It's getting UGLY out there!

Well, there were some interesting things today and this past weekend. A lot of smearing has starting... from both sides. Some outrageous claims are being made. Some warranted, some not. My original purpose for this blog was to talk about things like this. So let's get to it!

- First there's the outrageous (I've used that word twice tonight) claim that Obama is palling around with a terrorist.

The "brilliant" Sarah Palin said that Obama has had a relationship with William Ayers, a co-founder of the Weather Underground, a group responsible for the bombings of some federal buildings in the early 1970s in protest of the Vietnam War. This is somewhat, but mostly not true. You can find out the details here: http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/776/

Here's the part that is really the truly disturbing comment:

"We see America as the greatest force for good in this world," Palin said at a fund-raising event in Colorado, adding, "Our opponent though, is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country."

How awful is this? The implication behind this comment is that Obama is a supporter of terrorism. What other way is there to look at this? Never mind the fact that Obama was 8 years old when the bombings took place. Never mind the fact that Obama was unaware of Ayers' past when he was dealing with him and has since denounced his past activities. Never mind the fact, that while he has had dealings with Ayers, they are not exactly "pals" and it's not like they've ever been more than casual acquaintances. Never mind the fact that Ayers has cleaned up his image and is now a respected person in the Chicago community, a college professor, and has been for quite some time.

Here's the fact check from Politicaltracker on CNN (http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/05/fact-check-is-obama-palling-around-with-terrorists/#more-22716):

"Verdict: False. There is no indication that Ayers and Obama are now "palling around," or that they have had an ongoing relationship in the past three years. Also, there is nothing to suggest that Ayers is now involved in terrorist activity or that other Obama associates are."

This line of attack is beyond repulsive. It's a last ditch effort by the desperate Republicans to try to pull a rabbit out of a hat at the last minute by trying to attack Obama's character with exaggerated and flat out false claims. This is disgusting. Pathetic.

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- The next thing is there's a new ad from McCain saying that Obama is criticizing our troops for bombing villages and killing civilians in Afghanistan. Here's the ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je8_tNFmzCc

Of course what you see in the clip is just a portion of the entire statement that Obama made. Here's the whole quote from Obama:

"We've got to get the job done there, and that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous problems there."

That is obviously not a criticism of our troops and is instead a criticism of the strategy in Afghanistan. But they are, again, like they did with the "lipstick on a pig" comment, taking a comment out of context and trying to make an issue out of it. Is this what they do there? Sit around trying to find something innocuous that Obama says and make an issue of it? Not to mention that this is a comment from about a year ago.

According to CNN's Politicalclicker, this statement is completely false. Here's what they say:

"The Verdict: False. The McCain ad inaccurately presents this as Obama's current position, citing a an out-of-context comment from more than a year ago."

Here's where you can find it: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/06/fact-check-what-did-obama-say-about-troops-in-afghanistan/

Another slanderous, untrue attack from the McCain campaign.
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- Well, since the McCain campaign has been making an issue of Obama's past relationships, his party has decided to do the same.

John McCain was involved in a scandal in the early 1990s with a disgraced business man named Charles Keating. Keating was convicted of fraud and was a contributor to McCain and four other Senators. McCain worked with a group of Senators to try to delay regulators from doing anything about Keating's dealings. And unlike McCain and Palin's made up accusations, these accusations are true. A Senate hearing was held on the scandal.

And unlike McCain's assertions that Obama's been possibly associated with shady characters, McCain was very close to Keating and it was even noted in a hearing about the scandal, where McCain was given a reprimand.

You can find out all the details about the scandal here: http://www.keatingeconomics.com/

And here: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/06/obama-camp-raises-mccain%e2%80%99s-ties-to-charles-keating/#more-22873

And here is the fact check on the scandal and McCain's role from Politicaltracker on CNN: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/06/fact-check-did-mccain-intervene-on-behalf-of-charles-keating/

"The Verdict: True. McCain did push to delay regulations that would have cracked down on savings-and-loans practices and intervened on Keating's behalf, although he was cleared of wrongdoing in the "Keating Five" case. "

This is the guy people want to lead our country and fix our economy? I don't think so.
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- Here's John McCain saying HIMSELF that anyone who runs negative attack ads has nothing to say about the issues and people will figure out that they have nothing to say: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW35wiCbtak

That's too funny! He's the kettle calling himself black! Hee hee!
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- That's all I can do tonight. This is giving me a headache. These baseless attacks on Obama's character are making me sick. This election cannot end soon enough for me so I can stop thinking about.

I'm just hope the people of this country don't fall for McCain's and Palin's desperation.