McCain joined the group's board at the behest of General John Singlaub, a friend of his father.

Uh-huh. Don't that just say a lot. Someone bail Jerome Corsi out of jail and tell him it might be a whole lot easier to dig up shit on Presidential-candidate family connections right here in the US of A.

Of course, it might not be any safer ...

because its ties to right-wing death squads, but because he did not have the time to participate. He palled around a general who was dismissed for insubordination to the United States Commander-In-Chief. Country first, yeah right.

Seems McCain has been "palling around" with G. Gordon Liddy, who is every bit the unsavory character Ayers is if not worse, and McCain's connections are stronger than Obama's ever were with Ayers.

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/steve_chapman/2008/10/mccain-has-his.html

So, why won't McCain explain why he's proud of a man who threatened to blow up a liberal think tank, suggested killing a journalist, and was one of the engineers of the most famous plot of spying and election manipulation in our history?

"he appeared at a Council event in 1985 honoring Afghani anti-Soviet fighters"

Can we get a list of the people honored at the bash? I mean, there are a lot of very interesting Anti-Soviet fighters, and I would be very interested to see, specifically, which ones were called out for this honor. Was the organization Maktab al-Khadamat among them?

I am actually a bit surprised - guess I drank a bit of the kool aid without even realizing - thought McCain was conservative but not from the same winger roots as the rest of the people hell bent on destroying our government.

Anyone who gives a damn should read "The Wrecking Crew" by Thomas Frank (of "What's the Matter with Kansas" fame). It is a really enlightening history of the right-wing take over of the republican party and subsequently of DC. I thought McCain was a little different in having turned to the wingers a little later to win his party's candidacy but I guess he was one of them all along.

Hey, relax with that!

Bin Laden was our ALLY in '85! He won the Cold War for us.

Just ask the Reagan administration...

'gotta love the smell of Negroponte in the morning.

I know, I am just being a jerk - you can never predict what someone will do in the future. I would love to see the ad though...can you imagine what the McCain campaign would do if the situation were reversed? (all of this said with the understanding that I ahve no idea if Bin Laden or his organization were even mentioned at this event, though they were prominent in the anti-Soviet struggle)

As we grow older, through our teens, the twenties and thirties, we learn what doesn't work for us and at times may even be considered wrong and unfair in a democratic society. So, with this knowledge we change our course. Yet, those 'blunders' or 'errors in judgement' still become part of our history. Now, when you're in politics this becomes a bit tricky for voters to get their hands around. The question I have to ask, "Did he realize these decisons were mistakes, or did he just come up with a better way to hide them." I look at the Charles Keating issue, Mr. McCains comments about G. Gordon Liddy, a key player in the Watergate breakin, and his strong desire for de-regulation in veiw of his wealthy station in life. (Those that have want more and regulations, at times, put a kink in the process.)This is not to say Mr. McCain may not be above board on these things, but rather how do we really know. Mr. Obama has been linked to Mr Ayers, a radical from the 60's; and that is exactly the era Mr. Ayers left his 'errors in judgement'when Mr. Obama was a boy. Mr. Obama was not a part of Mr. Ayers' mistakes as was Mr. McCain in the previous list I've indicated. If we begin to draw a comparison to Mr. Obama's associations and Mr. McCain's we need to keep them equal. Bringing up Mr. Obama's preacher of some twenty odd years is a non issue. To me, it makes him no better or no less to be President of our great country. Remember the seperation of church and state? Give me some substance, Mr. McCain to say, "Yes! you are right... that is so wrong." Until then, stop reaching for something that, in my opinion, is trivial.

It seems the McCain campaign didn't consider the possibility there are connections in McCain's background that the Obama campaign had ready, just in case. Obviously the Keating Five video wasn't cranked out in an hour because Palin decided to bring up Ayers and Wright again. If McCain had something new on Obama, he'd use it. Obama clearly has more ready to go. McCain might really regret trying to make this about character. My take is that all he's done is found yet another issue that doesn't work for him.

All in good fun. I think it should be screamed from the rooftops that bin Laden learned how to fight superpower occupying armies from the Reagan administration.

There's a reason you shouldn't get in bed with the devil, and it's always been a major thorn in my soul that US foreign policy has often attempted to overlook that fact.

If some asshole cut me off in traffic and snatched a parking spot, I'd be pissed. But I wouldn't decide to *support* the mugger who knifes that asshole and steals his watch and wallet.

Being the better person really pays off. Obama appears to realize that. I'm looking forward to watching McCain try the opposite tack tonight.

CBS has a great story out tonight on McCain and Iran Contra. It's the gift that keeps on giving. I'm not sure about the details, but it sounds like typical gung ho right wing illegality. The story also involves McCain's father and grandfather. Maybe the folks at CBS will do some further digging and find out dad or granddad had a hand in framing Alger Hiss. :)