10/7/08: McCain's radical connection: G. Gordon Liddy

The McCain/Palin campaign has decided to spend 100% of their remaining money and the 29 days left to Election Day in negative attacks with their “guilt-by-association” personal attacks on Obama. Over the weekend, Palin escalated this to a new level of sleaze with her racism-tinged attacks essentially calling Obama a terrorist for “associating” with 60s "radical" (now a Professor of English) Bill Ayers. This “association” consists of attending one fundraiser for Obama’s Ilinois Senate campaign in 1995, some board meetings for the Annenberg Foundation and few chance
meetings on the street.
But McCain and Palin are making a big mistake by dragging in old association and trying to turn the discussion from real issues to character assassination, even according to conservatives. These tactics open the door on their rich closets crammed with skeletons ranging from close friendships with convicted criminals such as G. Gordon Liddy and personal involvement and Senate censure in lobbying scandals (McCain) to involvement in separatist groups and public praise of sexist witchhunting pastors (Palin).

In fact, “McCain has his own Ayers” due to his close association with G. Gordon Liddy, according to a Chicago Tribune column, which has not received much press coverage to date, and frankly, I’m wondering why.

With friends like these ...
McCain finds his own radical friend

This article examines McCain's close connections to G. Gordon Liddy, who in addition to serving more than four years in prison for his role in the Watergate break-in and the Daniel Ellsberg case, has also admitted that he plotted to murder journalist Jack Anderson; plotted to murder fellow Republican operative E. Howard Hunt; and plotted to firebomb the Brookings Institution. Liddy also reportedly gave advice on how to shoot agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and reportedly admitted to naming shooting targets after the Clintons.

McCain’s association to Liddy has been far closer than Obama’s to Ayers. Liddy hosted a fundraiser for McCain's 1998 Senate re-election campaign and contributed to many of McCain’s Senate and Presidential campaigns. McCain has praised and repeatedly associated with Liddy in public and in campaign settings, even appearing on Liddy’s conservative radio talk show, most recently in May of this year!

An online video labeled "John McCain On The G. Gordon Liddy Show 11/8/07" includes a discussion between Liddy and McCain, whom Liddy described as an "old friend." During the segment, McCain praised Liddy's "adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great," said he was "proud" of Liddy, and said that "it's always a pleasure for me to come on your program."

Despite attacks on media by McCain campaign, case studies show disparate coverage in McCain's favor, including in the case of Liddy vs Ayers.
I would like equal opportunity for McCain’s questionable associations.
Why is the NY Times continuing to ignore McCain's "own Bill Ayers"?

In an article in Pennsylvania’s Times Leader entitled Attacks may come back to bite McCain With just weeks left, Palin’s accusations against Obama may show desperation., Daniel writes that “Palin’s [most recent] attack was unsubstantiated and carried a racially tinged subtext that John McCain himself may come to regret”.

John McCain has a very long list of questionable associations. Here's some of the more prominent ones compiled by John Lorenz
If McCain wants to mention Rezko in relation to Obama and Joe Biden, take a look at John McCain's questionable ties


Joseph “Joe Bananas” Bonano:the head of the New York Bonano crime family

Charles Keating: Convicted S&L scammer - see The Keating 5 Scandal

Vicki Iseman and Paxon Telecom: See the NY Times article in a previous blog. McCain denied that he'd ever had an affair but certainly flew around with her!

Donald R. Diamond: Shady real estate developer Donald R. Diamond.

Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ) indicted for extortion, wire fraud, money laundering and other charges

Richard Quinn. South Carolina political consultant Richard Quinn, a neo-Confederate revanchist who was one of the leaders of the state's pro-flag faction.

Charles Black Jr.: Senior McCain campaign adviser Charlie Black has friends in low places. Black served as chair of BKSH & Associates, a lobbying firm.Black drew fire recently when he suggested that a terror attack would help John McCain.

“Pastor” John Hagee: John McCain has accepted the blessing of “Pastor” John Hagee, who believes the Pope is the Anti-Christ, who believes Jews are responsible for their own suffering in history due to their failure to believe correctly, and who advocates starting a war with Iran in the Middle East to ‘hasten Armageddon’; and who calls Washington “the City of Satan”. Hagee also has said “God may already have sent hurricane Katrina to punish the U.S. for its role in helping Israel remove Jewish settlers from the Gaza strip” I guess it is acceptable to advocate mass murder and be a religious bigot. McCain has officially distanced himself from Hagee, but only after he was severely criticized for his association and had pointed a finger at Barack Obama over Obama’s association with “Pastor” Jeremiah Wright.

Lobbyists on his campaign staff: 177 lobbyists of them including Rick Davis, who accepted 2.5 million dollars from Fannie and Freddie to stop regulation.

Jack Abramoff:Since August 2008, John McCain has stayed busy trying to escape his ties to criminal lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his shady lobbyist colleagues, including Randy Scheunemann and Ralph Reed.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20080815/pl_usnw/dnc__mccain_watch__scheunemann__abramoff__and_reed