McCain: connections coming back to haunt him. 'sympathizers and enablers of domestic terrorism'
Ic
enablers of domestic terrorism'
Woman's rights advocate: McCain sides with 'sympathizers and enablers
of domestic terrorism'
Nick Juliano
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Womans_rights_advocate_McCain_sides_with_1008.html
Wednesday October 8, 2008
After John McCain's campaign began smearing Barack Obama over his
previous associations with a former 60s radical, a spokeswoman for the
Republican candidate issued a bold declaration: If McCain had
consorted with abortion clinic bombers, it would be a legitimate
story.
The Arizona Senator may not have directly consorted with any clinic
bombers, but his legislative record was certainly favorable to them,
and critics are hammering his association with sympathizers of
domestic terrorists who target abortion providers.
People For the American Way encouraged McCain to "look in the mirror"
after a RAW STORY report revealed McCain's connection with Marylin
Shannon, a Republican official in Oregon who was a McCain delegate at
this year's GOP convention. The two appeared together at a 1993
fundraiser for an ultra-conservative organization where Shannon
praised a woman who was later convicted of attempted murder in the
shooting of an abortion clinic doctor.
“When anti-choice extremists were terrorizing American women and their
doctors, John McCain had multiple opportunities to make what should
have been an easy choice,” PFAW president Kathryn Kolbert said
Tuesday. “But he chose political expediency over law and order.
"He didn’t say a word when Marylin Shannon sympathized with an
attempted killer. He voted against the clinic access bill even as
everyday Americans were being assaulted and besieged by domestic
terrorists," continued Kolbert, a longtime women’s rights advocate who
successfully argued a crucial abortion rights case before the U.S.
Supreme Court in 1992. "As someone who faced repeated threats for work
on behalf of reproductive rights, I am deeply disturbed by John
McCain’s willingness to stand with and side with sympathizers and
enablers of domestic terrorism.”
McCain and Shannon appeared together at a fundraiser for the Oregon
Citizens Alliance in 1993, a gathring of Christian right extremists
that even fellow Republicans advised McCain not to attend because the
group was so far outside the mainstream.
Speaking before McCain, Shannon offered some kind words for Shelley
Shannon, who was accused and later convicted of shooting an abortion
doctor: "I'm not related to Shelly Shannon, but I think she's a fine
lady," the vice chairwoman of the state Republican Party said. McCain
apparently said nothing to contradict that judgement, and less than
three months later he voted against a bill that would make abortion
clinic bombings a federal crime.
Author and journalist Frederick Clarkson has written extensively about
the Army of God, the radical Christian organization that trained
Shelley Shannon and others like her to bomb abortion clinics and
attack abortion providers. He provides some more details on Shannon.
She was eventually convicted of the attempted murder of a Wichita,
Kan., doctor and of committing a spree of abortion clinic arsons
across the west.
Shelly Shannon also considered herself a soldier in the
underground terror organization, Army of God, which views Shannon as a
"hero of the faith" and a "Warrior Soldier in the Army of God." The
group devotes a section of its web site to celebrating her exploits
and her martyrdom. ...
The so called Army of God manual was passed around and added to
over the years and desccribes how to wage a terror campaign against
clinics. The first copy to fall into the hands of federal law
enforcement was dug up in Shelly Shannon's back yard. ...
Thus it is worth considering the disingenuous euphemisms of
Marilyn Shannon (no relation to Shelly) who was not only public
apologist for a notorious domestic terrorist, but served as vice chair
of the Oregon GOP and as a McCain delegate to the Republican National
Convention this year.
After days of attacking Obama for his previous association with former
Weather Underground member William Ayers, McCain's campaign seems to
be backing off. Ayers's name was not mentioned at all during Tuesday
night's debate, despite high expectations that McCain would keep up
the attacks. His campaign advisers seem to be recognizing that the
attacks are ineffective, and the candidate is now pivoting back to
talking about the economy.
[][]
McCain connections coming back to haunt him
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/McCain_connections_coming_back_to_haunt_1007.html
Nick Juliano Tuesday October 7, 2008
Shared stage with abortion doc shooter sympathizer
John McCain, who along with his running mate has been attacking Obama
over decade-old associations with unseemly figures, is not without his
own nefarious associations.
One association, which seems to have gone unreported until now,
involves a delegate who represented McCain at this year's Republican
convention and previously expressed sympathy for an activist accused
of shooting a doctor who performed abortions.
Applying the same logic as Sarah Palin, one could argue that the
members of the GOP ticket are "palling around" with abortion clinic
attack sympathizers, supporters of right-wing militants, perpetrators
of political espionage and revolutionaries seeking to secede from the
United States.