Palin Went Rogue With Ayers Attack
Another noteworthy item from the forthcoming Newsweek piece: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin apparently decided to attack Sen. Barack Obama’s ties to William Ayers without the blessing of Sen. John McCain’s advisers.
“„Palin launched her attack on Obama’s association with William Ayers, the former Weather Underground bomber, before the campaign had finalized a plan to raise the issue. McCain’s advisers were working on a strategy that they hoped to unveil the following week, but McCain had not signed off on it, and top adviser Mark Salter was resisting.
According to Newsweek, the U.S. Secret Service informed the Obama campaign that the number of threats against the Democratic presidential nominee sharply increased during the time in September and October in which the crowds at McCain-Palin rallies became noticeably angrier. This also coincided with the GOP candidates’ Ayers attacks.
Incidentally, Ayers granted his first interview since becoming a prominent campaign issue yesterday to The Washington Post.
“„Ayers, an author and education professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said he thought the accusation by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin that Obama had been “palling around with terrorists” was absurd.
“„“Pal around together? What does that mean? Share a milkshake with two straws?” Ayers said in his first interview since the controversy began. “I think my relationship with Obama was probably like thousands of others in Chicago. And, like millions and millions of others, I wish I knew him better.”
According to The Post, Ayers and Obama do have one shared experience in recent months — with the increased media attention to their relationship, Ayers, like Obama, received multiple death threats.
