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  Talking About the Weathermen

  Posted Wednesday, April 16, 2008 9:00 PM | By Christopher Beam
  They approach the electability question sideways, via Obama’s association with former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers.
  
  Clinton brings up the fact that Obama sat on a corporate board with Ayers, who she says refused to repent for the bombs he once planted—a statement she was says “deeply hurtful to people in New York” on 9/11 and after. She expands this into an argument that’s become one of my favorite campaign tropes: That Obama’s shortcomings make him vulnerable not to her attacks, but to those of Republicans in the fall. Evan Bayh said a similar thing about his “bitter” comment. Who knows what those dirty Republicans will do with this gaffe?
  
  This time, Obama has a comeback: President Clinton pardoned two members of the Weather Underground.

About Christopher Beam

• Christopher Beam is a Slate political reporter.

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