Barack Obama’s covert teams of sympathetic journalists are becoming bolder in their attacks on John McCain, and in the process have smeared a truly great American.
The Associated Press, once presumed to be unbiased in political coverage, has attempted to level the playing field for Barack Obama by excusing his associations with hippie-radical William Ayers with an assertion that McCain had a connection with Iran/Contra.
This feeble attack relies on the imputed allegation that any association with the Nicaraguan freedom fighters, known as the Contras, is inherently bad. McCain’s “link” was based on his position on the advisory board of Gen. John Singlaub’s U.S. Council for World Freedom. That organization supported efforts to provide aid to the Contras but had nothing to do with Iran.
In his lead to the AP story, Pete Yost writes, “Barack Obama has his William Ayers connection. Now John McCain may have an Iran-Contra connection.
“In the 1980s, McCain served on the advisory board to the U.S. chapter of an international group linked to ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America.” Lest anyone forget, during the cold war, the left defined anyone fighting communism as a “right-wing death squad.”
The AP report states “McCain’s tie to Singlaub’s council is undergoing renewed scrutiny after his campaign criticized Obama for his link to Ayers, a former radical who engaged in violent acts 40 years ago.” The AP’s basis for comparison between Ayers and Singlaub is outrageous and sleazy.
A true comparison of Ayers and Singlaub would point out that Ayers violently attacked his own country and countrymen and Singlaub risked his life numerous times to save it and serve his fellow Americans. If a man can be judged by the company he keeps, Obama’s ties to Ayers indicate rebellious hatred and violence, McCain’s ties to Singlaub indicate honor, duty, and sacrifice.
The most damnable statement in Yost’s article is his nonsensical association of Singlaub with Nazis. Yost writes, “The council created by retired Army Maj. Gen. John Singlaub was the U.S. chapter of the World Anti-Communist League, an international organization linked to former Nazi collaborators.”
To make it clear, perhaps Mr. Yost should be reminded that Singlaub was shot fighting the Nazis in World War II and devoted his entire life to the cause of freedom. It is inexcusable for Yost to besmirch the reputation of such an honorable man under any circumstances, but even worse when used as dirty political trick, to help take the focus off of a candidate that deserves more scrutiny, not less.
Thanks to Newsbusters we know that the AP’s reporting on this was not even original. It turns out they lifted it, inaccuracies and all, from an anti-American Web site where it had appeared two days earlier.
To make matters worse, the AP has all but declared their candidate of choice when they recently dismissed Gov. Sarah Palin’s remarks about Obama’s links to Ayers as “unsubstantiated,” but Palin’s remarks about the Obama-Ayers links are far more substantiated than the AP’s wispy attacks on McCain’s “links” to “right-wing death squads.” In fact, they provide no evidence at all to back up their vicious claim that the U.S. Council for World Freedom was linked to “right-wing death squads” or Nazis.
But the story has such a strange paradox because it is Obama who is linked to controversial figures who’s agendas are more akin to that of the Nazis.
Rashid Khalidi, a former friend of Obama, and Robert Malley, who once served on Obama’s campaign, both have associations with the terrorist group Hamas, which has a stated agenda that includes the annihilation of the Jews. It is Obama himself who has stated that he no reservations about negotiating with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has vowed to wipe Israel off the map.
The Associated Press has clearly seen better days, as it has turned from watchdog to political hack.
Scott Wheeler is the executive director of the National Republican Trust PAC.
