Politifact.com says McCain Ayers Obama attack "unfairly tars Obama."

[Hope And Change]

"(Bill) Ayers and Obama ran a radical education foundation together."
John McCain on Thursday, October 9th, 2008 in a Web ad


Not a radical group, and Ayers didn't run it

For most of the election, Sen. John McCain's campaign has been somewhat subtle about trying to tie Sen. Barack Obama to the former '60s radical William Ayers.

No longer. A 90-second Web ad released Oct. 8, 2008, features sinister music, side-by-side photographs of Obama and Ayers, and a series of dubious allegations about their past connections, including this one:

"Ayers and Obama ran a radical education foundation together."

Ayers was a founding member of the militant Vietnam-era anti-war group the Weathermen. He was investigated for his role in a series of domestic bombings, but the charges were dropped in 1974 due to prosecutorial misconduct. He is now an education professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and actively engaged in the city's civic life.

The McCain campaign said the "radical education foundation" to which they were referring is the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a charity endowed by publishing magnate Walter Annenberg that funded public-school programs in Chicago from 1995 to 2001.

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In short, this was a mainstream foundation funded by a mainstream, Republican business leader and led by an overwhelmingly mainstream, civic-minded group of individuals. Ayers' involvement in its inception and on an advisory committee do not make it radical – nor does the funding of programs involving the United Nations and African-American studies.

This attack is false, but it's more than that – it's malicious. It unfairly tars not just Obama, but all the other prominent, well-respected Chicagoans who also volunteered their time to the foundation. They came from all walks of life and all political backgrounds, and there's ample evidence their mission was nothing more than improving ailing public schools in Chicago. Yet in the heat of a political campaign they have been accused of financing radicalism. That's Pants on Fire wrong.


more....

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/790/

[Hope And Change]

1. Kick!

[quiet.american]

2. Another K&R nt

[mzmolly]

3. K and

R. :kick:

[usregimechange]

4. Saving for future referrence, thanks

[Tennessee Gal]

5. k & r

[msallied]

6. That's a really great website.

Actually it's more interesting to read than Factcheck.org, although it too is a really good website. :)

[Hope And Change]

7. Kick!