Ayers and the McCain-G. Gordon Liddy Symbiosis

Does John McCain "pal around with terrorists?"

Certainly McCain's continuing "association" and relationship with the convicted Watergate burglar and domestic terrorist G. Gordon Liddy might suggest that is the case, if we are to apply the standards drawn by the McCain campaign.

In 1998, Liddy gave a fundraiser in his Scottsdale, Arizona home for McCain's senatorial re-election campaign -- the two posed for photographs together; and as recently as May, 2007, as a presidential candidate, McCain was a guest on Liddy's syndicated radio show. Inexplicably, McCain heaped praise on his host's values. During the segment, McCain said he was "proud" of Liddy, and praised Liddy's "adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great." From the program:

LIDDY: Your experience in the Hanoi Hilton is remarkable. I mean, I put in five years in a prison [for masterminding the Watergate burglary, and associated crimes], but it was here in the United States, and they didn't torture - the only torture that I had was being forced to listen to rap music from time to time.

McCAIN: Well, you know, I'm proud of you. I'm proud of your family. I'm proud to know your son, Tom, who's a great and wonderful guy. And it's always a pleasure for me to come on your program, Gordon. And congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great.

Which of Liddy's "principles and philosophies" was McCain referring to? Liddy's advocacy of break-ins? Firebombings? Assassinations? Kidnappings? Taking target practice with figures nicknamed Bill and Hillary?

During the same period that Bill Ayers was a member of the Weather Underground, Gordon Liddy was making plans to firebomb a Washington think tank, assassinate a prominent journalist, undertake the Watergate burglary, break into the office of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist, and kidnap anti-war protesters at the 1972 Republican convention.

Re: Liddy's "continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great:" Did McCain mean to include Liddy's instructions to listeners of his radio show in 1994 (around the time Ayres and Obama were on a board together discussing education programs and other plots) on how to shoot Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agents (aim for the head)?

If ATF agents attempt to curtail a citizen's gun ownership, Liddy counseled, "Well, if the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms comes to disarm you and they are bearing arms, resist them with arms. Go for a head shot; they're going to be wearing bulletproof vests."

More recently, Liddy explained making the Clintons objects of shooting practice: "I did relate that on the 4th of July of last year, when I and my family and some friends were out firing away at a properly-constructed rifle range and we ran out of targets, and so we - I drew some stick figure targets and I thought we ought to give them names. So I named them Bill and Hillary, thought it might improve my aim. It didn't. My aim is good anyway. Now, having said that, I accept no responsibility for somebody shooting up the White House."

The Liddy-McCain symbiosis has been mentioned in a number of posts on the Internet - mostly by bloggers and sites identified with The Left. But the documentation of their interaction (Liddy has also contributed financially to McCain's presidential campaign) is not a matter of Left or Right: It is astonishing that, given the prominence of the Ayers matter accorded by virtually every "mainstream" news outlet in America, there has been virtually nothing on the subject in the major newspapers and broadcast networks. This is a real journalistic failure and abrogation of responsibility.

Is Liddy any less a domestic terrorist than Bill Ayers? It is a zero-sum argument, for sure. I do not believe, incidentally, that John McCain shares the most abhorrent of Liddy's values, as expressed in Liddy's actions during the same period that Ayers was a Weatherman - and which Liddy continues to express, unapologetically, to this day.

But McCain has now become so unmoored from the principles he once espoused, so shameless in his courtship not only of the Republican "base" but in his eagerness to unleash a poisonous arsenal of character assassination and guilt-by-association - and plain-and-simple incitement of people's fears and prejudices - that, now, inevitably his and Sara Palin's rallies and campaign events have taken on the aura of mobs at times.

"Kill him," a man in the crowd responded last week, when Palin declared -yet again - "He's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country." In Virginia, the State Republican chairman announced a set of talking points to campaign volunteers - stressing the incendiary connection, reported Time magazine, between Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden: "Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon. That is scary," the Republican chairman said.

The most recent McCain ad on the subject shouts, "Obama worked with terrorist William Ayers when it was convenient" - perhaps suggesting, indeed, even that the candidate was there planting bombs.

The intended message of the McCain campaign is, of course, that Obama is less than patriotic - enunciated even by the candidate's wife, Cindy: "The day that Senator Obama decided to cast a vote to not fund my son when he was serving sent a cold chill through my body," she recently told a crowd of several thousand, which also heard her husband and Palin sound similar notes. (The chairman of the Lehigh, Pa., County Republican Party, William Platt, "implored the crowd to work hard to elect McCain or wake up November 5 to see 'Barack Obama, Barack Hussein Obama,' as the president," reported The Washington Post.)

Like Cindy McCain, the campaign's "Ad Facts" also trumpet - misleadingly - the only troop-funding bill that Obama voted against, in 2007 - without noting that Obama first voted for the bill, in a version that included a timetable for withdrawal. Nor did Cindy McCain mention that her husband, too, voted against the troop-funding bill - in the version that contained withdrawal language.

Thus has John McCain embarked on a scorched-earth death struggle for the presidency - cultural warfare that knows no bounds, exceeding perhaps even the mendacity and ferocity of the campaign waged against him by George Bush in 2000, and of which McCain once said there was "a special place in hell" for the Bush operatives who smeared him. (McCain also said of the Swift-boat attacks against John Kerry by Republicans in 2004: "I deplore this kind of politics. I think the ad is dishonest and dishonorable.")

The lethal weapon of the McCain campaign's dreams is the explosive allegation that, in Palin's words - Obama "pals around with terrorists." McCain, wisely, did not raise the matter himself in the last presidential debate. Why?

At the time, much of the commentariat attributed the omission to McCain's purported concerns that Obama would respond by reciting the history of McCain's "association" with the S&L swindler Charles Keating, for which McCain was cited by the Senate Ethics Committee early in his career, for exercising "poor judgment" for intervening improperly with federal regulators on behalf of Keating, as part of the infamous Keating Five scandal.

But the more likely explanation of why McCain avoided a debate confrontation about "palling around with terrorists" is McCain's very real - and recent - symbiotic association and praise for another (not Ayers) domestic terrorist emblematic of the Vietnam era: G. Gordon Liddy.

Comments

[chloe4455]

All I can say about this article is "Amen" .

[Greg285]

I for one cannot understand why the National Media is not talking about this association and is giving coverage to all that nonsense that comes out of the McCain camp? It only confirms that they are in the tank for the Republicans and McCain…Remember, it was the Media who failed in their duties leading up to the Iraq War, so why should we expect anything less from them?

[NoNotAgain]

Remember Lipstick on the pig..MSNBC ran it so much I saw pigs in my dreams.

Help is there a news tv that has not sold out??????????????

[MPCarr]

At least the Universiy of Nebraska Lincoln gets it. They found out Ayers was supposed to speak on their campus on Nov. 15th and the cancelled him.

[ali-remixamerica]

LOL! So you are saying that the University of Nebraska Lincoln just learned of Ayer's history this week, so they cancelled him? You are saying that they "get it", because they finally did research and learned of Ayers past (which has been in the news for months)? Or, are you saying that they are right because they decided to bow to the wishes of Sarah Palin who would then have to label the University as "palling around" with terrorists? As she also needs to label the Annenbergs ( including a former Ambassador of Ronald Reagan's), all of the Republicans that sat on the committee with Ayers, all of the students he has taught in the past, etc.

[floib]

I too can not understand why the media doesn't bring up this convicted, domestic terrorist in McCain's past. Why does David Letterman have to be the one to bring it up on his show and confront McCain? McCain, I could tell) was surprised that Letterman brought it up. McCain said that Liddy had paid his dues and basically, it wasn't of importance.

Every time that the media interviews strategists where they try to defend these robocalls connecting
Ayers to Obama, I'm telling myself, "Now, here's your chance to ask them how they can defend these calll when their own leader has ties to a domestic, convicted terrorist too?" I wait and wait and nothing.

Is the media scared or do they just not know? McCain also served on the board of the World Council of Freedom which is also said to have unsavory characters.

The whole thing is baffling. Why should Letterman do the media's job for them?

[Flash-389009]

I agree that it is baffling that the National Press (generally referred to as the "left-wing Liberal Media" by the "conservatives") does not point out the hypocrasy of the McCain/Palin/Republican fear and smear campaign. If they actaully pointed out the McCain/Liddy relationship or the Paline/Alaska Indpenedent Party relationships, it would help to shut down the fear and smear. Perhaps the major media channels are afraid of being called "liberal media" again; maybe they allow it because ti helps whip people up into a froth; perhaps they just don't have the testicular fortitude or journalistic integrity to do anything significant.

Few people know that Sarah Palin is much closer to the AIP than she and Todd have admitted or the there has been a relationship between the AIP and the Islamic Republic of Iran, the same "axis of evil" country that is helping terrorist in Iraq kill U.S. troops by providing sniper rifles, sniper training, and anti-armor shaped explosives. Other than salon.com, none of the media is pointing this out. For that matter, why are the Democrats failing to point this out, too? It would definitely sway a lot of independents away from the Republicans.

[PrairieDog]

The Dems could point this out without resorting to the same sewerage McCain's campaign is wallowing in. The only reason the mainstream so-called liberal press covers Ayers is because of the McCain campaign's constant bleating of it. If ANYone in the dem camp mentioned Liddy or Palin's nutcase of the North pals then the spineless press would have the cover to report it.

[S1m0n]

Is Liddy any less a terrorist than Ayers?

Yes, of course. Liddy's not a terrorist at all. He is a criminal, but his crimes were something else. Not every sh!tty act is terrorism, even when they're being done for political reasons.

[Nathan Gonzalez - Huffpost Blogger]

I would be interested in your definition of a terrorist. Mine is "a non-state actor using violence for political reasons." Liddy's plot to bomb Brookings definitely puts him in the category.

[ali-remixamerica]

I will add another point to the definition which is a radio host encouraging listeners to go for "head shots" targeting ATF agents. I can't imagine that encouraging citizens to shoot government workers could be considered anything but domestic terrorism.

[GiggidyGeshmoygen]

my definition of a terrorist is "a non-state actor using violence for political reasons"
================================================================

my definition of a terrorist is "any state or non-state persons who knowingly and intentionally use and/or incite violence for profit, power and/or political reasons"

[ThePeacemakers]

Thank you, Nathan.

[dancer36]

To all who posted on this issue::: If you will go to aite called "The National Alliance Who Rules America" and please read the 16 or 17 Bios located near the bottom of the article I think it will help you understand why national media steadfastly refuses to report honest news..

[propax]

"The National Alliance" appears to be an anti-Jewish, Aryan supremacist site, with all of the usual despicable rantings about "Jewish control" of our world.
Anyone who's been paying attention for the last twenty or thirty years recognizes that our news, both in terms of events covered and slant on the events, is controlled by very few people. These people, being wealthy, want to maintain that wealth and see Republicans as the political party most likely to help them do that. "Managing" the news is one way to help Republicans attain and stay in political office.
It would seem to me that our duty as citizens is to inform ourselves by going beyond the MSM to places like HuffPo, Democracy Now, Mother Jones, Counterpunch, FAIR, Media Matters, TruthDig, Progressive Populist, The Nation (gosh, there's a lot of sources!), etc.

[concernvoter]

What was Arizona thinking about, when they elected John McCain to be their Senator? What McCain really don't understand is that it's one thing been appointed on the board with someone, but he also knows that Libby visited his home and donated money to his campaign. McCain thought maybe no one would have said anything about him been a guest on Libby talk show. McCain know more about been a terrorist than Obama. Now, I wonder who was McCain really fighting for in the war, was it for the bad guys or the good guys. Well, stay tune because it look like the story is now been told.

[Flash-389009]

I wonder what Arizona voters think when McCain refuses to fund programs in Arizonal because he calls it "pork?" Considering how poor many of the people in Arizona are, they could probably use some of the federal dollars that Sen. Ted Stevens, Sarah Palin, Phil Graham, and the other fat Republicans have been getting.

When you are surviving on pinto beans and rice, a little bit of pork might be looked at as a welcomed treat! Since McCain's lifestyle includes 7 houses, six cars, free medical care and retirement benefits paid for by the American Taxpayer, McCain probably things little pork is not of any interest when he is used to filet mignon!

[greatblue]

G. Gordon the Plumber.

Thank you, Carl Bernstein. Thank you!

http://vagreatblueheron.wordpress.com/2008/10/17/g-gordon-the-plumber/

[nikky]

I AM NOT SURPRISED TO NOT HAVE HEARD ANYTHING BUT THIS MAN WAS JUST AS BAD AS AYERS IT IS THE MEDIA THEY ARE JUST TRYING TO DESTROY OBAMA NOT TO MENTION WE HAVE HEARD NOTHING ABOUT PALINS TAXES,THE HOUSE THEY DID NOT PAY FOR (THIS WAS WORST THEN WHAT TED STEVENS DID) ,THE GIFTS SHE TOOK , AND HER AND HER HUSBAND BEING INVOLVED WITH THAT GROUP A.I.P INSTEAD THEY SPEND ALL DAY LONG TALKING ABOUT OBAMA AND AYERS SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED WHEN HE WAS EIGHT YEARS OLD NOTHING ABOUT KEATING 5 NOTHING ABOUT PHIL GRAMM / UBS I KEEP SAYING SOMETHING IS WRONG IN THIS COUNTRY WHEN PEOPLE LIKE THEM CAN GET A SECURITY CLEARANCE

[IneptitudePrideB4Fall]

But Boy! Oh Boy! have we heard about Ayers! Last evening alone, I heard repeated EIGHT TIMES on the cable "news" channels the McCain robo-ad linking Ayers & O. I think those cable channels should CHARGE the McCain campaign for runing their ads. The MSM is really in the tank for McSame.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[Gib]

It's because they care so much about fairness and balance. Obama has out-fundraised McCain to such a degree that they are just trying to redress the balance.

Yeah, right.

[prcleburne]

I'm not surprised that we have heard almost nothing ( I use the qualifer " almost " because I assume there has been some coverage; I personally have heard nothing ) about this association in the MSM.
When did you last hear a reference to Sarah Palin's association with the Alaskan Independence Party, a seccessionist organization whose founder expressed hatred for the American government and damned her flag ? If the " liberal Eastern media elite " are in bed with the Obama campaign, as McCain/ Palin and their supporters suggest, why has coverage of damning " associations" been so one- sided ?

[AlphaDoc]

A terrific piece, Mr. Bernstein. Thank you. I guess it says something about the state of our news media that the only other place I've heard the Liddy/McCain connection discussed was on clips from the David Letterman show. There, McCain claimed only the slightest tangential relationship to Liddy, and said that he'd "paid his debt" to society. I'd love to see the facts you've laid out here reach a wider audience.

[WillG60]

It seems to me that the mainstream media are not playing on McCain's obvious contradictions
for the same reason that Obama is not playing on them: McCain is ruining himself day to day.
He has Palin helping him do so, too. If the mainstream media were to play on all these things
McCain and the GOP would too easily be able to cry against the leftist media. As McCain was
swinging wildly at Obama in the final debate I kept thinking and saying, Hit him back! And yet,
the cool wisdom of Obama now seems quite apparent. We won't know for sure until later, but
perhaps Obama does know best. As a native Ohioan I hope the state flag's "O" bodes well.

[prcleburne]

This is the explanation that makes the most sense to me, and the conclusion I also reached. Perhaps the media are pro- Obama, and are just giving McCain more rope with which to hang themselves.

[newzealandpolscistudent]

I've been reading (and enjoying) the Huffington Post for the last few weeks, but was not compelled to sign up for an account until I read this opinion piece.

THANK YOU to Carl Bernstein for saying what needed to be said. And THANK YOU to Carl Bernstein for doggedly uncovering the Watergate conspiracy.

There are no journalists I admire more than Carl Bernstein & Bob Woodward. I first became interested in the Watergate story when I was at high school and first read "All the Presidents Men".

I've often said that more countries, my own in particular, need journos with the same level of drive to find the truth.

In NZ in the 2000s (and particularly amongst my peers, I'm 22) most do not recognise the name but I have always had the utmost admiration for both.

And at the moment, I have the complete opposite for John McCain and Sarah Palin. The extent to which they & their campaign are promoting unfounded hatred against Obama and the "left" simply disgusts me and yet I fear that it may influence some American voters, who, to put it as kindly as I can, are not as informed as would be in their best interests. I wish the election would hurry up before this situation gets worse - and in the meantime I hope more in the mainstream media start waking up to the injustices that are happening.

[janice1227]

can we clone you? I teach high school and I'd give anything to have a classroom of kids like you. Spread the word among your peers: VOTE! you ARE America - don't let it be taken away from you.

[newzealandpolscistudent]

I'd give my eye teeth to vote but unfortunately I'm not a US citizen! Just a political science student fascinated by the US election (we've got our own going on now too) and hoping & praying that the US will do the right thing for themselves and the world and elect Obama.

What a nice day it was today to wake up and hear Colin Powell endorsing Obama (and how pathetic that anyone has claimed it was racially motivated). I've read all of Bob Woodward's books about the lead-in to the Iraq war and I couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for that poor guy.

[IrateHarry]

Whatever the outcome, the tragedy is that John McCain is a much diminished man. Great people shine through how they handled situations where they maintained their honesty and dignity.

Not so our Mr McCain. He has shown his essential duplicity, no doubt prompted by the ravening ambition for the office. He has shown reckless irresponsibility of foisting Palin on the Americans and the world. He topped it all off with his erratic and breathtaking flip-flops. The hypocrisy of the man, who himself palled around with the right wing terrorist Liddy, sets up a text book definition of the term.

May be he is helpless, being manipulated by the dark forces of the ugly and uncivilised conservatism. But where is the 'hero' that we all believed him to be that would overcome?

McCain has sold out and has come to personify the worst of America.

For America's sake, and for the world, let us hope he loses - and big time. Otherwise - to borrow an expression - be afraid, very very afraid !!

[GiggidyGeshmoygen]

PLAN B ---
The Revised McPalin Game Plan

1) Raise the hate level to such a frenzy that some nut will attempt the worst. And they will pretend that their hands are clean. (It's one of the oldest tricks in the book.)

2) Raise the hate to such a frenzy that, no matter if Obama is elected, the country will be so fractured and divided by hate that it will bring this country to a stand-still.

McCain, Palin and their campaign's puppetmasters are positing false arguments including via automated "robo-calls" to voters that portray Obama as a secret radical who is somehow bent on subverting democracy. This is a prime example of Bushworld opposite speak.

The Republicans are telling the nation that Obama is a radical, terrorist threat to democracy in order to divert attention form the truth and obscure the actual facts in reality --- they are the ones subverting the power of the vote and destroying America, dismantling and selling off the pieces to the highest bidders.

The real radical, terrorist threats to American democracy have been in the White House for the last eight years. With their victory / defeat mentality, you can be certain that they have no intention of giving up the game now --- in another place and time these traitors would have been tried, found guilty and appropriately sentenced.