“While the label of ‘terrorist’ is perhaps fitting for the Weather Underground, which carried out bombings of U.S. government targets in the early 1970s, the idea of condemning Obama for having crossed paths with someone decades after the person was involved in such a group should send chills down everyone’s spine. After all, if Obama is being branded a ‘terrorist sympathizer’ for having a very limited relationship with Ayers on an issue such as education — wholly unrelated to the context of Ayers’s controversial past actions — the message is clear to all Americans that they must be extremely careful with whom they associate, even casually. This is even more the case today, when the word ‘terrorist’ is tossed around loosely or applied in an ideological way that strips it of its classic meaning — violence directed against civilians to achieve some political end.” (10/15/08)