Election 2008

John M. Murtagh: ‘The Weathermen tried to kill my family’

In February 1970, John Murtagh was still a child when his father presided over a case where the defendants, members of the Black Panther Party, were accused of plotting to bomb a department store and landmarks in New York City. Mr. Murtagh vividly remembers the night the Weatherman firebombed his house:

I still recall, as though it were a dream, thinking that someone was lifting and dropping my bed as the explosions jolted me awake, and I remember my mother’s pulling me from the tangle of sheets and running to the kitchen where my father stood. Through the large windows overlooking the yard, all we could see was the bright glow of flames below. We didn’t leave our burning house for fear of who might be waiting outside. The same night, bombs were thrown at a police car in Manhattan and two military recruiting stations in Brooklyn. Sunlight, the next morning, revealed three sentences of blood-red graffiti on our sidewalk: FREE THE PANTHER 21; THE VIET CONG HAVE WON; KILL THE PIGS.

As the association between Obama and Ayers came to light, it would have helped the senator a little if his friend had at least shown some remorse. But listen to Ayers interviewed in the New York Times on September 11, 2001, of all days: “I don’t regret setting bombs. I feel we didn’t do enough.” Translation: “We meant to kill that judge and his family, not just damage the porch.” When asked by the Times if he would do it all again, Ayers responded: “I don’t want to discount the possibility.”

Though never a supporter of Obama, I admired him for a time for his ability to engage our imaginations, and especially for his ability to inspire the young once again to embrace the political system. Yet his myopia in the last few months has cast a new light on his “politics of change.” Nobody should hold the junior senator from Illinois responsible for his friends’ and supporters’ violent terrorist acts. But it is fair to hold him responsible for a startling lack of judgment in his choice of mentors, associates, and friends, and for showing a callous disregard for the lives they damaged and the hatred they have demonstrated for this country. It is fair, too, to ask what those choices say about Obama’s own beliefs, his philosophy, and the direction he would take our nation.

At the conclusion of his 2001 Times interview, Ayers said of his upbringing and subsequent radicalization: “I was a child of privilege and I woke up to a world on fire.”

Funny thing, Bill: one night, so did I.

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Super Tuesday

Super Tuesday vote and caucas results, from the Washington Times:

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Moderates fuel big McCain wins:

Sen. John McCain won a series of big-state victories and took a commanding lead in delegates in yesterday’s Super Tuesday contests, but his weakness among conservatives was exposed by a string of wins for Mike Huckabee in the South and Mitt Romney out West. Mr. Huckabee’s surprising Southern strength and Mr. Romney’s organizational skills in Mountain West caucuses denied Mr. McCain the chance to claim a mandate in the race, leaving him to salvage a message last night. “We won a number of important victories in the closest thing we’ve ever had to a national primary,” Mr. McCain said at his postelection party in Arizona.

But the results exposed Mr. McCain’s continuing problems with conservative voters. Exit polls showed that only in Connecticut did Mr. McCain actually win a plurality of self-identified conservative voters, barely topping Mr. Romney in the Northeastern state. In every other state, he trailed Mr. Huckabee, Mr. Romney or both. In Utah he was tied for second with Rep. Ron Paul, well behind Mr. Romney, among conservative voters. Even in his own home state of Arizona, Mr. McCain trailed badly among conservatives, with just 36 percent to Mr. Romney’s 47 percent. And in California, Mr. Romney won nearly half of conservative voters, with 48 percent, according to the MSNBC exit polls.