Every time I think of William Ayers, I also think of John McCain, because they are of the same era, and they both believed in the efficacy of violence. According to an article in Friday's New York Times, McCain once said of Ayers, "How can you countenance someone who was engaged in bombings that could have or did kill innocent people?" He had to use that "could have or did" because no one knows if bombs Ayers built actually killed anyone -- let's say that the odds are against it. Likewise, no one knows whether the bombs John McCain dropped on North Vietnam ever killed anyone. According to McCain's biography, "With the outbreak of the Vietnam War, McCain volunteered for combat duty and began flying carrier-based attack planes on low-altitude bombing runs against the North Vietnamese. ...On October 26, 1967, during his 23rd air mission, McCain´s plane was shot down during a bombing run over the North Vietnamese capital of Hanoi." Let's say, given those twenty-three bombing runs, the odds are for McCain having killed some innocents. How can you countenance someone who was engaged in bombings that could have or did kill innocent people, John?
But, of course, John McCain's defense is that he was performing his patriotic duty, and that's what William Ayers would have said, too. I remember the Vietnam War. It was not a war of self-defense that the U.S. had to wage or had to win. It was a war of aggression, a waste of resources, lives, manpower, global good will, and national spirit. And, many would say, it was a war crime. Those who were against it viewed their protests as essential patriotism, a way of correcting terrible choices and profound injustices.
According to the New York Times article, William Ayers' case was thrown out of court because of "illegal wiretaps and prosecutorial misconduct", exactly the sort of activities that will get cases brought against the Guantanamo detainees by the Bush Administration thrown out of court. Deja vu all over again.
In the meantime, what about the case against John McCain? The next time he goes abroad, might some enterprising human rights activist step up to him and put him under a citizens' arrest for war crimes and get him hauled off to the The Hague?
I don't think Barack Obama would like that. As snarky and contemptuous as McCain acts toward Obama, I think President Obama would defend McCain. In fact, I think he would feel about him as he does about Ayers -- he's an old man, and the wars he once fought are over and done with. Time to get past fighting old battles. Sometimes I agree with him. But then McCain brings up Williams Ayers again, and I can't help thinking of those bombing runs, and those dead innocents.
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As one who did serve (and graduated from a federal service academy as well) and graduated from a top tier law school, your rhetoric (ie that young people were " duped" into serving, etc.) is not new to me -it was constantly brought up by professors and still from 60's era people where I work today. I had hoped that we wouold move beyond the stilting and empty rhetoric that you write-unfo
It's up to us to email, post and re-post it as much as possible..
Obama can't come out with this so we have to.
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I will assume that it is the latter. The weakness of your defense of Obama's relationsh
There is a huge difference
William Ayers is not, in fact, repentant. As a matter of fact, on 11SEP01, he was quoted in the NY Times as saying,''I don't regret setting bombs,'' he goes on, "...we didn't do enough." That sounds regretful, but not regretful of having potentiall
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"...profou
Do you find this acceptable
Dr. Ayers is an unconvicte
It is the duty of the McCain camp to point this out.
Every time I think of the Viet Nam War, I think of Democrats. JFK, LBJ and the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
The military does nor PROVIDE any one with any freedoms.
The job of the military is to DEFEND those freedoms.
In no way were our freedoms threatened by Vietnam, or Iraq, for that matter.
If the military mind understood its role, it would hacve arrested the tyrants in the White House years ago. That is where the threats to our freedom are, and we have already suffered the loss of major freedoms. while the military wastes its blood and treasure on hopeless imperial adventures
How dare you make this comparison
Is this how some people think?
Comparing a young officer in the United States Military performing his duty to to a freaking terrorist?
How long would this great country last under the leadership of people who think like this?
Not long.
The United States has long been a strong nation who's citizens have enjoyed security and peace due to strong and natural defenses.
A country less fortunate could never produce people that think like this.
It is one thing to excersize your freedom of speech and entirely something else building bombs to set off in protest.
Old Billy Ayers and his pals were not heros. They were not misguided youths. They were cold blooded murderers.
Dear jane smiley,
when they come for you, men like John McCain stepping up and defending you and yours will suddenly be a welcome sight. You will then know the difference
What did they teach you in school? Where does this crap come from? Are we that screwed up that people that would otherwise seem normal can reason like this?
God help us.
Obama is a fraud. A socialist of the power grabbing egomaniaca
He has done NOTHING but run for office.
When "We" (the always righteous) do it, it is for god, freedom, liberty, truth and justice.
The USA is just so special, too bad it was turned into a banana republic by fanatics, fearmonger
I received a second email tonight from the New York Times reporter Scott Shane regarding his story on the Obama- Ayers connection