I don't like to follow the day-to-day thrust and parry of the campaigns. They're just too damn annoying. I have much better things to do with my time. Long ago I decided that I was supporting Senator McCain and nothing is likely to change my mind, so I pretty much ignore the hoo hah. But some things require comment. A conservative group has issued this spot calling into question the relationship between Barak Obama and Weather Underground terrorist William Ayers.
Apparently it has struck a nerve. Mickey Kaus of Slate calls it "really, really effective -- just shy of devastating." [here]. The Obama camp has responded viciously, trying to strongarm radio and TV stations into pulling the ads, and failing that trying to get the Department of Justice to prosecute the makers of the ad. Talk about infringement on political speech! Because of this thuggishness I and other bloggers are presenting the ad that you probably won't see on TV.
The hysterical and thuggish reaction of the Obamination shows that the ad is just what Kaus says it is -- effective.
Over at ChicagoBoyz Shannon Love raises some interesting points:
1) Jonah Goldberg expressed amazement at people who think that Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dorhn's past is no big deal. The man was a terrorist and is a prominent America-hater who still tramples the flag underfoot. His association with a presidential candidate is a legitimate matter for discussion.
2) Shannon observes that Obama "comes from a political subculture in which Ayers is an accepted and unremarkable individual. Looking at Ayers, one is forced to ask exactly what kind of leftist extremism would be considered unacceptable by Obama and his cohorts." Before entering the Senate Obama's perspectives were shaped almost exclusively by an academic/activist subculture where the most despicable attitudes are common currency. Many of the things Obama has said and done since launching his campaign for the presidency suggest that he has not grown notably beyond the parochial bounds of that malignant subculture. Obviously, he considers anti-American domestic terrorism to be not a big deal? Shannon's question is entirely appropriate.
3) Shannon then relates another, even more perceptive, question, "what did Ayers see in Obama?" Indeed! What was it about Barry and Michelle that attracted a monster like Ayers? Did he sense a like mind?
