 |
SwiftVets.com
Service to Country
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Me#1You#10
Site Admin
Joined: 06 May 2004
Posts: 6503
|
 Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 2:25 pm Post subject: NY Sun Editorial: "Foul Weather Friend" |
 |
|
While I may disagree with The Sun's take on Obama's suggested forthrightness inre Jeremiah Wright, The Sun correctly observes Obama's retreat into anti-first amendment activity inre William Ayers ringing a familiar bell...and we know what that reaped in '04...
| Quote: | Foul Weather Friend
Editorial of The New York Sun | August 27, 2008
Even as Senator Obama gets set to claim the Democratic nomination for president, the latest Gallup tracking poll shows that for the first time Senator McCain is gaining an edge on the Democratic nominee. It is the slimmest of advantages, to be sure, and one wouldn't want to read too much into it. Some will note that it is the first reading following his choice of Senator Biden as his running mate. But we're not so sure that explains it. There is also a growing sense that Mr. Obama is dodging certain questions about his past, most notably in recent weeks the question of his association with a former member of the Weather Underground, William Ayers.
This issue surfaced dramatically this week with a campaign by Mr. Obama to threaten and bully television broadcasters from airing an advertisement that presses the question of Mr. Obama's relationship with Mr. Ayers, an unrepentant member of the Weather Underground.
<snip>
The ad about William Ayers is being run by something called the American Issues Project and is being funded by what the Associated Press calls a Texas billionaire, Harold Simmons, who, the wire reports say, was one of the individuals who underwrote the work of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in their effort to expose Senator Kerry's war record. It will not be enough, we believe, for Mr. Obama to deal with Mr. Simmons's allegations by brushing them off as a reprise of the kind of campaign the Swift Boat veterans ran. For many, even the majority, of the Americans who saw the Swift Boat advertisements, Mr. Kerry put up an unconvincing defense, and the Swift Boat veterans performed a real national service.
The allegations about Mr. Obama and William Ayers are no small thing. Mr. Ayers and the Weather Underground represented a dark and violent strain to the movement against the Vietnam war. Not all of those who opposed the Vietnam war were of Mr. Ayers's ilk. Even those of us who emerged as hawks understand the movement against the Vietnam war had many idealistic and honorable individuals. Senator McCain himself understands that, as he has made clear; he sought reconciliation with the very North Vietnamese regime that held him in bondage for five and a half years.
We also understand that people can change; it may well be that Mr. Ayers has had a genuine change of heart and no longer holds the violent, anti-American, even American-hating views with which he was once associated. But the advertisement and his statements to other publications suggest that Mr. Ayers has yet to apologize for the violent deeds against our country perpetrated by the movement he helped lead. What does Mr. Obama have to say about that? The future senator served with him on the board of a Chicago-based charity as late as December 2002, the Associated Press reports, adding that Mr. Obama "was the first chairman of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a school reform group of which Ayers was a founder."
The AP reported that Mr. Ayers "also held a meet-the-candidate event at his home for Obama when Obama first ran for office in the mid-1990s." Mr. Obama, according to the AP, "has denounced Ayers' past activities." But what of the substance? Not only is Mr. Obama trying to scare television stations from airing the ad but an effort was attempted to prevent the press from gaining access to the records of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a point that has been made by Michael Barone. The papers were reportedly released yesterday. America's voters deserve a straightforward response to the questions being raised, not a campaign by Mr. Obama's lawyers to threaten television stations that might air the advertisements, which is what, the AP reports, has been happening.
The fact is that the television stations airing the advertisements are carrying out a great tradition, putting before the voters a question that couldn't be more relevant at a time when America is again in a twilight struggle with a foe who opposes our nation on ideological grounds. Mr. Obama showed, in the case of Rev. Wright, that he can address these questions head on, and even distance himself from a troubling figure. If Mr. Obama was tempted by the hard left and emerged a patriot, so much the better. But if he fails to deal with these questions forthrightly, he will beget only more questions, which is not a logical move at a time when a hero of the Vietnam war is gaining on him in the polls.
NY Sun - cont'd |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
zinfella
Rear Admiral
Joined: 19 Aug 2004
Posts: 708
Location: Mesa, Az
|
| Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 4:10 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I think that B. Hussein Obama is holding on by a thread, hoping to get elected before the shinola hits the fan. Once ensconced as CIC, he will have more ways of dealing with this.
_________________
No whiners! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Me#1You#10
Site Admin
Joined: 06 May 2004
Posts: 6503
|
| Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 4:28 pm Post subject: |
|
|
This is getting good. The Obama campaign has, apparently, elected to "go to the mattresses" on this Ayers minefield...
| Quote: | Obama camp: Prosecute Simmons
Ben Smith
POLITICO
August 26, 2008
Obama general counsel Bob Bauer today sent a second, sharper letter to the Justice Department, directly attacking the Dallas billionaire funding a harsh attack ad, Harold Simmons.
"We reiterate our request that the Department of Justice fulfill its commitment to take prompt action to investigate and to prosecute the American issues Project, and we further request that the Department of Justice investigate and prosecute Howard (sic) Simmons for a knowing and willful violation of the individual aggregate contribution limits," he wrote.
He called the group's activities "patently illegal."
Bauer made the case that Simmons' group fulfilling its a real nonprofit charter because it hasn't spent any money on anything other than attacking Obama.
The American Issues Project released a statement responding to the letter.
"Having failed in its attempts to get our legal, factual and fully-supported ad off the air, Barack Obama's campaign now wants to put our donors in prison for exercising their right to free speech," said Ed Martin, the group's president. "These over-the-top bullying tactics are reminiscent of the kind of censorship one would see in a Stalinist dictatorship, with the only difference being that those guys generally had to wait until they were in power to throw people who disagreed with them into jail."
The group said its ad would continue to air through the end of the Democratic National Convention. Simmons has spent almost $3 million to air the ad, which can be seen on the group's site.
A spokeswoman for the Justice Department, Laura Sweeney, had no comment on the second letter.
It's worth noting that this isn't the first time Bauer has called for criminal investigations and prosecutions into the donors to independent groups critical of Obama, including one supporting John Edwards and another supporting Hillary Rodham Clinton. His words did have the effect of scaring their donors and consultants, but haven't yet appeared to result in any prosecution.
Rick Hasen has some more thoughts on the law, suggesting that Simmons, at worst, will face fines after it's too late to matter.
Politico |
On a related note, today both the New York Times and the Washington Post weighed-in with both articles (as you might expect) opting to focus on form over substance (although both do, perhaps grudgingly, address substantive specifics).
Can a New York Times graphic be far behind? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
zinfella
Rear Admiral
Joined: 19 Aug 2004
Posts: 708
Location: Mesa, Az
|
| Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 5:17 pm Post subject: |
|
|
What would you expect from the NYT, or the Post, when they still won't legitimatize the Swift Vets? Thus, they will try say that any negative comments about Obama from similar sources are equally invalid.
They don't appear to notice that their credibility, and their financial worth are both plummeting.
_________________
No whiners! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
TEWSPilot
Admiral
Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 1235
Location: Kansas (Transplanted Texan)
|
| Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 9:45 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Let's face facts. ANY criticism of Obama will be met with this response:
 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Anker-Klanker
Admiral
Joined: 04 Sep 2004
Posts: 1033
Location: Richardson, TX
|
| Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 10:34 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Surely I cannot be the only one who notices the eery similarity of the Obama camp's heavy-handed tactics and Kerry's (partially successful) attempt to silence the airing of "Stolen Honor."
I've got a hunch that Kerry and his hangers-on are fully involved in this attempt at limiting free speech. There's just too much similarity.
(You did notice, didn't you, that Tereza was sitting next to Michelle Obama at last nights convention?)
Corrected "Stolen Valor" to "Stolen Honor."
Last edited by Anker-Klanker on Fri Aug 29, 2008 3:38 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
TEWSPilot
Admiral
Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 1235
Location: Kansas (Transplanted Texan)
|
| Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 3:55 am Post subject: |
|
|
Mark Levin got disgusted enough with the Obama tactics to take legal action against a private individual and the Accuracy in Media group to ask his listeners to call the Obama HQ and politely ask them to explain why Obama is friends with William Ayers, a domestic terrorist, and to stop intimidating the individuals who are simply bringing this fact to the American people. He didn't mention Kerry and his thuggish tactics, but you got the impression that he was reminding everyone of the Stalinist tactics used to block the showing of Stolen Honor and the other disgusting tactics the Kerry campaign used against the Swiftvets and POWs for Truth. If you care to participate strictly on your own and not associating this forum or any other for which you are not an official spokesperson (in other words use your head and be polite and only speak for yourself):
Call 866 675 2008 (hit option "6" to be put straight through) or 202 224 2854. Someone said they may now only have 5 options, but if you speak to someone and get an explanation, I for one would be interested in finding out what they say. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
