Senator Barrack Obama's comparison of a remark by his senate colleague Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn about abortion with Weather Underground terrorist bomber William Ayers' regrets that he had not bombed more U.S. Targets outraged Senator John McCain.
Obama compared Coburn's suggestion that applying the death penalty to abortionists was equivalent to Ayers' regretting that he had not performed more bombings protesting the Vietnam war.
Ayers is a strong Obama supporter.
When challenged about his association with Ayers during the debate with Senator Clinton last week in Philadelphia, Obama sidestepped a question about Ayers, insisting that asking him about Ayers was the same as asking if he endorses Coburn's position.
The Oklahoma senator "once said that it might be appropriate to apply the death penalty to those who carried out abortions. Do I need to apologize for Mr. Coburn's statements?" Obama asked. "Because I certainly don't agree with those, either."
Appearing on Sunday's ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos," McCain said Obama's relationship with Ayers, "is open to question. . . . Because if you're going to associate and have as a friend and serve on a board and have a guy kick off your campaign that says he's unrepentant, that he wished he'd bombed more --
"And then, the worst thing of all, that, I think, really indicates Senator Obama's attitude, is he had the incredible statement that he compared Mr. Ayers, an unrepentant terrorist, with Senator Tom Coburn, Senator Coburn, a physician who goes to Oklahoma on the weekends and brings babies into life -- comparing those two -- I mean, that's not -- that's an attitude, frankly, that certainly isn't in keeping with the overall attitude."
According to the New York Times, Ayers, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, lives in Obama’s neighborhood and held an early organizing meeting when Mr. Obama was running for the Illinois state Senate.
“He became friends with him and spent time with him while the guy was unrepentant over his activities as a member of a terrorist organization, the Weathermen,’’ McCain said, adding, “Does he condemn them? Would he condemn someone who says that they’re unrepentant and wished that they had bombed more?’’
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