This is so disingenuous on Gibson’s part. He knows full well that the Ayers issue was not vetted during the Democrat primaries because (a) the hard Left that dominates the nominating process likes Ayers and it would have alienated such voters if Obama had been attacked over it, and (b) as I’ve argued here, when it got down to just two contenders, Hillary Clinton couldn’t afford to raise it effectively because her husband had pardoned Ayers’ friends, Weatherman terrorists Susan Rosenberg and Linda Evans (i.e., Clinton commuted their respective 58- and 40-year sentences), on his last day in office. (Clinton, of course, had also commuted the sentences of FALN terrorists in order to help Hillary with New York’s sizable Puerto Rican vote in her Senate run — Hillary was in no position to capitalize on anyone’s radical ties).
To get an idea of how inextricably linked this is, understand that Ayers’s wife, Weatherman terrorist Bernadine Dohrn, served time in prison for contempt of court … for refusing to testify about Rosenberg’s alleged role in the infamous Brinks robbery, in which two police officers and a Brinks guard were murdered. (And Ayers and Dohrn raised the daughter of Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert, who got lengthy prison sentences upon conviction for the Brinks robbery.) Hillary was not going to be able to do much with Ayers. When she made a half-hearted attempt toward the end, Obama was ready and slammed her over the pardons (without making any attempt to explain Ayers).
McCain is the first opponent Obama has had with both a strong motive and a real opportunity to raise Obama’s troubling (for may of us, disqualifying) relationship with Ayers. He has squandered much of the opportunity, but better late than never. In any event, Gibson knows the score here. And his question about whether McCain is “comfortable” with this issue being raised at this point boggles the mind. First, it was the press’s job to raise this issue — as we know damn well the press would have if a Republican candidate had ties to a terrorist — and people like Gibson didn’t do it. More importantly, besides his stewardship of Ayers’ $150 million “education reform” project, exactly what executive experience does Obama have by which we might measure how he’d use presidential power?