The chairman of the Virginia Republican Party compared Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden because of Obama's past association with Bill Ayers, reports The Washington Post. Ayers once belonged to the Weather Underground, a radical organization responsible for bombing the Pentagon in the '70s to protest the Vietnam War. Democrats and some Republicans, including members of John McCain's campaign, have denounced the remarks as inflammatory.
According to Time magazine, Republican Jeffrey M. Frederick said that Obama and bin Laden "both have friends that bombed the Pentagon."
"That is scary," Frederick told volunteers canvassing for McCain in Virginia.
Ayers, now a professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago, did not take part in the Pentagon bombing, but admits to having been involved with other bombings orchestrated by the Weather Underground, according to the article. Obama and Ayers live in the same neighborhood and once served together on the board of an anti-poverty group. Obama, who was a child when the Weather Underground was active, has since denounced Ayers' actions as a member of the group.
Bin Laden was the architect of the 9/11 attacks. While people in the McCain campaign, including vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin have lambasted Obama for his association with Ayers, few, if any, have brought up bin Laden.
Clark Stevens, an Obama spokesperson, dismissed Frederick's attack as another attempt to change the subject from the economy.
"The chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, like so many McCain supporters," Stevens said, "would rather lie about Barack Obama than make the case to the American people why Senator McCain's plans of continuing Bush's policies for another four years would be good for American families."
Click here to read the full story in The Washington Post.
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