McCain: Ayers “Still Wants to Destroy America”

Bash:I’m going to ask you about Jeremiah Wright. You have made it very clear in your advertisements and even on the stump that you believe that associations with regard to Barack Obama are fair game. And you have specifically been talking about William Ayers . Many Republicans, IÂ’m sure you have heard this, have said to me and to others, why is William Ayers fair game and Jeremiah Wright, who has a much more clear, established relationship with Barack Obama, in your view, is off the table? McCain: Well because William Ayers was an unrepentant terrorist. I mean, he is a person who on 9/11 said that he wanted to set off war bombs. I mean this is a very big question that I think people have to ask and clearly Senator Obama said he was, quote, a guy in the neighborhood. Bash: Why not Wright? McCain: Because Mr. Ayers is a unrepentant terrorist and that’s a unique individual in American history. A person who still want to destroy America. He and his wife who both want to still destroy America. That’s an unusual breed of cat. And so- and the fact is, Senator Obama was not truthful in telling the American people about his relationship. Very frankly Dana, I don’t give a damn about an old unrepentant terrorist, but what I do care, is telling the truth to the American people. Senator Obama didn’t tell the truth to the American people when he signed a piece of paper, back when he was a dark horse, that said he would take public financing if I did. That’s his signature on a piece of paper. He wasn’t telling the American people the truth. When he told them that he would quote sit down with John McCain, he looked right in the camera during his debates with Senator Clinton, sit down and negotiate with John McCain before he made a decision on public financing.