McCain Palling Around with Militant Anti-Abortion Activists?

Right Wing Watch reports today on Senator McCain's ties to militant anti-abortion activists.

In a speech setting the tone for the final weeks of the campaign, Governor Palin accused Senator Obama of "palling around" with domestic terrorists, earlier in the week. The unsubstantiated and now debunked charge that Senator Obama has ties to Professor William Ayers likely seems part of a larger strategy to paint Senator Obama as "dangerous for America."

On CBS yesterday morning, Nancy Pfotenhaur, McCain campaign spokesperson, defended Palin’s remarks by saying that if McCain had ties to someone who bombed abortion clinics, it would be legitimate to discuss publicly. 

Be careful what you wish for.

Right Wing Watch reports, today, that in fact Senator McCain does have ties to a militant anti-abortion activist, Paul Schenck, arrested numerous times for his tactics:

Schenck first came to prominence back in the 1990s when, along with his twin brother Paul, he began his career as a militant anti-abortion activist, for which he was repeatedly arrested, often targeting Dr. Barnett Slepian who was assassinated by an anti-abortion activist in 1998 by a man who, according to another pro-life activist, was probably known to both Schenck and his brother.  [Ed. note: emphasis mine]

Right Wing Watch notes that as recently as last year, Schenck was meeting privately with Senator McCain. In fact, he received a VIP pass to the event in which McCain named Palin as his running mate and he met privately with each of them as well. 

Schenck invited both Barack Obama and John McCain to a forum his organization was moderating but Obama backed out. Could it have had something to do with Schenck’s bizarre behavior back in 1992 with another presidential candidate when he, along with two others, thrust an actual 19-week fetus at then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton?