Originally Posted By: the G-man
 Originally Posted By: King Snarf
Also, Donald Rumsfeld shook hands with Saddam Hussein. By G-Man's logic, that means Rumsfeld is bosom chums with Saddam and is partly responsible for the WMDs that Hussein was stockpiling.


Snarf's argument, such as it is, is based upon a faulty premise.

As I and others have noted before:

  • 1. Shaking hands with someone while on a diplomatic mission is clearly not the same thing as a longstanding personal friendship (in fact, under Snarf's logic, Roosevelt and Churchill were best pals with Joe Stalin and Bill Clinton was bosom buddies with Yassir Arafat and Kim Jong Il);
    2. Rumsfeld mission to Saddam was an attempt to advance US interests at a time when it appeared that he could be an ally against Iran, whereas Ayers' acts were most decidedly carried out against American targets.




Ayers was against the American government, which he believed to be corrupt and in need of revolution. That idea is an old one, going back to the very origins of this country. He believed it was the right thing to do at the time.

Ronald Reagan and George Bush sr sold weapons to Iran, gave mustard gas to Saddam, helped train bin Laden. Because at the time they believed these were the right actions to take. Iran is now a big bad scary evil enemy, Saddam used some of that gas to kill his own people, and bin Laden used that training for al queda.

If you condemn Obama for being friends with Ayers for his actions, which killed no one (as far as I've read), or for his friendship with Wright who gave a few "offensive" speeches, then you must condemn Bush for appointing people and even just being the son of men who are indirectly responsible for the deaths of many thousands. And you must condemn Mccain for supporting a man who started a war with no plan, based on a lie, that has led to the tarnishing of America's reputation and the deaths of hundreds of thousands.
That's your logic. And if you don't. If you are really sitting there and saying that "god damn America" is a worse guilt by association offense than 9/11, then wow. Just wow.

Bow ties are coool.