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Palin stands by her ‘terrorist’ friends comment about Obama
By JIM KUHNHENN
The Associated Press
BURLINGAME, Calif. | Sarah Palin defended her claim that Barack Obama “pals around with terrorists,” saying the Democratic presidential nominee’s association with a 1960s radical is “fair to talk about.”
Obama has denounced the radical views and actions of Bill Ayers, a founder of the Weather Underground during the Vietnam era. On Sunday, he dismissed the criticism from the McCain campaign, leveled by Palin, as “smears” meant to distract voters from problems such as the economy.
Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate, launched the attack Saturday, repeating it at three events and signaling a new strategy by John McCain’s presidential campaign to go after Obama’s character.
“The comments are about an association that has been known but hasn’t been talked about,” Palin said as she boarded her plane in Long Beach, Calif. “I think it’s fair to talk about where Barack Obama kicked off his political career — in the guy’s living room.”
Ayers and Obama have served on the same Chicago charity’s board and live near each other in Chicago. Ayers also had a meet-the-candidate event at his home for Obama when Obama first ran for office in the mid-1990s, the event cited by Palin.
Obama was 8 at the time the Weather Underground claimed credit for several bombings. The group was blamed for a pipe bomb that killed a San Francisco policeman.
At a rally in North Carolina, Obama countered that McCain and his campaign “are gambling that he can distract you with smears rather than talk to you about substance.” The Democrat described the criticism as “Swift Boat-style attacks on me,” a reference to the unsubstantiated allegations about 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry’s decorated military record from service in Vietnam.
During her stop in California, Palin was asked about an Associated Press analysis that said her charge about Ayers was unsubstantiated, a point made by other news organizations, and the criticism carried a “racially tinged subtext that McCain may come to regret.”
“The Associated Press is wrong,” Palin said. “The comments are about an association that has been known but hasn’t been talked about.”
Obama was questioned about Ayers during a Democratic debate against Sen. Hillary Clinton prior to April’s Pennsylvania primary.
The McCain campaign is sending Palin on a whirlwind tour of political trouble spots.
On Sunday, she spoke at a rally in Omaha, Neb., a defensive move in one of the two states that can split their electoral votes. Since 1964, all five of the state’s electoral votes have gone to the Republican presidential candidate.
Today she begins a two-day tour of Florida that stretches from Naples in the South to Pensacola in the panhandle. North Carolina and Pennsylvania are next.
― eman, Monday, 6 October 2008 05:39 (fifteen years ago) link
five months pass...