McCain Response to Obama Event

Please see our campaign's response to Barack Obama's event in Asheville, N.C.. Today, Barack Obama accused our campaign of running ‘swift boat' attacks for discussing in precise and truthful terms Barack Obama's relationship with William Ayers, an unrepentant co-founder of “The Weather Underground” which was a domestic terrorist organization that bombed American targets:

“The last four weeks of this election will be about whether the American people are willing to turn our economy and national security over to Barack Obama, a man with little record, questionable judgment, and ties to radical figures like unrepentant domestic terrorist William Ayers. Americans need to ask themselves if they've ever befriended an unrepentant terrorist, or had a convicted felon help them buy their house -- because those aren't smears, those are true facts about Barack Obama.” ---Tucker Bounds, spokesman McCain-Palin 2008

UNREPENTENT TERRORIST BILL AYERS AND OBAMA ARE “FRIENDLY”:

Obama's Chief Strategist, David Axelrod, Has Noted That Ayers And Obama Are ‘Certainly Friendly' Obama Campaign Chief Strategist David Axelrod: “Bill Ayers lives in his neighborhood. Their kids attend the same school … They're certainly friendly, they know each other, as anyone whose kids go to school together.” (Ben Smith, “Ax On Ayers,” The Politico's “Ben Smith” Blog, www.politico.com, 2/26/08)

Dr. Quentin Young, A Mutual Friend Of Ayers And Obama, Described Their Relationship As A “Casual Friendship.” “Dr. Young described Obama and Ayers as ‘friends,' but there's no evidence their relationship is more than the casual friendship of two men who occupy overlapping Chicago political circles, and served together on the board of a Chicago foundation.” (Ben Smith, “Obama Once Visited ‘60s Radicals,” The Politico, 1/22/08)

In 2001, Ayers Contributed $200 To Obama's State Senate Campaign. (National Institute On Money In State Politics Website, www.followthemoney.org, Accessed 2/15/08)

Obama First Met William Ayers In 1995 During His First State Senate Campaign, When Obama Held Event At Home Of Ayers And Wife Bernadine Dohrn, Which One Attendee Said Was Aimed At “Launching Him” In First Campaign For State Senate. “In 1995, State Senator Alice Palmer introduced her chosen successor, Barack Obama, to a few of the district's influential liberals at the home of two well known figures on the local left: William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. While Ayers and Dohrn may be thought of in Hyde Park as local activists, they're better known nationally as two of the most notorious -- and unrepentant -- figures from the violent fringe of the 1960s anti-war movement. … ‘I can remember being one of a small group of people who came to Bill Ayers' house to learn that Alice Palmer was stepping down from the senate and running for Congress,' said Dr. Quentin Young, a prominent Chicago physician and advocate for single-payer health care, of the informal gathering at the home of Ayers and his wife, Dohrn. ‘[Palmer] identified [Obama] as her successor.' … Dr. Young and another guest, Maria Warren, described it similarly: as an introduction to Hyde Park liberals of the handpicked successor to Palmer, a well-regarded figure on the left. ‘When I first met Barack Obama, he was giving a standard, innocuous little talk in the living room of those two legends-in-their-own-minds, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn,' Warren wrote on her blog in 2005. ‘They were launching him -- introducing him to the Hyde Park community as the best thing since sliced bread.'” (Ben Smith, “Obama Once Visited ‘60s Radicals,” The Politico, 1/22/08)

Even Hillary Clinton Criticized Barack Obama's Relationship With Bill Ayers. SEN. CLINTON: "Well, I think that is a fair general statement, but I also believe that Senator Obama served on a board with Mr. Ayers for a period of time, the Woods Foundation, which was a paid directorship position. And if I'm not mistaken, that relationship with Mr. Ayers on this board continued after 9/11 and after his reported comments, which were deeply hurtful to people in New York, and I would hope to every American, because they were published on 9/11 and he said that he was just sorry they hadn't done more. And what they did was set bombs and in some instances people died. So it is -- you know, I think it is, again, an issue that people will be asking about. And I have no doubt -- I know Senator Obama's a good man and I respect him greatly but I think that this is an issue that certainly the Republicans will be raising." (Democratic Presidential Candidate Debate, Philadelphia, PA, 4/16/08)

OBAMA BOUGHT HIS HOME WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF CONVICTED FELON, AND CAMPAIGN FUNDRAISER TONY REZKO:

Obama Paid $300,000 Less Than The Asking Price For His Mansion, While Tony Rezko's Wife Paid Full Price For A Vacant Lot Next Door On The Very Same Day. "Two years ago, Obama bought a mansion on the South Side, in the Kenwood neighborhood, from a doctor. On the same day, [Antoin 'Tony'] Rezko's wife, Rita Rezko, bought the vacant lot next door from the same seller. The doctor had listed the properties for sale together. He sold the house to Obama for $300,000 below the asking price. The doctor got his asking price on the lot from Rezko's wife." (Tim Novak, "Obama And His Rezko Ties," Chicago Sun-Times, 4/23/07)

· The Seller Of Obama's Home "Wanted To Sell Both Properties At The Same Time." "On the same day Obama closed on his house, Rezko's wife bought the adjacent empty lot, meeting the condition of the seller who wanted to sell both properties at the same time." (Brian Ross and Rhonda Schwartz, "The Rezko Connection," ABC News' "The Blotter" Blog, abcnews.go.com, 1/10/08)