Oct 6, 2008 12:30 am US/Pacific
Palin In Bay Area, Defends Obama Terrorist Claim
BURLINGAME (CBS 5 / KCBS / AP) ―
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Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin speaks during the vice presidential debate last week.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin defended her claim at a Bay Area fundraiser Sunday that Barack Obama ''pals around with terrorists,'' saying the Democratic presidential nominee's association with a 1960s radical is an issue that is ''fair to talk about.''
Hundreds of people lined the streets near a Burlingame hotel to catch of glimpse of Palin, who appeared at a fundraiser which supporters paid as much as $2,500 per plate to have brunch with her.
Both Palin supporters and anti-war protestors rallied outside during the brunch at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Aiport, which was attended by an estimated 1,000 contributors.
Those who attended the fundraiser said the Alaskan governor was inspiring.
She was also asked about an
Associated Press analysis that concluded her attempts to establish a friendship between Obama and a Vietnam-era radical group member were "unsubstantiated and carried a racially tinged subtext that John McCain himself may come to regret."
"The Associated Press is wrong," Palin said. "The comments are about an association that has been known but hasn't been talked about, and I think it's fair to talk about where Barack Obama kicked off his political career, in the guy's living room."
Palin's charges involve William Ayers, who was a member of the Weather Underground. The group took credit for bombings, including nonfatal explosions at the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol four decades ago.
Obama and Ayers served on a charity board together years ago and Ayers hosted a political event for Obama very early in his career. Obama, who was a child when the Weathermen were planting bombs, has denounced Ayers' radical views and actions.
Ayers is now a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Palin first made the allegations Saturday morning in front of a group of GOP donors in Englewood, Colorado. She then echoed the line at several other weekend events, including one in front of an enormous crowd in Carson, California, where she said Obama "sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists."
But "no evidence shows they were 'pals' or even close,"
noted the AP analysis, which called Palin's comments "a deliberate attempt to smear Obama" in a way that was "exaggerated at best if not outright false" and at a time when the McCain campaign has been losing ground in the polls.
Palin's attack coincides with the McCain campaign's decision to try to make Obama's character a centerpiece of the final month of its campaign.
Palin's Bay Area fundraiser was originally scheduled as a Sept. 25 luncheon at the home of Silicon Valley entrepreneur and philanthropist Thomas Siebel and his wife Stacey.
McCain-Palin regional campaign spokesman Rich Gorka said the event date and location were later changed due a "scheduling conflict."
On Monday, Palin begins a two-day, event packed tour of Florida that stretches from Naples in the South to Pensacola in the panhandle. North Carolina and Pennsylvania were to follow.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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