Sarah Palin earned the nickname “barracuda” as a high school basketball player for her aggressive play. Obviously fond of nicknames Palin described herself as a hockey mom aka “a pit bull with lipstick.” This past weekend Palin apparently was apparently seeking another descriptive title as the female version of Freddy Krueger in “A Nightmare on Elm Street.”

Palin accused Barack Obama of “being pals with terrorists” — an accusation which is both outrageous and pathetic. This was the latest (and nastiest) effort by right wing nuts to tie Obama to the 1960’s radical Bill Ayers — a former member of the radical 1960’s anti-war group the Weatherman. Ayers was accused of, but never prosecuted for, bombing public buildings around the time his “pal” Barack Obama was 8 years old.

After the war Ayers settled on Chicago’s Southside and became a professor of education at the University of Chicago and a community activist for educational reform. In the 1990’s he met Obama who was a community organizer at the time. The sole extent of Obama’s relationship with Ayers was attending one fundraiser at Ayers’ home and being a fellow board member for a non-profit organization which promoted low-income housing.

From that Palin accuses Obama of “being pals with terrorists”? I realize the McCain-Palin ticket is desperate and sinking in the polls daily, but is this kind of gutter politics necessary? Maybe this trash has a place in Alaskan politics but not in a presidential race as important as this one.

John McCain has put a premium on honor in his life and he has earned it. For his sake, I hope he doesn’t allow this lightweight, egomanical, narcissistic, emotionless hack from Alaska who doesn’t know the meaning of honor or honesty to take him into the gutter with her.