Originally posted by loam
Is all that wrong too?
Wrong? That's a judgment call. I have been debating the "facts" of the ad. In
This Post, I said no one is debating that Ayers did bad things. He did.
Like you said, you think the association between Obama and Ayers can't be passed off as a distant association. I don't think so either, but I don't
think it MEANS anything. In other words, I don't think Ayers' criminal activity (some 20 years prior to meeting Obama) can, in any way, reflect on
Obama, who was 8 years old when they were done.
By the way (and these are MY words) Ayers DID go on to become respectable and mainstream. A college professor is a respectable job. Chicago University
is mainstream... That doesn't mean
I respect him.
Many people respect him and he is a professor in a mainstream University. His IS
"respectable and mainstream", at least in some people's opinion.
But Obama didn't say that.
I once was "friends" with a guy. I was in his house, spent the night, in fact, was friends with his girlfriend and we were associated for many
months. I made some deals to get some microphones for his band and stuff like that. We helped each other out. He was a pimp! (I can't believe I'm
telling this story here) But what does that say about me? How does his criminal activity reflect on me? How does my association with him taint who I
am?
I cannot tell you how many associations I have had with people who were downright unsavory, and even criminal.
Barack Obama was a young politician. He (like every other politician I know) has had questionable associations in his attempt to rise to the top. You
don't get to be a candidate for POTUS without making SOME questionable associations. No candidate's closet is bare.
I'm NOT defending Obama. I'm saying how I see this situation. This is why I don't judge Obama based on what I consider to be loose
associations. Judge all you want, but if I judged everyone based on the actions of the people they hung out with, I would not have ANY friends.
Have none of you served on a committee with an unsavory person? Gone to church with someone who committed a crime? Have none of you ever been in the
living room of a criminal? Maybe I've just known a lot of people in my life, but man! If I were judged by some of the people I have associated with,
I'd be in jail!
And Obama has known a LOT more people than I have.
