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October 6, 2008
Ayers and Keating no comparison
Topics: Political News and commentariesYuval Levin at The Corner explains the non-comparison between Obama's Bill Ayers problem and John McCains's history with the Keating Five (emphasis mine):
You can read Levin's entire piece here.... we are asked to believe that it's somehow inappropriate to inquire why Barack Obama's political career began in the home of an admitted and unrepentant domestic terrorist of the radical left? "Who is Barack Obama?" is not an irrelevant question given the job Obama is seeking, and it's a question he has sought mightily to avoid answering. The veil of secrecy he has thrown over his past (journalists have been denied access to his state legislative office records, documents about state earmarks he distributed in Illinois, a list of his legal clients, his state bar application, billing records related to Tony Rezko, medical records, academic records -- all of which are the sort of documents candidates routinely make public) forces the question all the more.
The Obama campaign's response to the question appears to be to raise John McCain's connection to the Keating Five scandal. It is by no means out of bounds to raise the issue. McCain received campaign funds from Keating, his wife's company had been involved in investment ventures with him, and he once met with federal regulators about Keating's bank -- though the Senate Ethics Committee found that unlike three other senators involved in the scandal, "Senator McCain's actions were not improper." The committee said only that he had exercised bad judgment by being involved with Keating at all and not seeing what others were doing. In fact, Bob Bennett, who was the Democratic lawyer selected by the committee to investigate the Keating Five, says in his book that he recommended that McCain's name be dropped from the investigation because there was no evidence against him but, for political reasons (the other Senators were all Democrats), McCain's name was left on the list.
... Had Obama done and said something similar regarding the sort of radicalism Ayers represents, he would now have an answer to offer. Instead, he has worked with Ayers, supported his causes, and denied any significance to the links between them. That, too, makes this a legitimate question about a man who would be president.
(HT - JustOneMinute):
Posted by Hyscience at October 6, 2008 9:15 PM
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- Ayers and Keating no comparison - Oct 06, 2008
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