TW: The Ayers attacks are spurious. The attacks by fools such as Congressperson Bachmann on folks such as myself (e.g. those who do not blindly adhere to a "patriotism" based upon unquestioned faith in God and a certain kind of America) are spurious They are also reflect the hypocrisy of John McCain. Joe Klein of Time outlines a McCain relationship that symbolizes why McCain pre-2008 was a different kind of politician and a different kind of person.
From Klein at Time:
"David Ifshin..had been a vehement anti-Vietnam radical. He had even gone to Hanoi at the height at the war and given a speech denouncing the American pilots dropping bombs on North Vietnamese civilians as “war criminals...More than a few people thought Ifshin was guilty of treason...[McCain and Ifshin ultimately years later] became fast friends. They did charitable work together in Vietnam and elsewhere. When Bill Clinton went to the Vietnam Memorial for Memorial Day 1993, both Ifshin and McCain were there, too. And when McCain saw a sign in the crowd—'Clinton: Tell Us About Ifshin'—McCain went to the floor of the Senate the next day and said, 'Let me tell you about David Ifshin…David is a friend of mine.'And when David was diagnosed with cancer, John McCain was there for him. And when David died, McCain gave one of the eulogies at his funeral. His voice broke when he said, 'David taught me a lot about the meaning of courage.'
I’ve told this story many times, especially to veterans groups, because it says so much about the importance of forgiveness, of reconciliation...when Obama’s passing relationship with the radical Bill Ayers—not nearly as close as McCain’s friendship with David Ifshin—became news, and has been relentlessly exploited by John McCain and his campaign, most recently in robo-calls that flagrantly distort the nature of Obama’s relationship with Ayers. If you want to know why I—like so many others--held John McCain in such high regard for so long, it had a lot to do with David Ifshin. And if you want to know why my opinion of him has plummeted, it has something to do with William Ayers."
http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/10/mccains_radical_pal.html
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