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We All Have Some Guilty Associations

Gail Collins has been palling around with terrorists, too

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 9, 2008 12:37 PM CDT

(Newser) – So William Ayers once threw a house party for Barack Obama, and now Obama’s responsible for all Ayers’ misdeeds? By that standard, writes Gail Collins—who might have attended a college party with Ayers' wife, Bernardine Dohrn—"I believe I may now be held partly responsible for all of Dohrn’s misdeeds, including aggravated battery, bail jumping, the Days of Rage, and unreadable political tracts."

What’s worse, McCain’s pal Joe Lieberman called the Obama-Ayers connection “fair game.” Lieberman "once came to a party at my house,” writes Collins in the New York Times, so she’s not just a victim of the guilt-by-association standard—she’s complicit in creating it, too! Of course, back then Lieberman was a state senator, and state senators are “so thrilled at any sign of interest” that they’ll go to anything. They’d probably even go to a reception held by Ayers.

[Images (2)]

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In this May 17, 1982 file photo, Bill Ayers, a former member of the Weather Underground, walks with wife, Bernardine Dohrn, and their son, Zayd Dohrn, 4, outside Federal Court in New York. (AP Photo/David Handschuh, File)

If Barack Obama is responsible for the Weather Underground's misdeeds, then so is Gail Collins - and a whole lot of University of Illinois students too, for that matter. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

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Most State Senate hopefuls are so thrilled at any sign of interest that they would happily attend a reception given by a homeless couple in their cardboard box. - Gail Collins

It seems unlikely that many people switched off their TV sets and said: “Gee, I could sit through a dozen of these.” - Gail Collins, on this week's town hall debate

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We All Have Some Guilty Associations