Gibson Cues Up Obama to Refute Ayers, Makes McCain Justify Topic --10/10/2008

1. Gibson Cues Up Obama to Refute Ayers, Makes McCain Justify Topic
For ABC's World News on Wednesday and Thursday, Charles Gibson conducted interviews with Barack Obama and John McCain aboard the ABC News bus, but on McCain's "line of attack" against Obama he shared Obama's annoyance ("Are you going to have to address that again?") while he pushed McCain to justify the criticism: "You're comfortable that this should be a focus in the last days of the campaign?" With Obama in Indianapolis on Wednesday, Gibson noted how "John McCain has unloaded on you in the last 72, 96 hours, as has Sarah Palin" about how "we don't know who Barack Obama is," but "were you surprised that he didn't bring it up last night at the debate and use that line of attack?" Gibson next cued up Obama, as if it's an unfair burden for Obama to "again" have to address Ayers: "Sarah Palin has come at you because of the Bill Ayers connection. Are you going to have to address that again?" When McCain, on Thursday in Milwaukee, brought up Obama's level of "knowledge and judgment," a befuddled Gibson pressed: "You don't think he's been thoroughly vetted, having gone through all the primaries he did, all the campaigning, running for President as long as you have -- two years?"

2. ABC's Wright Rages at 'Full-Bore Attack on Obama's Character'
For the second time inside a week, on Thursday's Good Morning America ABC reporter David Wright railed against John McCain and his "full-bore attack on [Senator Barack] Obama's character." Speaking of the McCain/Palin campaign's references to Obama's relationship with unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers, the network journalist complained that the Republicans were suggesting Obama is "yellow, disloyal and doesn't belong." After asserting that the strategy of talking about an opponent's character has "been around more than 2,000 years" Wright darkly intoned: "But in the past couple of days, the Republicans have been laying it on thick. Chumming the waters. And, not surprisingly, ugly reactions are beginning to surface." Of course, no where in Wright's segment did he mention any of Obama's negative attacks, such as the nasty ad by the Illinois Senator which implied that McCain is old and out of touch because he doesn't use the Internet. Perhaps previewing the media's next line of attack, Wright closed: "For now, the Obama campaign is pointedly not accusing the McCain team of racism. Though, they did cock an eyebrow when McCain referred to Obama as 'that one.'" For now?

3. CNN Omits ACORN's Name From Brief on Voter Fraud Raid in Vegas
On Thursday's American Morning program on CNN, co-anchor Kiran Chetry failed to mention ACORN's name during a news brief about the law enforcement raid on the liberal organization's local headquarters in Las Vegas, Nevada, as part of an investigation into allegations of voter fraud. Chetry called ACORN a "non-profit group" that was "disputing claims it committed voter registration fraud." She also referred to the group, which is linked to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, as a "community organization that helps organize voter outreach." The only indication that the brief was about ACORN was a file video that was displayed for 5 seconds that showed the organization's name written on a form.

4. Tina Brown: Dishonorable McCain Should Be a Better Loser
Former New Yorker editor Tina Brown appeared on Thursday's Good Morning America to plug her new Web site and asserted that "what people are really interested in" is whether Senator John McCain is losing in a dishonorable manner. While describing "The Daily Beast," a Huffington Post-style blog site, she whined that "what I feel strongly is a sense that people are regretting [sic] the old John McCain" and complained: "Like, what happened to this man who was such, a kind of, honorable, great American? The campaign doesn't seem to live up to his sense of honor in any way. And he's really changing." Is that what "people" are really interested in or just people in New York City? With condescending sympathy, Brown blogged: "This is all horrible to those of us who once fell in love with McCain's flinty heroism and independence. It's as if he when he made the decision that fateful day on August 10th, 2004 in Pensacola, Florida to grit his teeth and bear hug Bush, he contracted a political virus that ate away at the nobility of his soul."

5. FNC Features Ayers Bombing Victim Rest of Media Ignore
While the networks and much of the mainstream media channel their outrage at Sarah Palin for daring to mention Barack Obama's ties to terrorist Bill Ayers, Thursday's Fox and Friends featured a victim of Ayers, John Murtagh, whose home was bombed at the age of nine. Murtagh claimed that the Obama-Ayers relationship goes back to the 1980s, when they met at a law firm. Further elaborating on the activities of a Weather Underground splinter group when Obama was attending college in New York City, Murtagh charged: "For Barack Obama to attend Columbia shortly after these events, being in New York at that time and not know who the Weather Underground was, frankly, makes him the dumbest man that ever graduated from Columbia and Harvard Law School." When Brian Kilmeade replied "we know he' not," the terrorism victim agreed.

Gibson Cues Up Obama to Refute Ayers,
Makes McCain Justify Topic

For ABC's World News on Wednesday and Thursday, Charles Gibson conducted interviews with Barack Obama and John McCain aboard the ABC News bus, but on McCain's "line of attack" against Obama he shared Obama's annoyance ("Are you going to have to address that again?") while he pushed McCain to justify the criticism: "You're comfortable that this should be a focus in the last days of the campaign?"

With Obama in Indianapolis on Wednesday, Gibson noted how "John McCain has unloaded on you in the last 72, 96 hours, as has Sarah Palin" about how "we don't know who Barack Obama is," but "were you surprised that he didn't bring it up last night at the debate and use that line of attack?" Gibson next cued up Obama, as if it's an unfair burden for Obama to "again" have to address Ayers: "Sarah Palin has come at you because of the Bill Ayers connection. Are you going to have to address that again?"

Talking to McCain on Thursday in Milwaukee, Gibson raised the obvious ("Does this almost monolithic focus on the economy, in the news, and in people's minds in recent weeks, hurt your campaign?") before then treating McCain's efforts to change the subject as odd: "Why...have you focused so in what you've had to say on Senator Obama's character?" When McCain brought up Obama's level of "knowledge and judgment," a befuddled Gibson pressed: "You don't think he's been thoroughly vetted, having gone through all the primaries he did, all the campaigning, running for President as long as you have -- two years?" As for Ayers, Gibson pushed McCain to show his own better judgment, posing the question cited above about being "comfortable" with making Obama's character an issue.

[This item, by the MRC's Brent Baker, was posted Thursday night on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

As for Obama's being "thoroughly vetted," two Media Research Center studies released in August proved otherwise:

For "Editing Reverend Wright's Wrongs: How the Networks Censored and Manipulated Jeremiah Wright Soundbites and Glorified Barack Obama's Race Speech," go to: www.mrc.org

"Obama's Margin of Victory: The Media; How Barack Obama Could Not Have Won the Democratic Nomination Without ABC, CBS and NBC," determined:

Barack Obama had a crucial advantage over his rivals this year: the support of the national media, especially the three broadcast networks. At every step of his national political career, network reporters showered the Illinois Senator with glowing media coverage, building him up as a political celebrity and exhibiting little interest in investigating his past associations or exploring the controversies that could have threatened his campaign.

For the full report: www.mrc.org

Gibson's first questions to set up the two segments weren't exactly equal as Gibson prompted Obama to expound, but pressed McCain to explain a supposed failure:

For Obama: "And we asked him about what we've been hearing on this trip."

For McCain: "And, we asked Senator McCain why at the debate the other night, there weren't more new ideas about how to solve the current economic crisis."

An example of similar questions to both:

To Obama: "Somebody said to us, where is the passion in these guys? Where is the anger? People have lost trillions of dollars in their stock accounts, in their pension plans, in their 401 (k) s. You said out there to this rally, fear and panic cannot pervade us. And yet, fear does right now. And people look to leaders to turn that around or to counter that."

To Mccain: "We've talked to a lot of folks as we've taken this bus around the battleground states in the Midwest, and somebody said to us: 'I don't see the passion and I don't see the anger in either one of these guys.'"

# Gibson's queries to Obama, from their interview on the ABC News bus parked in Indianapolis, as aired on the Wednesday, October 8 World News:

CHARLES GIBSON: All along our Midwest bus tour, the economy has been the first topic of conversation with people we've been meeting along the way. After two days in Ohio, we drove through an early fall rainstorm this morning across the border to Indiana and the Indiana State Fairgrounds here in Indianapolis. Barack Obama held a rally here where he focused on the economy, and he focused on people's fears. Those were the primary topics of our conversation with the Senator as he came on board to visit. And we asked him about what we've been hearing on this trip.

CHARLES GIBSON, TO OBAMA: Somebody said to us, where is the passion in these guys? Where is the anger? People have lost trillions of dollars in their stock accounts, in their pension plans, in their 401 (k) s. You said out there to this rally, fear and panic cannot pervade us. And yet, fear does right now. And people look to leaders to turn that around or to counter that.
[OBAMA]
GIBSON: You also said to this rally, we need new direction, we need new leadership in Washington. But what would you be doing right now that's any different than what the Bush administration has done or is doing?
[OBAMA]
GIBSON: But that puts you in a position -- that puts you in a position of essentially saying, trust me. I'm a 47-year-old guy with one term in the Senate, and you got to put your faith in me.
[OBAMA]
GIBSON: We passed a $700 billion rescue package, the market went down. The Fed said we'll be the primary lenders to banks and to businesses. The market tanked. We now have a worldwide rate cut to try to increase liquidity. The market is yawning at that today. It almost seems -- and the credit markets remain frozen. It almost seems as if rationality is out the window.
[OBAMA]
GIBSON: A group of kids at Bowling Green, I watched the debate with them last night. They don't believe the money's going to be there to pay for their loans to get them through four years of college. And then on top of that, I said to them, well, if you don't have faith in that, how many of you believe Social Security will be there when you get to be 65? 21 kids, 3 held up their hands. That again is a breakdown of faith in the system.

....

GIBSON: In recent days, John McCain at his rallies has been talking a lot about Barack Obama the man, saying America doesn't really know Obama. So we asked Barack Obama about that in our conversation today.
GIBSON TO OBAMA: John McCain has unloaded on you in the last 72, 96 hours, as has Sarah Palin. McCain saying essentially we don't know who Barack Obama is, where he came from. I'm an open book. He's not. Were you surprised that he didn't bring it up last night at the debate and use that line of attack?
OBAMA: Well I am surprised that we've been seeing some pretty over the top attacks coming out of the McCain campaign over the last several days, that he wasn't willing to say it to my face. The notion that people don't know who I am is a little hard to swallow. I've been running for President for the last two years. I've campaigned in 49 states. Millions of people have heard me speak at length on every topic under the sun. And I've written two books which everybody who reads them will say are about as honest a set of reflections by at least a politician as are out there.
GIBSON: Finally, she's come at you; Sarah Palin has come at you because of the Bill Ayers connection. Are you going to have to address that again?
SENATOR BARACK OBAMA: Why don't we clear it up right now? I'll repeat again what I've said many times. This is a guy who engaged in some despicable acts 40 years ago when I was eight years old. By the time I met him 10 or 15 years ago, he was a college professor of education at the University of Illinois. And we served on a school reform board together. A board, by the way, that was funded by Walter Annenberg, who had been an ambassador and close friend of Ronald Reagan's. So I have talked to him about school reform issues, and the notion that somehow he has been involved in my campaign, that he is an adviser of mine, that I palled around with a terrorist, all these statements are made simply to try to score cheap political points. You know, look, I can handle these attacks for the remaining four weeks, but it's certainly not serving our democracy right now. We need to be having a debate about how we're going to yank ourselves out of a very difficult situation, and that's what I'm going to spend my time talking about.

# Gibson's question to McCain on the ABC News bus parked in Milwaukee, as aired on the Thursday, October 9 World News:

CHARLES GIBSON: The economy continues to dominate the conversations on our tour of the Midwest battleground states. We traveled 620 miles so far, and our first stop this morning was Milwaukee to see Senator John McCain. That's actually his bus parked there. We talked to him about his recent attacks on Barack Obama, concerning the Illinois Senator's relationship with Bill Ayers, a radical from the 1960s. And, we asked Senator McCain why at the debate the other night, there weren't more new ideas about how to solve the current economic crisis.
[McCAIN]
GIBSON: Let me talk about that plan. $300 billion. New money? Or part of the $700 billion?
[McCAIN]
GIBSON: Some of the reaction to your plan, though, $300 billion to buy up mortgages: People say, "Look, I'm paying my mortgage. I didn't overspend, I didn't take a house that I couldn't afford. I'm paying my mortgage. Why are you going to help them and do nothing for me?"
[McCAIN]
GIBSON: We've talked to a lot of folks as we've taken this bus around the battleground states in the Midwest, and somebody said to us: "I don't see the passion and I don't see the anger in either one of these guys."
[McCAIN]
GIBSON: One of the women the other night asking questions said, why should we trust either one of you guys with our money? Simple question, but I thought it was rather profound in that it expresses a basic lack of faith in any institution in this country.
[McCAIN]
GIBSON: Does this almost monolithic focus on the economy, in the news, and in people's minds in recent weeks, hurt your campaign?
[McCAIN]
GIBSON You were sort of humming along there in the polls for a while, and then this issue sort of pervaded everything, and it's not, it seems to-
McCAIN: Look, I'm not going to complain about the hand I'm dealt, my friend. We're coming up with solutions, trying to give the vision and leadership for the American people, and I'll accept their judgment.
GIBSON: Why, then, in recent days, have you focused so in what you've had to say on Senator Obama's character? Talked about the fact that we don't know him, that he's come out of no where, that's he's not an open book, et cetera.
McCAIN: Well, I'm not sure that's character. What I think it is, does he have the experience and knowledge and judgment, and has he made the right decisions, and has he been candid with the American people. And I think that's important.
GIBSON: You don't think he's been thoroughly vetted, having gone through all the primaries he did, all the campaigning, running for President as long as you have -- two years.
McCAIN: No, actually, I don't. In fact, Senator Clinton, in their debates, said the American people didn't know enough about him, including his relationship with Mr. Ayers. That's what she said and I agree with that. He launched his political career in his living room, in Mr. Ayers' living room. And I don't care about two washed up old terrorists that are unrepentant about trying to destroy America. But I do care, and Americans should care, about his relationship with him, and whether he's been truthful and candid about it.
GIBSON: Do you think his character or lack of candor disqualifies him to be President of the United States?
McCAIN: I'll leave that up to the American people. But I have every right to insist that he be candid and truthful with the American people. And he needs to be asked about it and he needs to be forthcoming.
GIBSON: You didn't raise that, this line of argument in the debate the other night. And I asked Senator Obama about that yesterday. He said, yeah, I'm surprised that John didn't say that to my face.
McCAIN: Oh, I'll be glad to -- again, two things I've never been accused of lacking. And one is passion, and the other is courage. I can accept a lot of the other criticisms. It didn't come up in the flow of conversation.
GIBSON: And you're comfortable that this should be a focus in the last days of the campaign?
McCAIN: Oh I think it's something that needs to be examined, just as Senator Clinton said it should be examined during their primary and never was.
GIBSON: Senator John McCain on our bus today.

ABC's Wright Rages at 'Full-Bore Attack
on Obama's Character'

After asserting that the strategy of talking about an opponent's character has "been around more than 2,000 years" Wright darkly intoned: "But in the past couple of days, the Republicans have been laying it on thick. Chumming the waters. And, not surprisingly, ugly reactions are beginning to surface." Of course, no where in Wright's segment did he mention any of Obama's negative attacks, such as the nasty ad by the Illinois Senator which implied that McCain is old and out of touch because he doesn't use the Internet.

[This item, by the MRC's Scott Whitlock, was posted Thursday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

Instead, Wright referenced "conservative" New York Times columnist David Brooks, someone who makes a habit out of bashing other right-wingers. Before playing a clip of Brooks calling Governor Sarah Palin a "cancer," Wright recited that the columnist is "troubled by Sarah Palin's anti-intellectualism, which he fears could embolden the know-nothing wing of his party."

Perhaps previewing the media's next line of attack, Wright closed: "For now, the Obama campaign is pointedly not accusing the McCain team of racism. Though, they did cock an eyebrow when McCain referred to Obama as 'that one.'" For now?

On Tuesday's GMA, Wright compared McCain's attacks on Ayers to the Obama camp's new ads about the Arizona senator and the Keating 5 savings and loan scandal. He asked: "Which is worse, a radical terrorist who wanted to blow up the Pentagon 40 years ago or a crooked banker whose failed savings and loan had to be bailed out by the taxpayers 20 years ago?"

A transcript of the October 9 segment, which aired 7:08am:

ROBIN ROBERTS: Now, we're going to move on to America votes and the presidential campaign that began with the candidates pledging to be respectful toward one another. Now that we're in the home stretch, are those promises falling by the wayside? Our David Wright in Washington with more. Good morning, David.

DAVID WRIGHT: Good morning, Robin. Attacking your opponent's character, nothing new in politics. It's a strategy that's been around more than 2,000 years. But in the past couple of days, the Republicans have been laying it on thick. Chumming the waters. And, not surprisingly, ugly reactions are beginning to surface. Asked by Sean Hannity whether he believes Obama is prepared to be president, John McCain gave a blunt, two-word answer.
SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN: I don't. But I'll let the American people make a judgment in just 28 days.
WRIGHT: McCain's running mate has been even harsher, accusing Obama of palling around with terrorists.
GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN: Makes me question who he would associate himself with in the future.
WRIGHT: Now, even Cindy McCain is piling on, accusing Obama of waging the dirtiest campaign in American history and claiming he can't sympathize with military families.
CINDY MCCAIN: I would suggest that Senator Obama change shoes with me for just one day. And see what it means- and see what it means to have a loved one serving in the armed forces.
WRIGHT: It's a full-bore attack on Obama's character, suggesting he's yellow, disloyal and doesn't belong.
CROWD CHANTING: Nobama! Nobama!
WRIGHT: It sure works up the crowds. Yesterday, some in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, shouted, "He's a radical" And "Off with his head." Or how about this local sheriff, using Obama's middle name as a rallying cry?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: On November 4th, let's leave Barack Hussein Obama wondering what's happened.
WRIGHT: Joseph Biden isn't the only one crying foul.
SENATOR JOE BIDEN: And the stuff people are yelling from the crowd, if she hears it, she should at least be saying, whoa, whoa, whoa. That's overboard. I mean, you know, this is volatile stuff.
WRIGHT: Conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks, in this video posted online, say he's troubled by Sarah Palin's anti-intellectualism, which he fears could embolden the know-nothing wing of his party.
DAVID BROOKS: I'm more Republican than not. She represents a fatal cancer to the Republican Party.
WRIGHT: For now, the Obama campaign is pointedly not accusing the McCain team of racism. Though, they did cock an eyebrow when McCain referred to Obama as "that one." SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN: You know who voted for it? Might never know. That one. You know who voted against it? Me.
WRIGHT: The Obama campaign now has a new website. Thatone08.Com, selling T-shirts and other trinkets. The McCain campaign insists that all of this stuff is fair game. That they're simply making voters aware of who Barack Obama really is, raising questions about his credibility and his honesty. But in the primaries, John McCain insisted he wasn't going to run a campaign like this. And that's left some of his supporters to wonder why he's doing it now. Robin?

CNN Omits ACORN's Name From Brief on
Voter Fraud Raid in Vegas

On Thursday's American Morning program on CNN, co-anchor Kiran Chetry failed to mention ACORN's name during a news brief about the law enforcement raid on the liberal organization's local headquarters in Las Vegas, Nevada, as part of an investigation into allegations of voter fraud. Chetry called ACORN a "non-profit group" that was "disputing claims it committed voter registration fraud." She also referred to the group, which is linked to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, as a "community organization that helps organize voter outreach." The only indication that the brief was about ACORN was a file video that was displayed for 5 seconds that showed the organization's name written on a form.

During the 28-second brief, which aired at the bottom-half of the 6 am Eastern hour of the CNN program, Chetry also stated how the raid occurred after authorities in Sin City noticed "some names did not match addresses" with some of the voter registration forms submitted by ACORN. She then continued that "[t]hey [local authorities] also say some of the forms included names of Dallas Cowboys players. The group's regional director claims they were the ones who tipped off election officials about fake or duplicate forms."

[This item, by the MRC's Matthew Balan, was posted Thursday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

An article by Molly Ball in Thursday's Las Vegas Review-Journal expanded on the story surrounding ACORN and this raid: "A community activist group under fire for fraudulent voter registration defended itself Wednesday, saying it tried in vain to work with officials to get rogue canvassers prosecuted months before Tuesday's surprise raid on its office by state authorities.... Secretary of State Ross Miller, whose office is spearheading the probe, said it was necessary to collect evidence about serious problems that could prompt felony charges. 'It's very disappointing to think ACORN would minimize the importance of maintaining integrity in the (election) system,' he said." Ball later mentioned Miller's party affiliation: "'The investigation into potential registration fraud should not diminish Nevada voters' confidence that only eligible voters will be able to cast ballots on November 4th,' Miller, a Democrat, said."

For more on the law enforcement raid on ACORN's headquarters in Los Vegas, see the October 9, 2008 article by Molly Ball in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, "Voter Registration Fraud: Activists Defend Actions," at: www.lvrj.com

Ball's article also accurately reported on ACORN's liberal background and ties to Obama: "ACORN is a nonpartisan organization, but it has a liberal political agenda and ties to Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. The low-income people it seeks to enfranchise are a group that tends to vote Democratic." Chetry didn't mention any of this during her brief.

The full transcript of Kiran Chety's brief from Thursday's American Morning:

CHETRY: A non-profit group is disputing claims it committed voter registration fraud. Authorities in Las Vegas raided a community organization that helps organize voter outreach, Tuesday, after noticing some names did not match addresses. They also say some of the forms included names of Dallas Cowboys players. The group's regional director claims they were the ones who tipped off election officials about fake or duplicate forms.

Tina Brown: Dishonorable McCain Should
Be a Better Loser

Former New Yorker editor Tina Brown appeared on Thursday's Good Morning America to plug her new Web site and asserted that "what people are really interested in" is whether Senator John McCain is losing in a dishonorable manner. While describing "The Daily Beast," a Huffington Post-style blog site, she whined that "what I feel strongly is a sense that people are regretting [sic] the old John McCain" and complained: "Like, what happened to this man who was such, a kind of, honorable, great American? The campaign doesn't seem to live up to his sense of honor in any way. And he's really changing."

Now, is that what "people" are really interested in or just people in New York City? Brown's chiding continued as she questioned: "If McCain loses, will he feel a great regret that he didn't lose this time with as much honor as he lost last time?" Agreeing that the former Vanity Fair editor had hit on a hot topic, co-host Robin Roberts fretted, "That's what some people are talking about." On a blog for her site, Brown was even nastier. She mused that after McCain referred to Obama as "that one" during the presidential debate, the Democrat "watched him from his Frank Sinatra stool with the look of a family visitor marveling at the antics of the household's resident crazy uncle."

[This item, by the MRC's Scott Whitlock, was posted Friday afternoon on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

With condescending sympathy, Brown also blogged: "This is all horrible to those of us who once fell in love with McCain's flinty heroism and independence. It's as if he when he made the decision that fateful day on August 10th, 2004 in Pensacola, Florida to grit his teeth and bear hug Bush, he contracted a political virus that ate away at the nobility of his soul." See: www.thedailybeast.com

In comparison, Brown appeared on Good Morning America on August 9, 1999 to embarrassingly gush over the marriage of Bill and Hillary Clinton: "What you feel is this is a couple who share the passion for the world, for doing good for politics, for making life better for other people. This is their great bond, and it really has brought them together with almost a sort of spiritual intensity." See an August 10, 1999 column by MRC President Brent Bozell: www.mrc.org

A transcript of the October 9 exchange between Roberts and Brown, which occurred at 8:43am:

ROBIN ROBERTS: And now, magazine guru- you like that? Tina Brown, is here this morning. The former editor of Vanity Fair and the New Yorker is set to conquer a whole new medium, the internet. She is launching a website. It's called the Daily Beast. The motto is read this, skip that. Because they carefully choose their content to give you only the hottest, most interesting stories, such as yourself.
TINA BROWN: Correct. Yes.
ROBERTS: Politics is really hot right now.
BROWN: Very hot, indeed. And the Daily Beast is chowing down everyday the most exciting political stuff and putting up only those the stories that we know that you're going to talk about.
ROBERTS: And what is it that people are talking about when it comes to politics right now? The two candidates?
BROWN: Well, what I think what people are really interested in is, obviously, you know, there's a huge direction right now for Barack Obama, that he's really winning, at the moment, anyway, unless something dramatic happens. I think what I feel strongly is a sense that people are regretting [sic] the old John McCain. Like, what happened to this man who was such, a kind, of honorable, great American? The campaign doesn't seem to live up to his sense of honor in any way. And he's really changing. And I feel what is sad, in a way, and what I wrote about actually this week on the site, was, just, if McCain loses, will he feel a great regret that he didn't lose this time with as much honor as he lost last time?
ROBERTS: And you're a friend of his. You've known him for a while.
BROWN: I really have a great affection for him. I like him enormously.
ROBERTS: I know you do.
BROWN: I admire him. You know, I think he's fantastic. But he has run a campaign in the last weeks which has not been to his credit.
ROBERTS: That's what some people are talking about. The Daily Beast. There's a lot out there on the internet. What sets this apart? What's different about this website?
BROWN: What's different is we are really like the smart, amusing friend, who e-mails on the great stuff and says have you read this? We go through everything. I mean, we get in at 5:00 in the morning. And we just chow it all down. We read it all for you. And we only give you the ten things every day, which we feel are going to provoke you, interest you, inform you, make you laugh. They're the ten things which are the hottest stories of the day, which you're going to talk about at work, and come off as informed and engaged in the conversation. 'Cause none of us have any time.

FNC Features Ayers Bombing Victim Rest
of Media Ignore

While the networks and much of the mainstream media channel their outrage at Sarah Palin for daring to mention Barack Obama's ties to terrorist Bill Ayers, Thursday's Fox and Friends featured a victim of Ayers, John Murtagh, whose home was bombed at the age of nine. Murtagh claimed that the Obama-Ayers relationship goes back to the 1980s, when they met at a law firm.

Further elaborating on the activities of a Weather Underground splinter group when Obama was attending college in New York City, Murtagh charged: "For Barack Obama to attend Columbia shortly after these events, being in New York at that time and not know who the Weather Underground was, frankly, makes him the dumbest man that ever graduated from Columbia and Harvard Law School." When Brian Kilmeade replied "we know he' not," the terrorism victim agreed.

[This item, by the MRC's Justin McCarthy, was posted Thursday on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

From the October 9 Fox & Friends:

STEVE DOOCY: This headline from 1970 says it all, four bombs at Murtagh home. The notorious terror group the Weather Underground claiming responsibility for an attack on the family of a New York state Supreme Court justice. The bombing was lead by radical Bill Ayers, the same guy screen right who eventually formed a relationship of some sort with Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama.
BRIAN KILMEADE: Yonkers city councilman John Murtagh was just nine years old when the blast went off inside his house. John this is a personal story for you.
JOHN MURTAGH: Clearly it is. I was nine years old at the time. My father was the judge presiding over what was called the Panther 21 trial, members of Panther party who were charged with attempting to bomb landmarks in New York. On a February night in 1970, while my parents, my brother, sister and I were asleep in our house, the Weather Underground launched the attack on our family and set off at least three, possibly four bombs, one of them under the gas tank of the family car.
DOOCY: Car bomb.
MURTAGH: Looking to kill us.
DOOCY: So when I read one of the things you wrote earlier in the spring, the headline was that Bill Ayers tried to kill my family.
MURTAGH: Well, Bill Ayers, the founder of the Weather Underground, Kathy Wilkerson, who is a former member of the Weather Underground, still lives here in New York, she wrote a memoir two years ago in which she acknowledged that it was the New York cell of the Weather Underground that launched the attack on my family. Three weeks later, at Bill Ayers direction, they were assembling bombs at Greenwich Village in order to attack the officers' club at Fort Dix, New Jersey and they blew themselves up.
DOOCY: Right, they blew the nail.
MURTAGH: Exactly.
KILMEADE: So what do you think when you hear about this Bill Ayers back in the news and his links or lack thereof with Barack Obama?
MURTAGH: Well, you know, Barack Obama constantly says "I was only eight years old when this happened." That's kind of his throw away line. I'm not questioning what Barack Obama was doing when he was eight years old. I'm questioning his behavior as an adult to choose his friend, mentor, and long time personal and professional colleague, a gentleman who engaged in acts of terror against families, against government buildings and whose organization crossed the lines of at least three if not more police officers.
DOOCY: Now, we've had the Obama camp on a number of times and they dispute the relationship and everything else. They say it goes back to when they simply served on boards and they only met at a couple of board meetings plus that get together at that guy's, Bill Ayers' house. But why is it you think- because this is something that happened -- why is it that you think the relationship between Bill Ayers and Barack Obama goes back 20 years?
MURTAGH: Bill Ayers' wife, Bernadine Dohrn, also one of the original leaders of the Weather Underground. And the woman who took credit for the bombing at our home and other New York targets. Bernadine Dohrn was an attorney by training. She couldn't get admitted to the Bar because of her crimes. Bill Ayers' family got a job at a large Chicago law firm from Sydney Austin in the 1980's. She was a contemporary at the law firm in the 80s with Michelle Obama. It was the firm where a year later-
DOOCY: They had known each other around the water cooler?
MURTAGH: Sure, and a year later it's where Michelle and Barack Obama met. So I believe if the senator where to come clean and tell his full story, we'd find this relationship well predates the fundraiser in Ayers' home and goes back to the 80s.
DOOCY: I have never heard that connection before.
KILMEADE: I just can't believe that a university would hire this guy with this type of background.
MURTAGH: You'd have to ask the University of Illinois to explain that.
DOOCY: Let, let me ask you one more question. You know, the Obama camp called me up and said "look they lived in the same neighborhood, but Barack Obama did not know Bill Ayers' history at the time of that meet and greet where they launched his career in his living room."
MURTAGH: You know, Barack Obama was a student at Columbia in the early 1980s. He lived in New York at Columbia at a time that a splinter group of the Weather Underground murdered two police officers here in New York as part of a failed banking heist. Frankly, for Barack Obama to attend Columbia shortly after these events, being in New York at that time and not know who the Weather Underground was, frankly, makes him the dumbest man that ever graduated from Columbia and Harvard Law School.
KILMEADE: Which we know he's not.
MURTAGH: Absolutely not.

-- Brent Baker