We All Have Some Guilty Associations

So William Ayers once threw a house party for Barack Obama, and now Obama’s responsible for all Ayers’ misdeeds? By that standard, writes Gail Collins—who might have attended a college party with Ayers' wife, Bernardine Dohrn—"I believe I may now be held partly responsible for all of Dohrn’s misdeeds, including aggravated battery, bail jumping, the Days of Rage, and unreadable political tracts."

What’s worse, McCain’s pal Joe Lieberman called the Obama-Ayers connection “fair game.” Lieberman "once came to a party at my house,” writes Collins in the New York Times, so she’s not just a victim of the guilt-by-association standard—she’s complicit in creating it, too! Of course, back then Lieberman was a state senator, and state senators are “so thrilled at any sign of interest” that they’ll go to anything. They’d probably even go to a reception held by Ayers.