Obama Wrong to Compare Terrorist to Coburn, McCain Says
Penny Starr
Senior Staff Writer
(CNSNews.com) - In a interview Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press with Tim Russert," presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) association with Weather Underground member William Ayers and his comparison of Ayers to Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) "borders on outrage."
The Weather Underground, or Weathermen, were a group of American radical left revolutionaries from the late 1960s/early 1970s, some of whose members carried out a terrorist campaign designed to overthrow the U.S. government. William Ayers participated in bombings against police stations and U.S. government buildings.
"(Obama) became friends with (Ayers) and spent time with him while the guy was unrepentant over his activities as a member of a terrorist group," McCain said on "Meet the Press." "And then to compare him to Dr. Tom Coburn who spends so much of his life bringing babies into this world. That fact, in my view, borders on outrage."
At the Democratic debate in Philadelphia on Wednesday Obama defended his relationship with Ayers and then compared it to his friendship with Coburn.
"The fact is that I'm also friendly with Tom Coburn, one of the most conservative Republicans in the United States Senate, who during his campaign once said that it might be appropriate to apply the death penalty to those who carried out abortions," Obama said.
"Do I need to apologize for Mr. Coburn's statements? Because I certainly don't agree with those either," he said.
Russert said that Obama pointed out he was only eight years old when Ayers was connected to a series of bomb attacks in the U.S. in the 1970s and that he doesn't agree with the remarks Ayers made in a New York Times article published on Sept. 11, 2001.
"I don't regret setting bombs," Ayers said then. "I feel we didn't do enough."
"He doesn't agree (with Ayers), but does he condemn him?" McCain said. "Would he condemn someone who says they are unrepentant and wished they had bombed more?"
McCain described Coburn as "a great doctor, a great man and a great humanitarian."
"In my view, (Coburn) is one of the great spokesmen for the rights of the unborn," McCain said.
Both Ayers and Obama reportedly served on the board of the Woods Fund of Chicago between 1999 and 2002, and Ayers "contributed $200 to Obama's re-election fund to the Illinois Senate in April 2001," as reported by The Washington Post.
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The Weather Underground, or Weathermen, were a group of American radical left revolutionaries from the late 1960s/early 1970s, some of whose members carried out a terrorist campaign designed to overthrow the U.S. government. William Ayers participated in bombings against police stations and U.S. government buildings.
"(Obama) became friends with (Ayers) and spent time with him while the guy was unrepentant over his activities as a member of a terrorist group," McCain said on "Meet the Press." "And then to compare him to Dr. Tom Coburn who spends so much of his life bringing babies into this world. That fact, in my view, borders on outrage."
At the Democratic debate in Philadelphia on Wednesday Obama defended his relationship with Ayers and then compared it to his friendship with Coburn.
"The fact is that I'm also friendly with Tom Coburn, one of the most conservative Republicans in the United States Senate, who during his campaign once said that it might be appropriate to apply the death penalty to those who carried out abortions," Obama said.
"Do I need to apologize for Mr. Coburn's statements? Because I certainly don't agree with those either," he said.
Russert said that Obama pointed out he was only eight years old when Ayers was connected to a series of bomb attacks in the U.S. in the 1970s and that he doesn't agree with the remarks Ayers made in a New York Times article published on Sept. 11, 2001.
"I don't regret setting bombs," Ayers said then. "I feel we didn't do enough."
"He doesn't agree (with Ayers), but does he condemn him?" McCain said. "Would he condemn someone who says they are unrepentant and wished they had bombed more?"
McCain described Coburn as "a great doctor, a great man and a great humanitarian."
"In my view, (Coburn) is one of the great spokesmen for the rights of the unborn," McCain said.
Both Ayers and Obama reportedly served on the board of the Woods Fund of Chicago between 1999 and 2002, and Ayers "contributed $200 to Obama's re-election fund to the Illinois Senate in April 2001," as reported by The Washington Post.
Make media inquiries or request an interview about this article.
E-mail a comment or news tip to Penny Starr
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