Now that the McCain-Palin campaign is reduced to a two words - William Ayres - we might as well compare Obama's associations to McCain's. First off, the Washington Times (h/t ThinkProgress) reports that in 1986, John McCain wrote a note on House stationery to Charles Keating, who replied "You can call me anything, write anything or do anything. I'm yours till death do us part."

And that's just the tip of the iceberg, courtesy of Steve Benen:

We've known for a while that McCain has befriended a convicted felon who advised his supporters on how best to shoot federal officials, used the money of a convicted criminal to help buy a house, befriended a radical anti-Catholic televangelist, befriended a radical anti-American televangelist, was a long-time associate of Charles Keating, and hired for his campaign the publisher of a Confederate nostalgia magazine who has described Nelson Mandela as a "terrorist." This week, we also learned about McCain serving on the board of the extremist U.S. Council for World Freedom, where he worked alongside Iran-Contra figures, and a eugenics researcher studying "white superiority."

Last night, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann had a very interesting report on McCain's associations, including the McCain campaign touting an endorsement from Leonore Annenberg, who helped created the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, where, wouldn't you know it, Obama and Ayers met. Olbermann also noted McCain having hooked up with a right-wing hate group called the Oregon Citizens' Alliance, despite warnings McCain received from then-Sen. Mark Hatfield, an Oregon Republican, about the radical nature of the organization.

While hanging out with the group, McCain heard speakers praise -- you guessed it -- domestic terrorists. McCain could have gotten up and left, but didn't.