First, I think the whole "Guilt by Association" crap is just that, crap.
Everyone in the world is exposed to people who may or may not be desirable in one way or another, and we don't always have cut and dry ways of stepping away from these people. It isn't fair to assume that John McCain takes the positions of some extreme people that he has met with, any more than it is fair to assume that Barack Obama has. People and candidates need to be judged on their own words, positions, and actions. Anything else wouldn't be fair.
But this isn't a fair world.
John McCain and Sarah Palin have been opening the sleaze firehose trying to paint Barack Obama with anything they can. So we can whine about it, or we can arm ourselves to talk back.
Let's see what we have in our arsenal....
G. Gordon Liddy
Liddy is the worst of the bunch, and an almost direct comparison to Ayres. But even more so since McCain sought him out and praises him, not something Obama does with Ayres.
In 1998, Liddy's home was the site of a McCain fundraiser. Over the years, he has made at least four contributions totaling $5,000 to the senator's campaigns -- including $1,000 this year.
Last November, McCain went on his radio show. Liddy greeted him as "an old friend," and McCain sounded like one. "I'm proud of you, I'm proud of your family," he gushed. "It's always a pleasure for me to come on your program, Gordon, and congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great."
Which principles would those be? The ones that told Liddy it was fine to break into the office of the Democratic National Committee to plant bugs and photograph documents? The ones that made him propose to kidnap anti-war activists so they couldn't disrupt the 1972 Republican National Convention? The ones that inspired him to plan the murder (never carried out) of an unfriendly newspaper columnist?
Liddy was in the thick of the biggest political scandal in American history -- and one of the greatest threats to the rule of law. He has said he has no regrets about what he did, insisting that he went to jail as "a prisoner of war."
Oregon Citizen's Alliance/Marylin Shannon
The OCA represents a pinnacle of McCain's lack of support for Women's issues in general, even when those issues led to violence.
The OCA attracted national attention in 1992 for sponsoring an anti-gay ballot initiative in Oregon, and McCain ignored advice to steer clear of the gathering. At the Portland fundraiser, McCain gently admonished the group to observe the "essence of tolerance," according to contemporaneous news reports.
His speech was preceded by some kind words for an anti-abortion activist accused of shooting a doctor.
McCain quickly got a first-hand flavor for the OCA. Marylin Shannon, the vice chairwoman of the Oregon GOP, had a spot on the program to give an opening prayer. In short order, she praised the Grants Pass woman accused of shooting an abortion doctor in Wichita and thanked the Lord ``for Lon Mabon and the vision you put in his heart.''
Shannon, the GOP chairwoman, referred to the accused shooter of the abortion doctor as a "fine lady," who shouldn't be judged solely based on the single act of violence, according to a letter she wrote to The Oregonian, which was accessed via Lexis Nexis.
US Council for World Freedom
And what would the Republican Rouge's Gallery be without a link to death squads?
Other ties McCain might prefer to forget include his membership on the board of the US Council for World Freedom, which The Associated Press describes as "part of an international organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America."
McCain was something of a de facto member of the group as he launched his political career in the early 1980s, just one of several prominent "names on a letterhead," as the council's founder told AP. But, that membership at least seemed to indicate a tacit endorsement of its goals in Central America, supporting the contras.
Elected to the House in 1982 and at a time when he was on the board of Singlaub's council, McCain was among Republicans on Capitol Hill expressing support for the Contras, a CIA-organized guerrilla force in Central America. In 1984, Congress cut off CIA funds for the Contras.
Months before the cutoff, top Reagan administration officials ramped up the secret White House-directed supply network and put National Security Council aide Oliver North in charge of running it. The goal was to keep the Contras operational until Congress could be persuaded to resume CIA funding.
[Retired Army Maj. Gen. John] Singlaub's private group became the public cover for the White House operation.
McCain says he was unaware of the full extent of the group's activities and claims to have resigned from the council in 1984 and asked to have his name removed from its letterhead two years later. According to AP, that's all news to founder Singlaub.
Oliver North
Which brings us around to Ollie North. Iran-Contra almost took down the Regan Administration, were in not for some luck and pardons.
...ponder a simple question: Is McCain pleased to receive North's endorsement, given the fact that the failed GOP senatorial candidate was convicted in 1989 of shredding documents, accepting an illegal gratuity and aiding and abetting in the obstruction of Congress? Of course, a three-judge panel vacated North's conviction the following year on a technicality, calling for proceedings to determine whether North's immunized testimony influenced witnesses in his trial.
And to sum up Iran Contra:
The Iran-Contra affair was a political scandal which was revealed in November 1986 as a result of earlier events during the Reagan administration. It began as an operation to increase U.S.-Iranian relations, wherein Israel would ship weapons to a moderate, politically influential group of Iranians opposed to the Ayatollah Khomeini; the U.S. would reimburse Israel for those weapons and receive payment from Israel. The moderate Iranians agreed to do everything in their power to achieve the release of six U.S. hostages, who were being held by Hezbollah. The plan eventually deteriorated into an arms-for-hostages scheme, in which members of the executive branch sold weapons to Iran in exchange for the release of the American hostages, without the direct authorization of President Ronald Reagan.[1][2] Large modifications to the plan were conjured by Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North of the National Security Council in late 1985. In North's plan, a portion of the proceeds from the weapon sales was diverted to fund anti-Sandinista and anti-communist rebels, or Contras, in Nicaragua.
BTW: don't fall for the "Oliver North names Bin Laden" hoax. Read about that too.
So that's four to start with. All nastier, in my opinion than Ayers. But largely it is academic, this is a losing argument to try to win a terrorist tit-for-tat, but sometimes you have to have your own arsenal to fight some people back. If they insist that Ayres is valid, make them defend even one of the above. But when I argue, I use the above points to note that guilt by association simply doesn't hold.
Hopefully this helps your next argument.
Sources:
Raw Story
Chicago Tribune
Wikipedia