McCain Funded by Domestic Terrorists!

McCain Funded by Domestic Terrorists!

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Posted on: October 15, 2008 9:30 AM, by Ed Brayton

John Martin, a Navy veteran who recently returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan and the co-founder of the group Republicans for Obama, points out that the Republicans have more than their fair share of connections to former Weather Underground member William Ayers:

In 1995, Bill Ayers was part of a team that helped create the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, an education reform project that worked with half of Chicago's public schools. Barack Obama, then working as an attorney and law school professor, was elected chairman of the eight-member board of the CAC. The board included individuals of diverse political backgrounds, including Ray Romero, the President of Ameritech; Stanley Ikenberry, the former President of the University of Illinois; and Republican Arnold Weber, who had served in the Nixon White House.

In their best efforts to portray Barack as out of the mainstream, some on the right have tried characterizing the Chicago Annenberg Challenge as a dangerous fringe organization. What they do not discuss is the fact that the CAC was funded by a foundation belonging to Walter Annenberg, the billionaire Republican philanthropist who served as Richard M. Nixon's ambassador to the U.K. Annenberg and his wife, Leonore, gave the CAC $50 million in the 90's.

But Walter and Leonore weren't just giving money to educational foundations started by William Ayers. They were also giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Republican National Committee and various other Republican groups, as well as to a whole host of Republican candidates...

Why would billionaire Republican philanthropists give millions of dollars to a program that was working with William Ayers? Why would George W., Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson and all those other Republicans accept money from the people who were funding this William Ayers-associated group? Why won't McCain discuss these connections between the Republican Party and Ayers?

Here's the icing on the cake: just yesterday, the McCain campaign put out a press release bragging about the fact that Leonore Annenberg has endorsed him for president. Yes, you heard it-- a McCain backer bankrolled William Ayers with millions of dollars.

How about some commercials claiming that McCain is accepting donations and endorsements from people who are known to fund domestic terrorists? Look, I do think Obama deserves a little heat over his association with Ayers. But the Republicans have made such an exaggerated and ridiculous argument that it applies perfectly well to themselves as well.

source: http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2008/10/mccain_funded_by_domestic_terr.php#more