John McCain has friends worse than Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers and Father Pfleger

[OmahaBlueDog]

I had posted this in response to a post on Michelle Bachmann ( http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=7564581&mesg_id=7564581 ), and another poster suggested that I should make this an OP.

This was my response to Michelle Bachmann's comment to Hugh Hewitt: " All I did on Chris Matthews is I questioned Chris Matthews and said, “look, if John McCain had friends like Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers and Father Pfleger, you’d be all over him Chris, but you’ve laid off of Barack Obama.” And so, he was using the word “Anti-American” and I told Chris, what I question are Barack Obama’s views."

My immediate reaction was that, indeed, John McSame has friende worse that the three people mentioned by the distinguished race/red baiter from Minnesota, and that the media would be roasting Obama alive for associations like these (and I didn't even mention McSame's first marriage or Charles Keating):

John Hagee:

In 2008, in response to a question about this matter, he differentiated between his interpretation of the Bible and his understanding of modern history: "I learn from the Bible that the children of Israel were punished by God for their iniquities. But I do not presume to explain Jewish suffering in modern times. I only seek to alleviate it."

Hagee's interpretation of the historical role of Hitler and the Holocaust in relation to the foundation of the state of Israel has also caused offense. Hagee interprets a reference in Jeremiah 16:16 to "fishers" and "hunters" as symbols of positive motivation (Herzl and Zionism) and negative motivation (Hitler and Nazism) respectively, both sent by God for the purpose of having Jews return to the land of Israel, even suggesting that the Holocaust was willed by God because most Jews ignored Hertzl's Zionist call.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hagee

David Ifshin:

The McCain campaign shows no shame in engaging in a tired guilt-by-association tactic as Sarah Palin accuses Obama of "palling around with terrorists." This desperate calumny derives from Obama once serving on the same non-profit board as former 60's radical Bill Ayers, one of the founders of the Weather Underground.

But what about McCain's own associations with former 60's radicals. Indeed, until just a few years ago, McCain openly boasted not only about his passing friendship but also his deep collaboration with one of the most prominent of Vietnam-era student radicals, David Ifshin. The same David Ifshin who denounced America on Radio Hanoi as McCain sat locked up as a POW.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-cooper/mccains-own-6...

Todd Palin

Although Sarah Palin smack talks Barack Obama for "palling around with terrorists," it turns out that the Palin family has its own history of palling around with Alaska's own unique brand of America-haters. Palin's husband Todd was once an actual member of the secessionist Alaskan Independence Party (AIP). Palin herself was not a member of AIP -- but many AIP luminaries claim her as a kindred spirit and "one of their own."

A charitable characterization of AIP might be "quirky down-home Alaska politics." However, the security processes that govern access to our defense and national security institutions might not look so kindly on Todd Palin's past political associations. Indeed, if Todd Palin were applying for a job in the US government or at a contractor that required access to sensitive classified information -- a security clearance -- he would very likely be ineligible.

What's so bad about the AIP? The party officially renounces violence and disloyalty to the United States, even though its members often do not. The AIP has long been aligned closely with paramilitary militia groups -- the kind that fear black helicopters and a United Nations takeover of the US. Indeed, under the leadership of AIP's tough-talking founder, Joe Vogler, AIP allied itself with the Islamic dictatorship in Iran in 1993 so that Vogler could appear at the United Nations to appeal for Alaska's freedom from US "tyranny." A fellow AIP member murdered Vogler before he could take the UN stage. The current AIP chairwoman, Lynnette Clark, believes that Vogler's killer was framed and all but blames the Federal government for Vogler's "execution."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-naif/todd-palins-al...

I'd only add to my original response that, as much as the other side blusters about negativity and the liberal media, that John McSame has gotten virtually a free pass on his associations, save for some lip service on his "Keating 5" days.

[Wetzelbill]

1. Hell McCain is worse than any of them

As far as I know none of those guys ever helped lie us into an unnecessary war that got thousands of good Americans maimed and killed for no reason.

[billyoc]

2. Oh, come now, let's not exaggera--OMFG