Wow, this is really turning into a bit of an Obama day. These are two stories which really capture, in my opinion anyway, the massive gulf that has developed in the reporting of Barack Obama. On the one hand, we have Stanley Kurtz's investigation of Obama's "intimate and long-term association with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (Acorn), the largest radical group in America" and how the group have influenced his thinking on many issues. The other article is a plea by Michael Kinsley (in Time) to not link Obama with the actions of former radicals -- here's some excerpts:
Ayers put it well: "Guilty as hell, and free as a bird. It's a great country."Years later, Ayers threw a fund-raising party for Obama. They sat together on the board of a community group. Is this association between Obama and these dangerous radicals a scandal? Or is the scandal digging up all this ancient history? Those have been the options in the debate. But the truth is a third option: Ayers and Dohrn are despicable, and yet making an issue of Obama's relationship with them is absurd.(...)Ayers and Dohrn never posed any real threat to U.S. national security. Their asinine chatter about killing people and their anti-American sloganeering were as ineffective as their bombs. But they did real harm. Their victims were liberals: the millions of people who were part of the mainstream antiwar movement and who later voted against Ronald Reagan.(...)If Obama's relationship with Ayers, however tangential, exposes Obama as a radical himself, or at least as a man with terrible judgment, he shares that radicalism or terrible judgment with a comically respectable list of Chicagoans and others--including Republicans and conservatives--who have embraced Ayers and Dohrn as good company, good citizens, even experts on children's issues.
So now the way to shrug off a friendship with a former terrorist is to say that because they were really bad terrorists it's okay to forgive them? Should the same leniency be shown to the shoe-bomber? After all, his aptitude for terrorism was about the same as Ayers and Dohrn's. I suppose we should all just be thankful that they gave up the terrorism business before the internet (otherwise liberalism might have really been in trouble).
2 comments:
These attempted attacks on ACORN are hilarious.
The real story here is the MSM’s and The Right’s continued assertion the ACORN was some how involved in vote fraud. ACORN was ripped off by a couple staff people who turned in fake cards so they could collect paychecks without doing any work. No one could have possibly voted illegally and the only harm done was to ACORN’s bank account.
Besides, if you want to know what a community organizer does, check Wikipedia:
” Community organizing is a process by which people are brought together to act in common self-interest….. Community organizers create social movements by building a base of concerned people, mobilizing these community members to act, and developing leadership from and relationships among the people involved.”
ohhhh the terror….. god forbid the President of the United States have experience bringing people together to act in common self interest. Or be linked to the Largest organization in the country doing that kind of work.
"ohh the terror"?
I don't recall anyone mentioning that they were 'terrified' or even a wee bit afraid of ACORN.
Sure, everyone would like to see a President that has the ability to bring people together, but at what cost? There are many issues which are much more important to me than facile agreement or bipartisanship, as I am sure there are issues on which you would refuse to compromise. So are you going to give up your principles Josh or should I?
It seems though that ACORN and Obama only bring together like-minded individuals, individuals with whom I strongly disagree on almost every substantive policy issue. So the link between ACORN and Obama doesn't scare me. It informs me. I'm grateful for that information. It reminds me -despite his rhetorical talents- that when it comes to issues that matter, Obama could never earn my vote.
“Neither irony or sarcasm is argument.” Rufus Choate
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