McCain: "It's not that I give a damn about some old washed-up terrorist and his terrorist wife"

updated 11:06 p.m. EDT, Tue October 14, 2008



McCain's last stand at final debate?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/14/debate.preview/

Recent polls show that McCain is trailing his Democratic counterpart in several Republican-leaning states, including Colorado, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina and Virginia, all states that Bush easily won in the 2004 race.

Giuliani said McCain should hit Obama on his connection to William Ayers, a member of the 1970s radical group Weather Underground, which was responsible for bombings at the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon.

Ayers, now a university professor, has met several times with Obama since 1995, when both worked with a nonprofit group trying to raise funds for a school improvement project and a charitable foundation.

CNN's review of project records found nothing to suggest anything inappropriate in the volunteer projects in which the two men were involved.

McCain and vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin appear to have dropped the subject after a week of criticism that their supporters are going over the top with controversial comments.

But McCain said he'll probably bring it up in the Hofstra debate.
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"I was astonished to hear him say that he was surprised I 'didn't have the guts' to do that, because the fact is, the question didn't come up in that fashion," McCain said of the last debate. "I think he's probably ensured it will come up this time."

McCain made clear that he still thinks it's an issue. "It's not that I give a damn about some old washed-up terrorist and his terrorist wife, who in 2001 said they wish they'd bombed more. What I care about, and what the American people care about, is whether he's being truthful."