Quick Fact: Wallace revives Palin's “pal around with terrorists” claim without noting it was built on a falsehood

Written by Dianna Parker

Published

During an interview with Sarah Palin on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace aired a clip of Palin claiming during the 2008 presidential campaign that then-candidate Barack Obama had been “pal[ling] around with terrorists.” But Wallace did not note that the New York Times article to which Palin originally attributed her claim actually found that “the two men do not appear to have been close.”

Wallace airs clip of Palin falsely claiming Obama was “pal[ling] around with terrorists”

From the February 7 broadcast of Fox News Sunday:

WALLACE: Let's talk about national security. During the campaign, you said this about Mr. Obama:

PALIN [video clip]: Our opponent is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country.

WALLACE: The president has escalated the war in Afghanistan, he has launched more drone attacks in his first year than George W. Bush did in eight years. Given what he has done as president, do you take back “palling around with terrorists”?

PALIN: No, I don't, because his associations with Bill Ayers and with others, he never really has, I think, adequately addressed why in the world he would have a relationship with a type of person like that, who had such disdain for America that he would want to bomb, harm, hurt, kill, Americans.

FACT: NY Times article Palin cited: Obama and Ayers “do not appear to have been close”

In October 2008 speech, Palin cited that day's Times in claiming Obama is “palling around with terrorists.” The clip Wallace aired came from Palin's October 4, 2008, speech in Carson, CA, but her comments echoed ones she made earlier that day at a campaign stop in Colorado. From the pool report's transcript of Palin's October 4, 2008, speech in Englewood, Colorado, posted by the Times:

There is a lot of interest, I guess, in what I read and what I've read lately. Well, I was reading my copy of today's New York Times and I was interested to read about Barack's friends from Chicago.

I get to bring this up not to pick a fight, but it was there in the New York Times, so we are gonna talk about it. Turns out one of Barack's earliest supporters is a man who, according to the New York Times, and they are hardly ever wrong, was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that quote launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and US Capitol. Wow. These are the same guys who think patriotism is paying higher taxes.

This is not a man who sees America as you see it and how I see America. We see America as the greatest force for good in this world. If we can be that beacon of light and hope for others who seek freedom and democracy and can live in a country that would allow intolerance in the equal rights that again our military men and women fight for and die for for all of us. Our opponent though, is someone who sees America it seems as being so imperfect that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country?

The Times reported that “the two men do not appear to have been close.” “A review of records of the schools project and interviews with a dozen people who know both men, suggest that Mr. Obama, 47, has played down his contacts with Mr. Ayers, 63. But the two men do not appear to have been close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers, whom he has called 'somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8.' ” [The New York Times, 10/3/08]

CNN Fact Check: Palin statement “false.” In an October 5, 2008, fact check, CNN's Political Ticker blog found Palin's statement “false,” writing: “There is no indication that Ayers and Obama are now 'palling around,' or that they have had an ongoing relationship in the past three years. Also, there is nothing to suggest that Ayers is now involved in terrorist activity or that other Obama associates are.”