Another longtime association is Bill Ayers.

Since the alleged association is based on the fact they were both active in the Chicago Annenberg Challenge and Obama's service on the board, and not much of anything else, maybe it makes sense to consider who else was on that board?

From the IRS filing for the group:

Edward Bottum, who was head of a Chase Franklin, a venture capital firm, as well as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Underwriters Laboratories, and made all his political contributions to Republicans.

John W. McCarter, Jr., who is President of a noted terrorist front organization, The Field Museum of Chicago.

Scott C. Smith, President and Publisher of the Chicago Tribune, who also contributes to Republicans.

Sort of puts into perspective how craptacular this latest BD piece is.

Expressed regret for surrendering at Appomattox*...he did apply for the amnesty, but because of a snafu, he never got it. He died thinking he hadn't received amnesty.

I was thinking about former rebels (and the WU believed they were rebels) and our treatment of them.

However, Lee, after leading the Rebel Army and helping to cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Union and Reb soldiers, was given an academic position...as President of a university until his death.

So...if a man who helped kill 600,000 Americans can be forgiven...why the pearl clutching about Obama working with another one who went through the court system and went on to do good things?

Because it's something, however faint, to beat him about the head with. Weak gruel. If this was a horse, it would be burger by now.

* Just wanted to say that "A Stillness at Appomattox" is one of the best titled history books ever. I grew up reading these books of my mother's. I guess having lived in the border state of Missouri and surrounded by relics of that war...shadows of old military roads, bullet holes in old houses..even the long ago darkened blood stains on the wooden floor of a house used as a field hospital I learned that forgiveness had to come eventually or the "war" would never end. As it was, the Civil "Cold War" continued and was revived by the Civil Rights movement and the Southern Strategy.

This is a lesson my husband had to learn in his life, to forgive the Viet Cong, frickin' Jane Fonda (and he was actually IN Vietnam when she was in Hanoi! getting his little kiester shot at and dodging SA's in a Ch-53!) and even, though with difficulty, Robert McNamara. Richard Nixon is still on his S**t List, but what can you do!

The late 60's/early 70's were a terrible time in this country. If you are old enough to remember, as I do...my first remembered experience in politics was an assassination. Followed by riots and protests and more assassinations. That was my childhood norm, that and the permanent war on the T.V. I try to explain this to my kids. How can you?

So using someone's actions from that time, and the fact that they weren't convicted..as some of you grudgingly admit because of government misconduct, as a hammer on someone who wasn't even there...

Annenberg

Cuz we're not supposed to talk about things like this:

Ezra Klein discusses this rather singular approach, here.

...it is that McCain supporters have little to say about their candidate. Instead, they are left with nothing but attacks on Obama. How refreshing it would be if someone made the case FOR McCain instead of always making the case against Obama.

The editing did not improve the thinking. I'm agnostic about the readability.

This is all you have. I get that. But it's pretty thin gruel, and has been adequately kicked around by others. No need to pile on.

Eric Rudolph? That's as dumb a comparison as one can possibly make without brain matter leaking out ear holes.

The real problem here? You have no idea what kind of president John McCain would be. I'd suggest addressing that lack before moving on to vapid smears.

about aiding and abetting a murderous terrorist:

is eminently reasonable. The problem is that it has little to do with what actually happens on the ground politically.

This -- [i]t is not a smear to bring up these years-long associations and ask questions -- couldn't be more accurate and proper. But the difference between this and what is actually happening is that there are no "questions," and there is no balanced inquiry. As they always do, the execrable political carnies are dispensing with the inquiry part, and moving directly to the conclusion. Obama knows Ayers, so Obama must, well, condone domestic terrorism. That cannot be defended, and anyone who makes even the slightest attempt to defend the way the political machines are handling all of this is stepping into very dangerous territory.

as in:

resolve to the phrase you seek, the bumper-sticker epithet for the Obama Movement:

Social Justice.

Ayers, you say, is unrepentant. But he's not setting off bombs today. He now dedicates his life to teaching education and social justice.

John McCain, too, is unrepentant. Despite the manifest failure of this war in Iraq, he promises to perpetuate it indefinitely. This is in stark contrast to his opinion on the Vietnam War, where he rudely dismissed the concerns of the Black Flag Veterans and their search for the MIAs of that war. McCain embraced the Communist regime of Vietnam with unseemly affection, disgusting me personally and many collectively.

Should we expect repentance of Bill Ayers? He was found innocent. It now seems the line between law enforcement and terrorism was blurred: the hubristic vanity of a handful of idiotic students who resorted to bombs and not the ballot box was matched by the FBI and the military, who attacked and vilified their ideological enemies. We dropped far more bombs on Laos alone, and Cambodia alone, than were dropped in WW2, including the Hiroshima and Nagasaki megatons added in. We fired a million dollars worth of artillery rounds every day. Every day.

And you're concerned about a statue getting blown up? Well sure, it's just terrible. Two wrongs don't make a right, but let's not pretend the sum of wrongs isn't two.

Social Justice. That's the phrase you're looking for BD.

...place, and within the context of that time.

Just who did Mr. Ayers kill?

Just who did Mr. Ayers harm?

As to Eric Rudolph, though I disagree with him and, given the opportunity during the height of his bombings, would willingly kill him...I also have a grudging admiration.

He was willing to put it on the line.

Ballsy.

He was wrong and I'd kill him as noted, but I understand what he was saying an why...not everyone even gets that out of life.

I see the State with all of its Panoply of Powers as the main threat to my life and liberty...I sense that you see the uncontrolled individual as the principal threat.

Different views, same world.

Traveller

You could respond to any of the several whuppings you're receiving there, if you'd like.

I'll repeat my last comment, is it your contention that upon joining an organization dedicated to improving schools, and finding out Ayers was a member, Obama should have said "Screw the schools!" and stormed out?