Olbermann examines McCain's ties to anti-abortion 'terrorist' sympathizer

Why does it matter that a candidate for president knew Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright?"The answer, we are told, has to do with Barack Obama's judgment and character," MSNBC's Keith Olbermann said Wednesday night. He devoted a segment to exploring "what we learn applying this litmus test to John McCain."

Olbermann ends up dissecting the implications of McCain's appearance at a fundraiser for the the ultra-right wing Oregon Citizens Alliance in 1993. Earlier this week, RAW STORY reported that McCain shared the stage with Marilyn Shannon, who during her own speech praised a local woman who had shot a doctor because he performed abortions.

"Unlike Ayers who did not endorse terrorist activities during his meetings with Obama, this woman, Shannon, said of the shooter -- as McCain sat there -- quote 'she's a fine lady,'" Olbermann said. "A judge who later sentenced his fine lady for a campaign of yes, bombing women's clinics, said quote, 'Though I am loathe to call anyone a terrorist, you are a terrorist.'

"As Jed Lewison notes Olbermann's segment does not mention that McCain voted against making abortion clinic bombings a federal crime three months after the OCA appearance.

The Countdown segment also unearthed photos of Shannon as a delegate for President Bush during the 2004 Republican convention, where she wore a purple heart band-aid to mock John Kerry, and at the 2008 convention, which she attended as a McCain delegate wearing a "Shut Up and Drill" T-shirt.

Olbermann also explored more details of McCain's links to the US Council for World Freedom, an ardently anti-Communist group that included Nazi sympathizers, and his endorsement from the widow of the philanthropist who established the Annenberg Foundation, which employed Ayers and Obama.

While McCain continues to attack Obama over the past Ayers connection, he has so far refused to address his own coterie of questionable connections. LinkHere

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr., 10.09.2008
If McCarthy-era guilt-by-association is once again a valid political consideration, Palin, it would seem, has more to lose than Obama.