Does Obama Hang Out with Terrorists?

This claim was sufficiently debunked during the primary elections, which should have been the end of it. But the McCain campaign has recently trotted it out again in a desperate attempt to smear Sen. Obama and call his judgment into question. In particular, Sarah Palin has mentioned it at nearly every public appearance she has made in the past week.

Here are the facts. The man in question, Bill Ayers, was a member of a radical organization in the 1960's (when Obama was a young child) that protested the Vietnam war. Today he is a respected professor of education at the University of Illinois. To refer to him in the present tense as a terrorist is highly deceiving. In any case, Obama's actual ties to the man are tenuous at best:

• They lived in the same neighborhood in Chicago.
• They once served on the board of a charitable organization in the late 90's.
• Obama once attended a democratic fundraiser at Ayers' home -- 12 years ago -- long after Ayers had turned his life around and become an educator.

That's it. They are not friends or "pals"; barely acquaintances.

What's even more interesting about the Sarah Palin claim is that she said she was simply quoting an article in the New York Times. But that article clearly debunks the "terrorist pal" theory:

"The two men do not appear to have been close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers, whom he has called 'somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8.' "

So either Sarah Palin is purposely lying, or she simply can't read and process information as well as the average sixth grader. You decide which is worse.

UPDATE 10/12: We've added a few more sources below, all debunking the claims being made by McCain/Palin. What's more disturbing is that their ads continue to run on TV, radio, and the Internet, despite it having now been shown conclusively that it is full of lies.

Additional Sources:

• FactCheck.org: "He Lied" About Bill Ayers?
• CNN: Is Obama Palling Around with Terrorists?
• Newsweek: Assessing Ayers: Innuendo vs. Information