Obama, for some misguided reason, made an ad asking why John McCain is talking about the sixties and his friendship with the unrepentant terrorist William Ayers. I guess he wants everyone to continue to talk about this. I’m stuck on this joke now:

What do Obama and Osama have in common? They both have a friend that bombed the Pentagon.

Obama’s question is a stupid one. The reason we are talking about his friendship with this radical bomber is because Ayers is still “unrepentant”. The key word here is “unrepentant”. He isn’t sorry for what he did, won’t renounce it, and actually wished they had done more! This, to most Americans at least, reflects horrible character.

Even though Obama gave lip service and denounced what Ayers did, he will not denounce him. To this day, he remains friends with him. To have as deep a relationship as Obama has with Ayers and his horrible character is definitely poor judgement and poor character on Obama’s part. Get a clue, Obama. This is why McCain is talking about it, because you remain friends with someone that hates America and stomps on the American flag for magazine covers.

Allahpundit has this to say:

His argument is so weak that it doesn’t really qualify as an argument: Yes, we’re friendly, but it’s ancient history and I denounced what he did, so what’s the big deal about socializing with, um, an unrepentant terrorist? As for the submoronic point about Ayers’s crimes having been committed when Obama was eight — a staple of the left’s feeble defense of him on this subject — imagine what the reaction would be if Bobby Jindal, say, had struck up a chummy pen pal correspondence with Charles Manson while in his late 20s. Think the left might find that relevant to his character? Think the fact that Jindal wasn’t even born when Manson’s crimes were committed would get him off the hook? Of course not, because as even an eight-year-old can understand, the salient point isn’t how old Obama was when the crimes were committed, it’s how old he was when he formed the moral judgment that led him to associate with Ayers in the first place.

Here’s the response from the McCain camp to Obama’s question:

“The fact that Barack Obama chose to launch his political career at the home of an unrepentant terrorist raises more questions about Senator Obama’s judgment than any TV ad ever could. And the fact that he’s launching his own Convention by defending his long association with a man who says he didn’t bomb enough U.S. targets tells us more about Barack Obama than any of tonight’s speeches will.”  ~~McCain spokesman Brian Rogers

It’s pretty simple, Barack, why we are talking about it. You keep a close relationship with someone that feels no guilt in committing terrorism against the United States, while we are at war with terrorism! Obviously, your judgment and character are seriously lacking and this particular friendship you refuse to denounce is scary!

Alarmed that the truth might come out, Obama is trying to block the ad. From Politico:

Obama to DOJ: Block terrorist ad!

Sen. Barack Obama has launched an all-out effort to block a Republican billionaire’s efforts to tie him to domestic and foreign terrorists in a wave of negative television ads.

Obama’s campaign has written the Department of Justice demanding a criminal investigation of the “American Issues Project,” the vehicle through which Dallas investor Harold Simmons is financing the advertisements. The Obama campaign — and tens of thousands of supporters — also is pressuring television networks and affiliates to reject the ads. The effort has met with some success: CNN and Fox News are not airing the attacks, and some local affiliates have refused as well.

Obama has also launched his own response ad, directly addressing Simmons’ attempt to link him to domestic terror.

The project is “a knowing and willful attempt to violate the strictures of federal election law,” Obama general counsel Bob Bauer wrote to Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Keeney last week in a letter provided to Politico. Bauer argued that by advocating Obama’s defeat, the ad should be subject to the contribution limits of federal campaign law, not the anything-goes regime of issue advocacy.

Bauer’s letter called on the Justice Department to open “an investigation of the American Issues Project; its officers and directors; and its anonymous donors, whoever they may be.”

“This is a sad ploy to circumvent the First Amendment by a campaign who has no arguments with the merits of our ad. It’s the classic maneuver: If you can’t win on the merits, file a lawsuit,” said a spokesman for the American Issues Project, Christian Pinkston, who said his group’s non-profit status allowed it to participate in elections as long as it does a majority of policy work, which it plans to do.

Way to go Barry, now everyone will be talking about this! Way to launch the Convention!

Reference: Here is a good summary of the Obama/Ayers relationship — What Do Osama and Obama Have in Common? by Rich Carroll.

And here is the ad prepared by the American Issues Project — Know Enough?:

Editor’s update, Tuesday, August 26

Terrific observation from Commentary Magazine:

The Biggest Goof Yet

The conservative blogosphere is agog: what was Barack Obama thinking? He took a story largely confined to the internet, (only briefly raised in the primary) about Obama’s connection to former terrorist Bill Ayers, put it in his own ad, and then filed a claim trying to force the third-party 527 ad that first brought up the Obama-Ayers connection off the air. In the next 24 hours thousands if not millions of voters who never heard of or didn’t understand the extent of the Obama-Ayers relationship are going to get a full education.

Also from NRO’s The Corner we have this:

Obama’s Misfire

Senator Obama’s new ad, trying to explain his association with the unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers, may rank as among the worst tactical mistakes of the campaign. It puts into play an issue that has been largely ignored by the MSM. It will drive at least some responsible members of the press to cover the truth about Obama’s association with Ayers, which is certainly enough to seriously harm Obama. And it once again raises the problem of Obama’s other troubling associations over the years….

Michelle Malkin posts this:

Fighting back against Obama’s thugs

I cannot stress how outrageous the Obama campaign’s attempt to silence the creators of the Ayers ad is. Mr. Hope and Change is applying Chicago-style mafia tactics to intimidate those who want to alert the nation to Obama’s troubling ties to, and longtime relationship with, the unrepentant Weather Underground terrorist….

Editor’s update, Wednesday, August 27 very early

USA Today — Obama dogged by links to 1960s radical

American Issues Project spokesman Christian Pinkston says Ayers’ influence is an open question, but “it’s hard to see how one actually could resolve having any sort of relationship with an admitted, remorseless domestic terrorist.”

The ad notes that Weathermen bombed the Capitol and asks why Obama would “be friends with someone who bombed the Capitol and is proud of it?”

More from NRO’s The Corner — Schmidt Fires Back on Ayers Ad

Here’s Obama’s problem with regard to Ayers. When he was asked directly, Obama described Ayers as just a guy who lives in his neighborhood. We know that’s not accurate. Before we get to the place where we can ask, “Why does Barack Obama have a relationship with an unrepentant terrorist?” we have to ask, “Why is Barack Obama not being forthcoming about his relationship?”

Tail wag: No Quarter — Quibbles and Bits