If he wants to say your association with Jeremiah Wright or with William Ayers because they're too left wing or anti-American, whatever. That's all fine. You or I may not agree with it, but it's different from calling someone an -- being involved with active terrorists, palling around with terrorists. That's the line.

Sean Hannity is a "dangerous, dangerous force in America," says "View" co-host Joy Behar. This was sparked, on the October 13 edition, by a discussion of Andy Martin spreading rumors about Obama’s background and an interview on "Hannity’s America." Elisabeth Hasselbeck reported that she spoke with Sean Hannity, who says he condemns Mr. Martin’s actions, and has controversial figures of all political stripes including Reverend Wright.

When Sherri Shepherd proclaimed it is no different than Obama’s condemnation of William Ayers, Elisabeth reminded that panel that a television interview is different than sitting on a board. Whoopi Goldberg immediately pounced on the comment and told Elisabeth to go to FactCheck.com (perhaps she meant FactCheck.org?). In a pot and kettle moment, Joy Behar, who has a history of airing false information on "The View," chastised Elisabeth to "not say it unless you’re sure what you’re talking about."

Later in the program, Joy Behar went on a rant against Sarah Palin, noting alleged cronyism and in another pot and kettle moment, Behar opined that Palin "overuses her power and underuses her brain."

Downplaying William Ayers came naturally in The Washington Post on Saturday.

For ABC's World News on Wednesday and Thursday, Charles Gibson conducted interviews with Barack Obama and John McCain aboard the ABC News bus, but on McCain's “line of attack” against Obama he shared Obama's annoyance (“Are you going to have to address that again?”) while he pushed McCain to justify the criticism: “You're comfortable that this should be a focus in the last days of the campaign?”

With Obama in Indianapolis on Wednesday, Gibson noted how “John McCain has unloaded on you in the last 72, 96 hours, as has Sarah Palin” about how “we don't know who Barack Obama is,” but “were you surprised that he didn't bring it up last night at the debate and use that line of attack?” Gibson next cued up Obama, as if it's an unfair burden for Obama to “again” have to address Ayers: “Sarah Palin has come at you because of the Bill Ayers connection. Are you going to have to address that again?”

Talking to McCain on Thursday in Milwaukee, Gibson raised the obvious (“Does this almost monolithic focus on the economy, in the news, and in people's minds in recent weeks, hurt your campaign?”) before then treating McCain's efforts to change the subject as odd: “Why...have you focused so in what you've had to say on Senator Obama's character?” When McCain brought up Obama's level of “knowledge and judgment,” a befuddled Gibson pressed: “You don't think he's been thoroughly vetted, having gone through all the primaries he did, all the campaigning, running for President as long as you have -- two years?” As for Ayers, Gibson pushed McCain to show his own better judgment, posing the question cited above about being “comfortable” with making Obama's character an issue.

Liberal Chicago Tribune columnist and blogger Eric Zorn argued today that while Bill Ayers violent past must be condemned, it is improper to label him as a domestic terrorist (emphases mine):

My view is that one can unequivocally condemn the campaign of destruction and bomb-setting waged by the Weather Underground and still ask whether "terrorism" is or was the right word to describe that form of violent guerrilla protest.

To me, a terrorist is one who attempts to create malleable fear in a population through random acts of mayhem; someone who uses his own amoral unpredictability to magnify the power he is attempting to exert in an effort to create change.