Dems hope Singlaub is McCain’s Ayers

[geek tragedy]

Source: Politico.com

Since the mid-1980s, there’s been almost no attention paid to John McCain’s long-ago association with a controversial group implicated in a secretive plot to supply arms to Nicaraguan militia groups during the Iran-Contra affair.

But now, with the Republican presidential candidate stepping up his negative blitz against Democratic opponent Barack Obama, some Democrats are hoping that the group — the U.S. Council for World Freedom, and its founder, John Singlaub — will become for McCain what Bill Ayers has become for Obama: a fleeting past association used as ammunition for political broadsides.

Over the past few days, a handful of Obama allies — none directly associated with his campaign — have called attention to McCain’s ties to the council to rebut the McCain campaign’s increasing focus on Obama’s ties to Ayers, a founder of the 1960s radical Weather Underground.

“This guilt by association path is going to be trouble ultimately for the McCain campaign,” Democratic strategist Paul Begala said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “John McCain sat on the board of a very right-wing organization; it was the U.S. Council for World Freedom. It was chaired by a guy named John Singlaub, who wound up involved in the Iran-Contra scandal. It was an ultraconservative, right-wing group.”


Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14349.html

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How many thousands died because of the Contra thugs?

[patrice]

1. Another reason this is important is because it is about destroying

that "flexible" ol' Constitution, by subverting the role of Congress in enacting legislation.

Congress had passed appropriations with amendments that made funding the Contras illegal. Singlaub and others decided to do their own thing:

"In 1984 there were elections in Nicaragua. Over 400 observers from 40 countries, including the Latin American Studies Association of scholars from the United States, found that the election was basically free and fair. Reagan administration drew up a propaganda campaign (see NSA website) to dub the elections rigged, and most US media reported that they were.

Broad opposition to the idea of funding the Contras had developed in Congress. Between 1982-1984, the ``Boland Amendments'' prohibited the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the principal conduit of covert American support to the contras, from spending any money ``for the purpose of overthrowing the government of Nicaragua.''

The propaganda activities to tarnish the Sandinistas included spreading fabricated stories about Nicaragua drug smuggling so that Reagan could announced that the Sandinistas were “exporting drugs to poison our youth” during the “Just Say No” drug campaign of the 1980s (quite ironic in light of the real story of Contra drug dealing which the US was actively aware of, if not actively complicit in)

The Reagan Administration pushed hard for more money for the contras, while House Democrats threatened to cut off such support altogether. In early December 1983, a compromise was reached: Contra funding for FY 1984 was capped at $24 million -- an amount significantly lower than what the Administration had wanted -- with the possibility that the Administration could approach the Congress for supplemental funds later. '' In 1986, Reagan warned the American people that Nicaragua put Communists 3 day drive to Harlingen, Texas. He won some money, but by 1986, illegal sources of money were put into play."

http://www3.niu.edu/~td0raf1/history468/Iran-Contra.htm

[ProgressiveEconomist]

7. K&R

[dbonds]

2. This gives too much importance to Ayers.

He was just someone Obama met. I hope if anything comes up on McCain it is much more than Ayers.

[patrice]

3. Right on! Singlaub =/= Ayers

Singlaub

>

Ayers.

[mcg]

6. McCain was involved in Singlaub's activities, whereas Obama never was involved

in Ayers' activities (in fact he was 8 years old at the time). McCain was a part of Singlaub's group and supported his activities. Obama never supported and has condemned Ayers' past. There is no comparison, Singlaub is much more than Ayers.

[customerserviceguy]

4. If we really want to use Iran-Contra to slap McLame

then we had better be prepared to explain to the average undecided voter (who usually doesn't make up his/her mind until the weekend before the election) how Iran-Contra didn't work out for the US. Using going around the Constitution isn't going to work, the bailout bill just fused our government with the military-industrial complex too firmly. And it had bipartisan support.

We didn't lose any soldiers in Nicaragua, we got our hostages back, and instead of the Iranians and Iraqis killing off each other, both are now successfully cast as our enemies. For a lot of people in this country, Iran-Contra represents the good ole days. We have a lot of convincing to do in a short time to make our case. Frankly, convincing people that McCain's been wrong on Iraq is a lot fresher in people's minds. Most people are two degrees away from someone who lost a loved one there.

[Pacifist Patriot]

5. I don't think I'd use this tactic. Tit for tat puts Ayers on a par with Singlaub

The analogy falls way short in all sorts of fantastic ways.