“I think not only a repudiation but an apology for ever having anything to do with an unrepentant terrorist is due the American people.” That’s what John McCain said about the tenuous connection between Barack Obama and 1960’s radical Bill Ayers.
While Obama’s connection to Ayers consists of little more than living in the same neighborhood as the now college professor, serving on the board of a well-regarded Chicago charitable foundation (Obama 1993-2004, Ayers 1998-2001), and receiving a $200 donation to his Senate campaign, John McCain has much more substantial ties to a convicted — and unrepentant — violence-advocating radical.
This convicted felon spent more than 4 years in prison for his role in a burglary aimed at subverting the Constitution. That felon is G. Gordon Liddy, and the burglary was the 1972 Watergate burglary. Will McCain repudiate and apologize for ever having anything to do with this unrepentant extremist?
McCain and Liddy seem to be very close indeed:
In 1998, Liddy’s home was the site of a McCain fundraiser. Over the years, he has made at least four contributions totaling $5,000 to the senator’s campaigns–including $1,000 this year.
Last November, McCain went on his radio show. Liddy greeted him as “an old friend,” and McCain sounded like one. “I’m proud of you, I’m proud of your family,” he gushed. “It’s always a pleasure for me to come on your program, Gordon, and congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great.”
Which principles would those be? The ones that told Liddy it was fine to break into the office of the Democratic National Committee to plant bugs and photograph documents? The ones that made him propose to kidnap anti-war activists so they couldn’t disrupt the 1972 Republican National Convention? The ones that inspired him to plan the murder (never carried out) of an unfriendly newspaper columnist?
Liddy has said he has no regrets about what he did and believes the time he spent in jail was as “a prisoner of war.” His extremism was of the same vintage as Ayers’, just on the other extreme of the political spectrum.
Liddy has continued to advocate extremist solutions, including violent resistance against officers of the federal government:
In 1994, after the disastrous federal raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, he gave some advice to his listeners: “Now if the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms comes to disarm you and they are bearing arms, resist them with arms. Go for a head shot; they’re going to be wearing bulletproof vests. . . . Kill the sons of bitches.”
Will John McCain denounce and reject his connection with this unrepentant terrorist? Will he denounce, reject, and apologize for ever having associated with this violence-advocating extremist and criminal?
