Col Hogan wrote:Like it or not, the Prez automatically gets a provisional TS clearance...
And simple association with someone...Ayers, for example...is not a disqualifier...
Two observations.
First, since Sedition laws apply to all Americans, including the President, which then, of course, becomes grounds for impeachment as "Elf" Kucinich so painfully illuminated this last session, then the issue of security clearance is somewhat mitigated as Presidential actions against The State's benefit become actionable (as with all Americans). Unfortunately, use of "security qualifications" to vet or eliminate political candidates CANNOT be allowed so as to prevent security services from proactively effecting election results (a process they are well schooled in...).
Second, probably more than drug use, I am more wary of a candidate who's associated with people like Ayers, REGARDLESS OF WHEN AYER'S "OFFENSE" WAS COMMITTED. I am not one to permanently condemn someone for past mistakes, but Ayers has unrelentingly repeated that he has no regrets for his actions; has denied having the intent to kill people (a charge leveled by an undercover operative who sat in on Weathermen meetings and specifically stated that Ayers gave the bombmakers detailed instructions on how and what should be added to their bombs to maximize casualties); has denied that being involved in bombmaking and bombing of U.S. government facilities makes him a "terrorist"; and most importantly, even when he has acknowledged being involved in the bombing of a NY police facility, that had bomb making materials identical to the police facility bombing in SF which killed a police officer, DENIES
to this day any impropriety...even when questioned in a book promotion tour interview on Friday on GMA...
AYERS: Well, you know, again, I think you have to read this as a memoir, not as a manifesto, not even as a history. But the reason that I undertook it actually was because- and, remember, I wrote it- it was published in 2001, so I wrote it in the two years leading up to it. But, I had enough distance from it that I felt that I could say something about it. But I wrote it as a memoir, as a way of, kind of, understanding a ten year period in our history. And I thought it was relevant then. I think it's more relevant now and the reason it is, is because we are once again bogged down in two wars. And if you add Israel/Palestine, that's a third major conflict. And, and we don't seem to as a democracy-we don't seem to be able to figure out how to assert the public will and bring these things to an end. I think people want these wars to end. And I think they should.
CUOMO: Isn't that all the more reason for you to take a look back and reject what the Weather Underground is?
AYERS: Well, there's nothing in there that's- there's an attempt to understand the things we did. You know, here we were in a situation where, really, a violent terrorist war was being waged against an entire population. We objected. We tried to end that war. And in trying to end it, we did cross lines of propriety, of legality, maybe even of common sense. But we never committed terror.
CUOMO: Why not? I really- I have a tough time understanding this. How is what you did there, blowing up, detonating a bomb in the Pentagon, the New York Police Department headquarters, trying to target the Capitol. How is that not terrorism?
AYERS: It's not terrorism because it doesn't target people. It doesn't target people to either kill or injure. What it does is- You could call it-
CUOMO: How can a sophisticated academic like yourself believe that the inherent recklessness of exploding bombs that you know too well killed three of your own- you know the potential for deadliness there.
(...I guess military, government, and law enforcement personnel don't count as real "...people...")
...or such heart-warming notables as..."Kill all the rich people. Break up their cars and apartments. Bring the revolution home, Kill your parents."...
...be given a pass during an executive vetting.
Obama was appointed as Chairman of the Annenberg Challenge
by Ayers who founded the organization.
Both
worked together in the same office building for three years.
Ayer's sponsored Obama's initial political campaign,
holding the press conference where Obama announced his candidacy at his home and donating to Obama's campaign.
Ayers and Obama both then lie about their friendship and political connections in an attempt to cover up Obama's close friendship to Ayers, realizing the potential harm to his campaign if it got out that a Presidential candidate was chumming and being mentored by a former FBI Ten Most Wanted bomber of police stations and the Pentagon.
Are we still living in reality, or has America changed into some altered state where common sense no longer exists?