party indicates a potential risk of disloyalty, or worse.

Meanwhile, acquaintance with an aging ex-hippy who once belonged to a terrorist group famous for accidentally blowing itself up -- I'm not sure if that's relevant to presidential qualifications. Or national security.

[Rohirrim]

GOP launches calls attacking Obama on Ayers, national security

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Republicans launched an enormous wave of phone calls Thursday blasting Sen. Barack Obama for "having worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers," party sources said.


The calls are part of a $70 million last Republican push to get out the vote for GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain on November 4, using calls, mailings and door-knocking in battleground states.

"Hundreds of thousands" of calls are being made in at least six hard-fought states including Virginia, North Carolina and Ohio, the sources said.

Some are recorded "robocalls," while others are live to comply with relevant state laws. The calls are being paid for jointly by the Republican Party and the McCain campaign, according to a script provided by the Republican Party.

The "robocalls" criticize Obama on national security, his opposition to an Illinois measure that called for doctors to provide medical care to babies who survive botched abortions, his connection with former '60s radical William Ayers and his response to the financial crisis.

An Obama spokesman said the calls were "dishonorable, dishonest" and a desperate move.

"John McCain's campaign has admitted that the economy is a losing issue for them, so he's chosen to launch dishonorable and dishonest attacks like this," Obama national spokesman Bill Burton said.

he calls come a day after McCain and Obama accused each other of running negative campaigns.

Republicans have been hammering Obama for weeks for his association with Ayers, a key figure in the Weather Underground of the Vietnam War era. The radical group took credit for a number of bombings, including that of the Pentagon.

A case against Ayers was thrown out of court because of misconduct by investigators. He is now an education professor in Chicago and has served on a board with Obama. Video Watch how candidates are getting more serious in the campaign's final weeks »

In Wednesday night's presidential debate, McCain said he did not care about "an old washed-up terrorist" like Ayers.

Obama condemned Ayers' actions of 40 years ago and said the former radical was not involved in his campaign and would not advise him as president.

Here is the text of the call referring to Ayers:

"Hello. I'm calling for John McCain and the RNC [Republican National Committee] because you need to know that Barack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, whose organization bombed the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, a judge's home and killed Americans. And Democrats will enact an extreme leftist agenda if they take control of Washington. Barack Obama and his Democratic allies lack the judgment to lead our country. This call was paid for by McCain-Palin 2008 and the Republican National Committee at 202-863-8500."

The only deaths positively attributed to Weathermen bombs were three members of the group itself who were killed when a bomb they were working on exploded prematurely. The Weathermen, along with the Black Panther organization, were investigated for another bombing that killed a San Francisco police officer, but that bombing remains unsolved.

The son of a New York state Supreme Court justice says that the Weathermen were also responsible for a bomb at his father's home in February 1970, basing his claim on a letter from Weather Underground member Bernadine Dohrn -- Ayers' wife -- sent to The Associated Press in November promising more bombings. Investigators, however, believe that letter was referring to the bombing of a New York courthouse.

The Weathermen claimed responsibility for the courthouse bombing, as they did other bombings attributed to them. No one claimed responsibility for the bombing of the judge's home, and the the case was never solved.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/16/mccain.robocalls/index.html

I had four of these calls on my answering machine yesterday. I had a push call last week where some guy said, "Did you know that Obama is linked to terrorists?"

I answered, "That's okay. I'm a terrorist too" and hung up. ;D

[Rigs11]

I got one from the Obama camp a couple weeks ago. no mention of Mccane at all.

[Paladin]

I have not recieved such a call, but I am prepared to confess that my Great Grandfather participated in a raid against an Indian village in Kansas many years ago. We have the terrible stain of terroism in our family history. Maybe I will be forced to give up my passport.....


How far back do we want to go?

[Fedaykin]

http://i37.tinypic.com/e84kty.jpg

Facism Defined (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism):

Fascism is a totalitarian nationalist and corporatist ideology[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] It is primarily concerned with perceived problems associated with cultural, economic, political, and social decline or decadence, and which seeks to solve such problems by achieving a millenarian national rebirth by exalting the nation, protecting the nation from what fascism deems as the excesses of the internationalist ideologies of capitalism and communism by advocating a Third Position, promoting the territorial defense or expansion of a nation through a constant state of military preparedness and promotion of militarism as well as promoting cults of unity, strength and purity.

Now, any honest assessment of the political stance of both R and Ds would lead you to conclude that the above is a far better description of modern Republicans than modern Democrats. heck, you don't even have to look that hard. republicans will readily admit to their desires matching with the above almost 100%

[SJ Bronco]

Facism Defined (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism):

Fascism is a totalitarian nationalist and corporatist ideology[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] It is primarily concerned with perceived problems associated with cultural, economic, political, and social decline or decadence, and which seeks to solve such problems by achieving a millenarian national rebirth by exalting the nation, protecting the nation from what fascism deems as the excesses of the internationalist ideologies of capitalism and communism by advocating a Third Position, promoting the territorial defense or expansion of a nation through a constant state of military preparedness and promotion of militarism as well as promoting cults of unity, strength and purity.

Now, any honest assessment of the political stance of both R and Ds would lead you to conclude that the above is a far better description of modern Republicans than modern Democrats. heck, you don't even have to look that hard. republicans will readily admit to their desires matching with the above almost 100%

I'd love to hear someone respond to that! Rep