[OFB Cafe] Political Challenge

[Timothy Butler]

On Oct 28, 2008, at 4:21 PM, Steven Hatfield wrote:

> Republican reasoning: "Obama was in the same room as Ayres, so he  
> must be a terrorist."

	No. Ayres and Obama worked together, see my post I just posted to Fred.

>
> I was once in a room with Lou Ferrigno... does that mean that I'm a  
> super hero too? If so, I declare today to be "Steve's a super hero  
> day" and I want my super power to be that we all get to take the day  
> off from work!


	Nah, you were already a super hero.

> Palin actively supports an Iranian backed terrorist organization  
> that hates America. And she's incredibly ambitious. Well, if McCain  
> wins, I have some words of warning for him, and for my fellow  
> Americans: "Be afraid. Be very afraid."

	It is going to be much harder to claim Palin supports terrorists than  
to claim Obama does. If you decry the one, you pretty much have to  
decry both.

	The suggestion that Palin actually supports the unofficial  
secessionist push within the AIP -- which is not official, mind you --  
is difficult, since she never joined the party, and in fact, has been  
a registered Republican for decades. As far as my own research shows,  
the present AIP is hardly loyal to the original vision of Vogler.  
Alaskan Gov. Hickel left the party  in 1994 when a fringe within it  
tried to renew the secessionist viewpoint (not terrorist activity,  
however, of which I've been unable to find any direct links to AIP  
activity). The actual AIP is typically compared to the Libertarian  
Party or Constitutional Party, the latter of which it has an  
affiliation with.

	If you consider secessionism a act of terrorism, it would further be  
noted that while Palin has never supported the idea, Obama did vote on  
a bill that may give Hawaii the ability to secede. I linked to it on  
here some time ago and could dig it up again if this is of interest to  
you.

	Here's the key difference. Palin gave a ceremonial welcome to the AIP  
convention; Obama was a colleague with Ayres. The AIP is officially  
not a secessionist organization (though it may be unofficially, I  
don't know enough to comment) and has not been linked with terrorist  
activity. Ayres has been on the record, during the time he was working  
with Obama, as saying he wished he "had done more" (bombing) and was  
officially and very publicly linked with a terrorist organization.

	If, by chance the AIP did do any terrorist acts, it would be much  
easier to plead ignorance of them for Palin than it is to plead the  
same for Obama.

	Note: I don't advocate Ayres as a reason to vote McCain, although I  
think it is a small chink in Obama's armor that adds up with other  
ones to make him somewhat of dubious character. Jeremiah Wright is far  
more disturbingly connected with Obama, I think. My main point of  
contention, though, is that Bush has been tied to McCain in a similar  
was as Ayres to Obama, only it seems clear that Bush and McCain's  
relationship is pragmatic and not "friendly" (contra the Obama  
campaign's own classification of Obama's relationship with Ayres).


	-Tim

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