Jonah Goldberg: Is Obama a Domestic Terrorist?

I have a question for my former hometown newspaper – the LA Times: why do you let Jonah Goldberg pollute your pages:

‘Everything was absolutely ideal on the day I bombed the Pentagon.” This excerpt from William Ayers’ memoir appeared in the New York Times on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001 – a few hours before Al Qaeda terrorists crashed hijacked planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Ayers, once a leader in the Weather Underground – the group that declared “war” on the U.S. government in 1970 – told the Times, “I don’t regret setting bombs” and “I feel we didn’t do enough.” Ayers recently reappeared in the news because Politico.com reported Friday that Barack Obama has loose ties to him … don’t think Obama supports domestic terrorism, and I’m sure he can offer eloquent explanations for why he shouldn’t suffer any guilt by association … What fascinates me, though, is how light the baggage is when one travels from violent radicalism to liberalism. A local Chicago activist told Politico’s reporter that Ayers “is one of my heroes in life.” Cass Sunstein, a first-rank liberal intellectual, added, “I feel very uncomfortable with their past, but neither of them is thought of as horrible types now – so far as most of us know, they are legitimate members of the community.”

So are we liberals fascists or are we terrorists? Kevin Drum tries to divine what Jonah is trying to say:

Apparently the Democratic primary campaign has been sadly lacking in irrelevant 60s-era culture war skirmishes and Jonah hopes that will change in tonight’s debate. After all, if Obama and Clinton aren’t willing to engage in grandstanding denunciations of 60s radicals on national TV, they’re just a short hop away from nominating the head of Hamas to be secretary of state, aren’t they?

Those who run the LA Times should realize that this kind of garbage is what makes the National Review a rag. But hey – I live in New York so now I have to deal with David Brooks and Bill Kristol polluting my home town newspaper.

While we at this – check out Greg Sargent who covers the Military-Fears-Obama smear.