"Hello, I'm calling for John McCain and the RNC because you need to know that Barack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, whose organization bombed the US Capitol, the Pentagon, a judge's home, and killed Americans. And Democrats will enact an extreme leftist agenda if they take control of Washington. Barack Obama and his Democrat allies lack the judgment to lead our country."
-- Alleged robo-call script that McCain-Palin and the RNC paid a Weston call center to read to voters, prompting one employee to quit and talk to The Charleston Gazette. The Associated Press and others have questioned the GOP's allegations regarding Obama's ties to Ayers.Update: Factcheck.org reviewed the robo-call and concluded, in part, that "to say that they 'worked closely' is an exaggeration." Its analysis also found other problems with the attack.
Here's what AP has reported on the topic:
In 1995, Ayers hosted a meet-the-candidate session at his home for Obama as he prepared to run for the state Senate. Later, the two worked with the same charity and social-service organizations in Chicago.
Obama has tried to minimize his link to Ayers, at one point saying he was just a guy who lived in the same neighborhood. But while there was more to the relationship than that, there is no evidence they were ever close friends or that Ayers advised Obama on policy. Obama has denounced Ayers' violent activities, which occurred when Obama was a child.
5 comments:
It doesn't seem very helpful to make robocalls with a script such as this. I don't think it'll win many votes and I can see why an Obama supporter would not want to read it, but at least there is nothing false in it. I've received numerous robo calls against Shelley Moore Capito which actually have false information in them.
All of it is false, Clear Eyes. Factually false.
Let me get this right, mountainlaurel. You are saying that all of the following are false:
1) Barack Obama worked closely with Bill Ayers (they served on severl boards together and Ayers hosted a coffee to launch Obama's political career, etc.).
2) Bill Ayers is a domstic terrorist (founder of Weather Underground).
3) Bill Ayers organization (Weather Underground) bombed the Pentagon.
Even if you don't beleive that raising taxes during "the greatest ecomonomic crisis since the Great Depression" and adding a trillion dollars in new spending isn't an extreme leftist agenda (or that someone who proposes tham lacks the judgement to lead our country), it's hard to see how you can believe that the other facts are "factually false." Have you ever used Google? Wikipedia?
OK, clear eyes, let's think about this a bit.
Obama knew Bill Ayers. They served on board together. Lots of folks who disagree serve on boards together.
Ayers supported Obama and had a fundraiser for him. So what? where's the evidence that Obama has kowtowed to Ayers' policies?
Yes, Ayers worked with Weather Underground. Thirty years ago. Since then he's been a respected scholar and educator. He's changed his ways and his focus.
And did Ayers bomb the Pentagon? Again, evidence, please.
In short, nothing about this script is verifiable.
I will leave the fact that you cite Wikipedia as a definite source as evidence that you have no idea how to evaluate claims.
Clear eyes,
Your definition of "worked closely with" differs from the definition of everyone who gets their news from sources outside of chain e-mails. If you want to take Google for a spin about dubious board members, search for McCain and John Singlaub.
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