Liddy the Plumber: Why Is John McCain Defending an Unrepentant Terrorist?

Of course, that’s not true (you’re not legally entitled to kill law enforcement officers, even if they are in the wrong). But it’s also not what Liddy said. Remember: "if the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms comes to disarm you and they are bearing arms, resist them with arms." Liddy was talking about ATF agents "bearing arms," not shooting at people. He was talking about ATF agents trying to "disarm" people, not kill them.

In 1998, Liddy hosted a fundraiser for McCain, and has given his campaigns $5,000, including $1,000 to McCain’s current presidential campaign.

By contrast, Ayers never hosted a fundraiser for Obama (it was a meet-and-greet in 1995), and at the time Obama didn’t know about Ayers’ past. Ayers gave Obama a small donation in 2000, but nothing recently.

John McCain not only knew about Liddy’s criminal past, he knew about Liddy’s 1994 comments urging listeners to shoot law enforcement agents in the head when he attended that 1998 fundraiser at Liddy’s home.

How do we know that McCain knew about Liddy’s comments? Because it was mentioned in a Washington Post story on May 18, 1995 which noted that Liddy had been "disinvited from a recent GOP fund-raiser because of his embarrassing exhortations to shoot pesky federal law enforcement officers." That same article discussed McCain joking around at an event with Liddy about his psychotic propensity to burn himself.

Is it really possible that McCain was unaware of the controversy about Liddy? Is it really possible that McCain didn’t hear anything about the national outrage over Liddy’s remarks? Is it really possible that McCain never heard about his own party banning Liddy from a fundraiser? Is it really possible that McCain didn’t read the Washington Post story mentioning his own name that directly addresses Liddy’s remarks? No, it’s not possible. And if McCain conveniently forgot that his buddy urged the murder of federal agents, what does that say about his judgment?

Let’s be clear-cut about this:

If you urge people to shoot federal agents in the head, you are encouraging terrorism.

If you plot the firebombing of a liberal organization, you are plotting terrorism.

If you plan the assassination of a journalist and thirty years later still embrace the idea, you are an unrepentant terrorist.

Do you disagree, John McCain?

You say, "Everything about any relationship that I’ve had I will make completely open and give a complete accounting of." So let’s hear it: do you think this is terrorism? And why are you "proud" of this unrepentant terrorist?

McCain claims, "I think not only a repudiation but an apology for ever having anything to do with an unrepentant terrorist is due the American people." We’re waiting for our apology, Senator McCain.

Crossposted at DailyKos.