The problem with the Ayers connection

The Bill Ayers-Obama connection has been a favorite of the McCain campaign as of late. It has led to hateful, dangerous comments from the crowds ("kill him" , "treason", "terrorist", "off with his head"). It has even led to McCain having to get boo'ed in defending Obama from the crazy assumptions this connection is causing his supporters to make (he's dangerous, he's "Arab"-as if that in itself is some kind of evil). It didn't work for Hillary, yet it's all the McCain campaign seems to have left.

So, here's what I think is the biggest problem (aside from the fact that there is no proof his run-ins with Ayers has made him sympathetic to the Weathermen's cause).
Bill Ayers was an anti-war terrorist.

The problem here is that the McCain campaign is trying to help people link Obama to the terrorists of today. The fundamental, anti-American, Jihad waging suicide bombers that are killing innocent people in the name of God (Allah). The weathermen, on the other hand, were against the political nature of the Vietnam war. There are few today who would argue that the Vietnam war was a good one and that alone is NO EXCUSE for property destruction but the Weathermen's protests were just that, property destruction. They didn't strap bombs to their chest in an attempt to kill anyone sympathetic to the cause they fought against, they destroyed property to make a statement. Is this okay? Absolutely not. Bombs are bad, period. There are better ways to make a statement. Ayers and his Weathermen were stupid using destruction to make a point against the destructive force of political agenda wars. However, they were not trying to execute a race of people, they were not killing women and children, they were not waging war in the name of God.

Helping un-informed people draw a link between the terrorists of today and Obama via a passing association with an anti-war 'terrorist' is dangerous and misleading. It also insults all the other republicans, teachers and community organizers that also worked with Bill Ayers.

I'll end with this analogy. Say I served on a yearbook committee with someone that ended up coming to school and shooting a teacher. If I ran for president would that association be enough to prove that I was somehow closely linked to this crazy gunman? Would it somehow link every other person on the yearbook committee to this guy? No. No, it wouldn't. There is no evidence that Obama and Ayers were anything more than acquaintances, leave it alone. There are already enough reasons for the crazies to assassinate Obama. Can we please try to avoid adding to the list??