Professor Bainbridge...on law, politics, religion, culture & food

Ayers and Obama are a totally legitimate fair subject.  Frankly so is Jeremiah Wright and Obama, but McCain decided not to go there--even though Obama, Biden and most especially Obama supporters like Sullivan are willing to throw any slander and vile rumor out there against McCain and Palin. 

The truth is Obama used Bill Ayers to get in good with higher ups in Chicago’s Democratic Machine such as Bill’s dad Tom Ayers (the godfather of Chicago politics) and Dailey.  Obama used that Annenberg trust money that he and Ayers controlled to give grants to radical groups and cronies, including Jeremiah Wright and Pfleger.  And oh yeah, convicted felon Rezko is mixed ino to all of this.  And then Obama flat out lied about it.  If Sarah Palin did anything like this Andrew Sullivan would be outside her house in Wasilla with a pitch fork and a torch (actually he is practically doing that no, but I digress). 

Obama is running a Forest Gump campaign.  Does even Sullivan think Obama will cure the overspending that is the core problem with government right now?  Or how about the real elephant in the room, entitlements?  Are we really going to tax our way out of that, or will higher taxes just drive the economy further down (especially capital gains increases). 

Not that McCain is that much better, but at least he is against raising taxes and is committed to lowering spending.  And earmarkes, while a small sliver of spending, are actually the grease that politicans use to obtain power and really spend money.

It’s gratifying that AS is still capable of giving us the good news. 

I guess ASS’s concerned there may be a (material) number of right-winger “Bill Ayers” dopelgangers out there, huh.  Imagine, a million Bill Ayers! 

Attack Obama on policies?  How?  What policies?  They are lies, are off limits, or they change each moment. 

I’d like to know how Obama’s going to resolve the current financial crisis.  He, his hordes of college kids, community agitators, and PhD professors know everything (never did anything) are such geniuses they will save us.  But, I imagine the Cuba business model won’t sell in Kansas. 

It’s not as if Obama didn’t immediately leave Rev. Wright’s radical black liberation church the first (or the 50th) time he heard that the government and the unjust capitalist economy oppress blacks and other ‘classes’ and must be destroyed.

Oh, he didn’t?? 

Or, did Obama give umpty-umph millions to Bill Ayers who was not convicted for multiple bombings based on some technicality?  And, the terrorist murderer now is overthrowing the oppressive capitalist system by brain washing school children instead of killing police officers.

It’s not as if ACORN isn’t voting tens of thousands of dead people voting six or seven times each.

When members of the crowd are shouting out that a sitting United States Senator and nominee for President is a “terrorist” and others are yelling “kill him” and the nominees giving the speeches don’t immediately call that inappropriate and outside the bounds of decency, there is something very wrong.

As Ronald Reagan once said about the Democrats, “I didn’t leave the party, the party left me.”

Nonsense? Really? You should check out some of the 12,000 emails that conservative Kathleen Parker at NRO got for some relatively mild criticism of Palin. Chris Buckley is now refusing to post there due to the lunatics; how do you know none are dangerous?

David Gergen doesn’t think it’s nonsense either:

One of Washington’s longest serving political hands expressed bewilderment and fright over the vitriol coming from McCain-Palin rallies, saying that the anger of the crowds could lead to violence.

“One of the most striking things we’ve seen in the last few day, we have seen it at the Palin rallies and we saw it at the McCain rally today,” said David Gergen, appearing on Anderson Cooper 360 Thursday evening. “And we saw it to a considerable degree during the rescue package legislation. There is a free-floating sort of whipping-around anger that could really lead to some violence. And I think we’re not far from that.”

Gergen’s remark came hours after John McCain and Sarah Palin held a rally in Wisconsin that saw attendees pleading with them to go on the attack against Barack Obama over his past associations and “socialistic” behavior. Earlier in the week crowd members at other McCain-Palin events have screamed out that Obama is a terrorist, has committed treason, and should be killed.

“I really worry when we get people—when you get the kind of rhetoric that you’re getting at these rallies now,” said Gergen. “I think it’s really imperative the candidates try to calm people down.”

How many screamers are at the rallies?  Two, ten?  How many will Obama plant?

No McCain supporter has ever bombed and killed any US citizen.

Obama’s close associates and supporters on the other hand . . . Willaim Ayers, Hillary and Bill Clinton - remember the children of Waco.  A bumper sticker on that last item will get you a visit from the gestapo. 

The pitch fork swings both ways.

From Matt Yglesias: “One thing that has been sort of written out of the mainstream history of politics is the sheer insanity of the attacks on the Clintons — they were drug smugglers, they murdered Vince Foster (and lots of other people), they were in league with foreign powers. And this stuff didn’t just show up in fringe publications — it was discussed in Congress, given props by the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, and so on.”

And an aside to T. Shaw - Bill Ayers never killed a single person.

I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed Stephen’s bit of humorous self-parody; it’s just so rich imagining the law professor comfortably ensconced in his in his LA lair, puffing his Cubano and quaffing his claret while taking shots at the “elite media”. Perfect!

But then NBC’s Mark Murray reports that the McCain campaign is strongly defending these characters:

Earlier today, Obama remarked on recent outbursts of “Traitor!” “Terrorist!” and “Kill him!” at McCain campaign events. “It’s easy to rile up a crowd,” Obama said. “Nothing’s easier than riling up a crowd by stoking anger and division. But that’s not what we need right now in the United States.”

In response, McCain senior adviser Nicolle Wallace released this statement, NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell reports. “Barack Obama’s assault on our supporters is insulting and unsurprising. These are the same people obama called ‘bitter’ and attacked for ‘clinging to guns’ and faith. He fails to understand that people are angry at corrupt practices in Washington and Wall Street and he fails to understand that America’s working families are not ‘clinging’ to anything other than the sincere hope that Washington will be reformed from top to bottom.”

“Attacking our supporters is a new low for the campaign that’s run more millions of dollars of negative ads than any other in history.”

*** UPDATE *** McCain campaign spokesman Brian Rogers adds in another statement: “Barack Obama’s attacks on Americans who support John McCain reveal far more about him than they do about John McCain. It is clear that Barack Obama just doesn’t understand regular people and the issues they care about. He dismisses hardworking middle class Americans as clinging to guns and religion, while at the same time attacking average Americans at McCain rallies who are angry at Washington, Wall Street and the status quo.”

UNHINGED LIBERAL PRODUCTS FOR SALE
By Michelle Malkin • April 12, 2005 07:15 AM
Yesterday, Drudge linked to a nasty anti-Tom Delay t-shirt being hawked at Cafe Press. The shirt urged the GOP congressman to commit suicide. Sold by artist Christopher Godwin, the product has now been removed (though you can still see it on Cafe Press’s search engine complete with the caption “We can dream, can’t we?”).
Not to worry. There are plenty of other hate-filled, liberal knick-knacks and apparel items still on sale.
Like this “Kill Bush” magnet depicting the president holding a gun to his head with the caption “End Terrorism Now:”

Or this bright yellow “Kill Bush” t-shirt splattered with blood:

Or this handy “Kill Bush” messenger bag with a macho pic of John Kerry:

And before the “everybody does it” apologists pooh-pooh this lunatic anti-Bush merchandise: There’s tasteless political paraphernalia on both sides of the aisle, but I’ve already searched and there are currently no “Kill Kerry” products, blood-spattered or otherwise, being sold at Cafe Press.
“Oh, but it’s all in good fun,” the libs will shrug. Yeah, just like the Guardian’s call last fall for someone to kill Bush. Just like the wave of campus attacks on conservatives. Just like the vicious anti-troops, anti-Bush slogans: “We Support Our Troops, When They Shoot their Officers” and “Bush is the disease. Death is the cure.”
“Where’s your sense of humor?” the libs will ask.
Where’s their decency? Their sanity?
Welcome to the sick world of the pro-assassination Left.
Update: Yes, thanks for all the e-mails on the assassination exhibit at Columbia College of Art in Chicago. Power Line and Jeff Quinton have more.
Update: 4/14. CafePress has yanked the “Kill Bush” products.
http://michellemalkin.com/2005/04/12/unhinged-liberal-products-for-sale/

FrontPageMagazine.com | Monday, October 25, 2004
The Left’s campaign of hate and defamation against the American president has hit a new low: a major media organ of the international Left, edited by an associate of Bill Clinton, has called for President Bush’s assassination.
On Saturday, columnist Charlie Brooker told the readers of the far-Left British newspaper Guardian:

On November 2, the entire civilised world will be praying, praying Bush loses. And Sod’s law dictates he’ll probably win, thereby disproving the existence of God once and for all. The world will endure four more years of idiocy, arrogance and unwarranted bloodshed, with no benevolent deity to watch over and save us. John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr. - where are you now that we need you?

So his bloodlust would not be missed, earlier in the column Brooker (who can be e-mailed at ) advocated the Most Powerful Man in the Free World be “tarred, feathered and kicked in the nuts.” He also compared our president to “a toddler proudly showing off its first bowel movement,” then deemed Bush “a lying, sniggering, drink-driving [sic.], selfish, reckless, ignorant, dangerous, backward, drooling, twitching, blinking, mouse-faced little cheat.” (You can view the entire hate screed here.)

The Guardian has since has since pulled the incitement to murder and tendered a hollow apology “for any offense caused.” Although the newspaper calls Brooker’s incitements “flippant” and “tasteless,” it assures concerned readers, “his closing comments were intended as an ironic joke, not as a call to action.”

There are many more examples I could supply, but since I can only comment every two minutes I will close with Nobel Peace Prize winner Betty William’s wish that she could kill President Bush.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Betty Williams apologized Thursday for saying she could kill President Bush, remarks that drew scorn from Bush loyalists and shook up the International Women’s Peace Conference in Dallas.
“My feelings now and again get way ahead of me,” Ms. Williams said. “I couldn’t kill anybody, but I must confess that I’m extremely angry with the Bush administration and what they have done. To say that was wrong.”
Conference organizers immediately sought to distance themselves from her speech Wednesday night, but it brought a swift rejoinder from the White House, dominated some radio talk shows and drew a flurry of hateful e-mails to attendees.
Questioned about her speech Thursday morning, Ms. Williams initially denied making the comment but reversed course after organizers confirmed the quote.
In a speech before 1,000 people Wednesday, Ms. Williams said that violence is a choice and the push for peace takes hard work and commitment.
“Right now, I could kill George Bush,” she said. “No, I don’t mean that. How could you nonviolently kill somebody? I would love to be able to do that.” As she made her point, she chuckled and some members of the audience laughed.

Hi, ROA:

This is reminiscent of rhetorical exchanges that I have had with a dear friend in the past. I don’t believe in the principle that 1+1=0, frankly. If the behavior is reprehensible on one side, then it is equally reprehensible on the other as well.

To indulgently shrug, as you and Dr. Bainbridge have done, and sigh that the other side has “done it” is to embrace a cheapening of the discourse and as a result, ourselves.

Stirring up rancor and avoiding the issues does not do a body politic good.

To all good conservatives:

I think all smart, high-income conservatives who believe in formal equality and colorblindness need to cut the crap, call out McCain and Palin, and demand that they campaign without resorting to race and race proxies.  I think all smart, high-income conservatives then need to roll up their sleeves and figure out a way to stop this feverish resurgence of Klan activity throughout low-income white communities.  Poor white people lit up on racism are dangerous.  You and I both know it. 

Only you can stop it.  These people won’t talk to anyone other than their own.  They will listen to you.  They look up to you.  You have made it, they have not.  They respect you for it.  They need you to explain why they haven’t made it.  If you focus on that and not on Barack’s race, you will have saved us all.

Around this time four years ago Democrats raged furiously against an illegitimate, lying “war criminal.”

General Taguba found in his investigation that the Bush Administration committed war crimes at Abu Gharib and Guntanomo.  That Crowley seems to regard this fact as equivalent to the idiocy of calling Obama a terrorist sheds, say we say, an interesting light on the myth of the liberal MSM.