And Ayers didn't kill anyone; while Liddy's 1994 anti-government rantings on AM radio, including instructions to his listeners on how best to kill federal agents, were part of the environment that inspired Timothy McVeigh's bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, killing 168 (including 19 children) and wounding more than 800.

But John McCain still attended a fund-raiser on his behalf at Liddy's home in 2008, and praised Liddy in November 2007 for "adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great." Does McCain include among those principles the defiance of the rule of law and the murder of federal agents?

John McCain needs to explain exactly what his relationship with Liddy is, and whether the principles he's praising include Liddy's unrepentant defiance of the rule of law and the authority of the government.