Reason Magazine
- reason.com
- reason.tv
- reason.org
- Donate
- Site Search:
Reason on Facebook
Reason on Twitter
Reason on YouTube
Reason RSSGet Reason E-mail Updates!
Manage your Reason e-mail list subscriptionsadvertisements
Ayers Emerges from the Underground, Calls the Pigs
Many of those who viewed the introduction of Bill Ayers into the presidential campaign as a low, dishonest campaign tactic have now taken to the idea that the former Weather Underground leader and pretend revolutionary was himself somehow mistreated by the media. The most egregious example is perhaps New Yorker editor David Remnick, as pointed out and deconstructed by ex-New Lefty Ron Radosh. As a confirmed Ayers-hater (I actually read Fugitive Days way back when), I refrained from commenting on Ayers during the campaign not only because I thought it not only a strategically silly line of attack—a position the election results seems to have vindicated—but the McCain campaign never got around to proving that Ayers and Obama were indeed "palling around." Nevertheless, I have to agree with New Republic's Leon Wieseltier that "I would not shake the man's dirty hand."
And now Ayers is attempting to defend himself—albeit unpersuasively. Writing in In These Times, Ayers talks about all the threatening emails he received in the past few months, which forced him to contact the hated Chicago pigs (an inverse of the "Days of Rage," I suppose), and "the serial assassinations of black leaders [that] disrupted our utopian dreams" in the 1960s (he's talking about Fred Hampton, not MLK). Read the whole piece here. There is plenty of stupidity on display, but I particularly like this line, coming as it does from a supporter of the Cuban dictatorship: "In a robust and sophisticated democracy, political leaders—and all of us—ought to seek ways to talk with many people who hold dissenting, or even radical, ideas."
Dormouse|11.11.08 @ 6:23PM|#
political leaders-and all of us-ought to seek ways to talk
with many people who hold dissenting, or even radical,
ideas.
I actually kinda agree with this.
|11.11.08 @ 6:32PM|#
And by "talk" Ayers means planting pipe bombs in their
mailboxes.
There are lots of nice guys out there with really crazed and wacky
worldviews (I used to have lots of friendly conversations with a
black separatist about 10 years ago, nice guy) and I really don't
have much of a problem with any of them. But there are lines and
Ayers crossed them, got away with it and has shown pretty much no
remorse over any of it. Folks defending him are really stretching
it.
MAX HATS|11.11.08 @ 6:32PM|#
Agreed with the above commentator - you had me until the last line. Yes, Ayers is scum. How does this mean dialogue is impossible with radicals or dissidents? Especially a strange sentiment to espouse here, a place much of mainstream society would consider dissident, if not radical. Just because Ayers is morally vacuous does not mean every single thing he says or does is likewise wrong.
|11.11.08 @ 6:34PM|#
Isn't it about time for the media to let Ayers sink back into
the muck, and eventually blow himself up in a garage in a fit of
despondency over his irrelevance?
-jcr
shecky|11.11.08 @ 6:42PM|#
Just because Ayers is morally vacuous does not mean every
single thing he says or does is likewise wrong.
Isn't it about time for the media to let Ayers sink back into
the muck,
This is all about Moynihan's demons. I look forward to four more
years of showcasing Ayers wacky brand of anti Americanism from
Michael to remind us what evil looks like.
shecky|11.11.08 @ 6:42PM|#
Orange Line Special|11.11.08 @ 6:52PM|#
"Palling around" was a huge mistake; see, in addition to the
other points, #18 here. If the
McCain campaign weren't completely incompetent they would have
repeatedly given the laundry list of who BHO had been associated
with and pointed out that it's difficult to find someone completely
mainstream who's a past BHO associate. And, they would have pointed
out the money that BHO directed to Ayers. And, it would have been
them - and not bloggers - who found out that BHO and Ayers shared
the same floor of a building.
Instead, they repeatedly played into the hands of "fact checkers"
and the NYT.
Try and find anything from the McCain campaign pointing out what
the NYT forgot to mention, and note also that the NYT's report was
then repeated by other sources, and those other sources were then
used by bloggers et al to downplay the whole issue.
The main problem with this as an issue is McCain and GOP gross
incompetence.
|11.11.08 @ 6:57PM|#
What horseshit. Any column where the chief indictment of anybody
is that they're a hypocrite is just lazy. What about what he
actually said, Michael, or did? Oh, that he might be blinded by
ideology into saying something stupid, that's what you wasted your
time typing out.
Anyway, you should call the cops on people who are threatening to
kill you. You should also change your opinion of a police
department when the level of corruption drops from "Murderous"
through "Violent" and on through to "Just Generally". You should
also respect people with radical and radically stupid views enough
to talk to them. Yes, even you.
Lefiti|11.11.08 @ 7:11PM|#
I luv Bill Ayers! Hes mie heero! Wun dae, I hope two hav teh bawls to dew wut hee did.
|11.11.08 @ 7:30PM|#
Here's a vote to acquit whomever punches Ayers's
ticket.
Well, even scumbags are entitled to due process of law. That being
said, if I were in the jury pool for a case where the defendant was
charged with kicking the shit out of Ayers, the prosecution might
want to use one of their peremptory strikes to excuse me.
-jcr
anarch|11.11.08 @ 7:30PM|#
Yesterday's Brickbat headline makes me nervous. Please update that column already. Thank you.
Derek Ashworth|11.11.08 @ 7:32PM|#
Hey Magnetron, why should you respect people
with radical and radically stupid views enough to talk to them,
especially when you've read an entire fucking book full of them? Is
every stupid idea valid and somehow worthy of thoughtful
consideration? That, my friend, is horseshit.
And, more importantly, the use of "what a long, strange trip it's
been" when referring to the sixties is a sign that there's no
reason to continue reading. There oughtta be a new Godwin Law for
that.
Naga Sadow|11.11.08 @ 7:33PM|#
Here, here! I'm with JCR! Personally, I feel that Ayers was cheated out of the prison rapes he so rightly deserved!
|11.11.08 @ 7:37PM|#
In a robust and sophisticated democracy, political leaders-and all of us-ought to seek ways to talk with many people who hold dissenting, or even radical, ideas.
I think we should invite Mr. Ayers to chat with the commenters on
Hit and Run. I'm certain the utopian hippie terrorist communist
sympathizer piece of maggot infested monkey shit would heve nothing
to fear seperated from all of us by the tubes.
I promise to treat him with the same sort of respect I treat other
public figures.
thoreau|11.11.08 @ 7:49PM|#
The problem with Ayers is that he's apparently unrepentant and
still believes that he was fighting the good fight. I have no use
for him. He isn't a reformed sinner, and there's nothing he has to
say that couldn't be said at least as well by a better
person.
I don't really fault Obama, though. I keep wondering what I would
do if, in my capacity as an academic, some old rich dude asked me
to sit on a scholarship panel and I found myself in the room with
some old Boomer whose name was in the news way back in 1973. In all
likelihood I'd never even realize what sort of person I'm sitting
next to.
Hell, I sit on committees with some old Boomers, and I have no clue
what any of them were doing in 1973.
Naga Sadow|11.11.08 @ 7:51PM|#
Yawn. Damn spelling nazis! Very well, "hear, hear" it shall be in the future.
K.T.|11.11.08 @ 7:57PM|#
"In a robust and sophisticated democracy, political
leaders-and all of us-ought to seek ways to talk with many people
who hold dissenting, or even radical, ideas."
I actually had to read that line three times to be sure I wasn't
seeing things. Then I laughed hysterically. Man, that is rich.
Naga Sadow|11.11.08 @ 8:01PM|#
Too late. You had a point even if you were kinda being a dick about it. Well played . . . well played.
|11.11.08 @ 8:02PM|#
The problem isn't Bill Ayers. Ayers himself is nothing but a
classic example of an escalating thrill seeking sociopath. He
gravitated to radical political politics because it allowed him to
feed his narcissism and his desire for drugs, sex and violence. If
he came of age in a different milieu, he would have been just as
vicious, only his political rational would have been
different.
The problem with Ayers is the leftist subculture that tolerates and
even approves of him. They listen to his rants, read his manifestos
and interviews and see nothing wrong. Many of those people are
prominent members of political groups and parties, the media and
academia.
Mad Max|11.11.08 @ 8:03PM|#
I don't blame the Pres-elect for sharing a board seat with this
guy - that's the kind of kinky stuff you have to do in
politics.
Fair is fair - if you can't make Obama guilty by association
because of his attenuated "links" with Ayers, you can't hold Ayers
innocent by association because of his attenuated links with
Obama.
Now that attacks on Ayers can no longer hurt The One, I feel free
to call Ayers what he is - an unrepentant ex-terrorist who should
kiss Uncle Sam's ass every day that the American concern for due
process was so great that they let him off (due to FBI abuses)
despite his obvious guilt.
Here's a
memorial plaque to Dr. Robert Fassnacht, murdered by the Weathermen
in one of their bombings.
|11.11.08 @ 8:04PM|#
I don't know anything at all about Ayers or his views (was
convinced he and Obama weren't close enough for me to care, didn't
look farther).
Coming from that point of view, I pretty much agree with everything
he says in this article. Perhaps it's hypocritical to things he's
said in the past, but there doesn't seem to be much to criticize in
this piece.
Les|11.11.08 @ 8:04PM|#
I wonder why people don't condemn folks like Henry Kissinger
(who actually had a hand in killing lots of innocent people with
secret bombings) as readily as they condemn folks like Ayers (who,
though worthless and repugnant, never killed anybody).
Now don't be mean. I'm genuinely curious.
economist|11.11.08 @ 8:10PM|#
Les,
In the past, I've repeatedly called for the execution of Henry
Kissinger.
Naga Sadow|11.11.08 @ 8:11PM|#
Les,
More due to his and his associates incompetence than a desire to
not harm anyone. Not killing people wasn't getting them the
attention or policy changes they desired so they attempted
something grander by trying to target a disco filled with soldiers
and civilians. Ayers friends blew themselves up first though.
Les|11.11.08 @ 8:17PM|#
Naga,
Oh, sure I know it was only because they were idiots that they
didn't kill anyone. But still, there's so much venom for this
(ultimately harmless) loser and so much respect for the
(mass-murdering) good doctor, it confuses me.
Brian and economist, your condemnations lift my spirits.
Naga Sadow|11.11.08 @ 8:26PM|#
Really curious now,
"Just walk away. Just walk away and we will spare your lives . . .
just walk away."
Les,
True enough but he's ultimately harmless due to a roll of the dice
rather than because he didn't mean to hurt anyone. Also, screw
Kissinger that bastard.
economist|11.11.08 @ 8:39PM|#
"Now, Kyle, the key to success in my class is
concentration."
"Maybe we'll have to send him to concentration camp!...Oh,
godDAMMIT!"
Naga Sadow|11.11.08 @ 8:39PM|#
@ Naga,
Acceptable. Well I could quote some Edward threats from the
Urkobold website for fun. I laugh almost everytime I take the time
to read them.
"Keep fucking with me, Urkobolds. I dare you." - Edward
"Keep playing with fire, boys. Keep playing with fire" -
Edweirdo
"Fuck with bull, and you WILL get the horns. Fools." - Edweird
economist|11.11.08 @ 8:43PM|#
I always imagine Edward sitting at his computer screaming "UUUURRRRRRKKKKKKKKKKOOOOOOBOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLD!".
@ Naga|11.11.08 @ 8:44PM|#
Find it acceptable to persist in error next time? OK.
Just as long as we're still friends.
Friends? Are we friends?
economist|11.11.08 @ 8:44PM|#
Of course, I also imagine Edward pissing himself whenever he sees a 100+ comment thread that he hasn't shat on.
Naga Sadow|11.11.08 @ 8:49PM|#
@ Naga,
Urrrrr . . . listen . . . uh . . . . you're kinda creeping me out
now. I can picture you with wide crazy eyes silently mouthing the
word "friend". Just a little creepy.
Seward|11.11.08 @ 8:57PM|#
As Friedman points out in the first chapter of Capitalism and Freedom, legal dissent is really only possible in a capitalist society.
Naga Sadow|11.11.08 @ 9:00PM|#
Hate you? What? I don't even know you! (wait! better switch to pimp daddy naga mode and see if that works) Listen. You know I love you. But I'm a free bird, and this bird . . . well . . . you just can't change. Now where my money at?!
Les|11.11.08 @ 9:26PM|#
Naga, indeed we agree. Ayers' stupidity is our gain. God Bless the incompetence of pampered commies!
|11.11.08 @ 9:34PM|#
So outside of Balko, Reason supports police raids that result in
the murder of innocent people? And a libertarian publication has a
particular issue with armed black people and elevates MLK as a hero
over assassinated Black Panthers?
Ok, got it.
Ayers IS scum, but the problem I find in the judgment of Ayers is
that it is rarely about Ayers ( as attacks on Obama are rarely
about Obama).
Can someone just call Ayers for what he is without involving all
these other guilt by association tactics and ridiculing harmless
people that Ayers associates with?
|11.11.08 @ 10:11PM|#
So when a majority of reason blog posts hack Mike for an attack on Bill Ayers isn't time to fire him and send him to the Weekly Standard or Human Events?
|11.11.08 @ 10:14PM|#
I keep wondering what I would do if, in my capacity as an
academic, some old rich dude asked me to sit on a scholarship panel
and I found myself in the room with some old Boomer whose name was
in the news way back in 1973.
I am serenely confident that we will find that the association
between Ayers and Obama is much longer and deeper than we now know.
Obama and his campaign have a history of lying about the
relationship and shifting their story when caught out.
Obama and Ayers had offices in a very small office building before
Obama got to Annenberg.
Obama and Ayers both lived in the same neighborhood in NY when
Obama was going to school there. Given their shared views, it seems
highly unlikely they didn't travel in the same social
circles.
Obama had absolutely no known connections or qualifications to take
over at Annenberg, yet Ayers was a big player there and Obama got
the gig.
Ayers and Obama both draw from the same well of hard-left community
activism.
Way too many coincidences, but pursuing the story during the
campaign or especially now would be career-threatening for any
journalist with ambitions to work in the elite coastal media.
Someday, the truth will emerge, and people will slap their
foreheads at the audacity of the men who took them in, and their
own gullibility in falling for it.
economist|11.11.08 @ 10:14PM|#
I don't understand the Moynihan-hating here. He's no worse than Steve Chapman. Of course, that's not the highest praise, either.
T|11.11.08 @ 10:45PM|#
Since we're bashing Kissinger, doesn't he have a list of countries he can't go to because he'll get arrested for war crimes? Or is that just wishful thinking on my part?
Bill Ayers|11.11.08 @ 11:11PM|#
Hey, I haven't been hiding! I wrote most of Obama's more popular book, I got him his first job, and I post here regularly.
Bill Ayers|11.11.08 @ 11:14PM|#
Four independent teams of writing analysts said I almost
certainly rewrote several parts of Dreams of My Father.
That's change you can believe in!
Anyways, all I ask in return is that Obama invite me over so I can
put a bomb in a women's restroom at the White House. You know, for
old times' sake.
Well, that and for the bragging rights. In your face Osama! I
bombed the Pentagon first, and I got here first too!
Barack Obama|11.11.08 @ 11:16PM|#
Now this is the story all about how,
My life got flipped, turned upside down,
And I'd like to take a minute just sit right there,
I'll tell you how I became the Prez thanks to a man called Bill
Ayers.
Irony Overdose|11.11.08 @ 11:23PM|#
Writing in In These Times, Ayers talks about all the
threatening emails he received in the past few months
Wow, threatening emails. That's almost 1/1000th as scary as
A FUCKING BOMB you lowlife terrorist piece of
shit.
Les|11.11.08 @ 11:47PM|#
And here we have examples of what I was talking about. For
Republican loyalists, Ayers matters so much more than the fact that
the President and Vice-President violated felony wiretap laws or
that they repeatedly lied to justify invading Iraq.
The same people that pop a vein talking about this loser who
couldn't even manage kill anyone with the bombs he set, they shrug
their shoulders and "regret" the unnecessary deaths of young
soldiers, and the innocent men, women, and children blown up and
burned alive, all of them abstract figures, the "costs of war" in
their eyes.
But this Ayers guy? And that Obama fella who interacted with him?
Well, that really pisses them off! It would be funny if it weren't
kind of sick.
MAX HATS|11.11.08 @ 11:50PM|#
Four independent teams of writing analysts
WTF is a "writing analyst" (let alone a team of such) and how is
one objectively different from "right wing blogger making things
up?"
The whole "Ayers wrote Obama's book" is the craziest thing I heard
all election season - and needless to say the competition was
fierce. I mean god knows Obama needs help writing, right? And
logically he's going to get his book ghostwritten by people he
happens to be on some educational panel with, and not, say,
professional writers. It is more likely that Obama is a secret
crypto-muslim born in Kenya out of a scheme by his communist mother
to overthrow the united states than it is Ayers writing part of
Obama's book. Gah. More masterbatory imaginings from the geniuses
who brought us "Hillary murdered Vince Foster."
It's going to be a long eight years of crazy email forwards.
The Wine Commonsewer|11.12.08 @ 12:53AM|#
Ayers is morally vacuous does not mean every single thing he
says or does is likewise wrong.
Yep, even a stopped clock.....
The Wine Commonsewer|11.12.08 @ 12:59AM|#
And some e-mails, like this one I got from satan@hell.com:
"I'm coming to get you and when I do, I'll water-board
you."
Jesus Chrysler, get me a shovel, this bullshit is getting
deep.
You can't send an email from that address unless you actually are
the guy with the pitchfork and the long red pointy tail.
VM|11.12.08 @ 7:47AM|#
"It is more likely that Obama is a secret crypto-muslim born in
Kenya out of a scheme by his communist mother to overthrow the
united states"
WAIT. A. SEC.
WHY DIDN'T THIS COME OUT DURING THE ELECTION???
I WOULD RECAST MY VOTE FROM "NONE OF THE ABOVE", to "OF THE ABOVE,
NONE"
THE OUTRAGE!!!!!! MY DEAR FRIEND "OF THE" WILL BE
CRUSHED!!!!!
OH THE COOKIES FOR THE WEIBSKOBOLD!!!
|11.12.08 @ 9:29AM|#
Oh for peets sake leave the poor guy alone already.
jess
http://www.Ultimate-Anonymity.com
|11.12.08 @ 9:40AM|#
Can someone just call Ayers for what he is without involving all
these other guilt by association tactics and ridiculing harmless
people that Ayers associates with?
Like
this? Face it, he's a fuckin' pampered leftist dumbass. Trust
fund revoltionaries impress me not one iota.
|11.12.08 @ 9:58AM|#
In reading these, when people make assumptions and comparisons,
I'm confused. I'm looking wishing these comments could discern re:
Ayers: he did this/that then, he did/not do this to make amends for
that, he is like this/that now.
I'm glad he is not plotting to kill people anymore: I do NOT agree
with this. I AM interested in hearing what it was that he was so
all fired up against, why didn't he think he could make headway
another way? What was he THINKING--what else was going on then? HOW
has he come to change to someone who wants to work with the
system--it didn't start with this call for police protection if
he's on a major urban school board.
|11.12.08 @ 10:05AM|#
I AM interested in hearing what it was that he was so all
fired up against, why didn't he think he could make headway another
way?
Life's too short to spend any time digging into the
self-justification of a trust fund terrorist.
|11.12.08 @ 10:06AM|#
Hey, Editors:
What's the significance of the red # next to each commentor? I
clicked on one for a comment I liked and it changed color.
Have a key handy?
Thanks!
Les|11.12.08 @ 10:25AM|#
For Republican loyalists, Osama bin Laden matters so much more
than the fact that the President and Vice-President may have
overzealously tried to ptotect us or that they relied on flawed CIA
intel in Iraq.
The same people that pop a vein talking about this loser who
couldn't even manage to hit the White House, they shrug their
shoulders and "regret" the unnecessary deaths of young soldiers,
and the innocent men, women, and children blown up and burned
alive, all of them abstract figures, the "costs of war" in their
eyes.
But this Osama guy blowing things up? Well, that really pisses them
off! It would be funny if it weren't kind of sick.
Question|11.12.08 @ 10:26AM|#
WTF is a "writing analyst" (let alone a team of such) and
how is one objectively different from "right wing blogger making
things up?"
How is MAX HATS objectively different than the crap in my ass?
Question|11.12.08 @ 10:28AM|#
And logically he's going to get his book ghostwritten by
people he happens to be on some educational panel with, and not,
say, professional writers
Oh, and Ayers is a writer, dumbass.
economist|11.12.08 @ 10:49AM|#
What's so compelling about this snippet that the thread has gone on into the morning?
Not That Michael|11.12.08 @ 11:18AM|#
I'm somewhat ashamed to point this out as it indicates that I bothered reading Ayers' entire idiotic screed, but you'd think that after years of building bombs and protesting the U.S. military he'd finally learn how to spell ORDNANCE correctly.
GG|11.12.08 @ 11:20AM|#
Way too many coincidences, but pursuing the story during the
campaign or especially now would be career-threatening for any
journalist with ambitions to work in the elite coastal
media.
Paglia
has a healthy curiosity about it. I'm sure she'll be looking for a
job soon.
Given that Obama had served on a Chicago board with Ayers and approved funding of a leftist educational project sponsored by Ayers, one might think that the unrepentant Ayers-Dohrn couple might be of some interest to the national media...
Ayers comes off in the film as a vapid, slightly dopey, chronic juvenile with stunted powers of ethical reasoning. The real revelation is his wife, Bernardine Dohrn (who evidently worked at the same large Chicago law firm as Michelle Obama in the mid-1990s)...
The mystery of Bernardine Dohrn: How could such a personable, attractive, well-educated young woman end up saying such things at a 1969 political rally as this (omitted in the film) about the Manson murders: "Dig it. First they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them. They even shoved a fork into a victim's stomach. Wild!"
Yeah, man. "Wild."
|11.12.08 @ 11:24AM|#
GG,
There is a reason why Paglia works at an obscure liberal arts
college in Philadelphia while lesser lights like Catherine McKinnon
work at Harvard and Michigan. It is because Paglia, for all of her
faults, doesn't give a shit about being PC and says what she
thinks.
|11.12.08 @ 12:04PM|#
What's the significance of the red # next to each commentor?
I clicked on one for a comment I liked and it changed color.
Have a key handy?
Click on the # symbol and that comment will go to the top of the
page and the address of that comment appears in the window
on the top of your browser. It's useful when linking to a
particular comment like I'm doing
now.
Mojotron|11.12.08 @ 12:21PM|#
yes, if I wanted to write an autobiography about my experiences growing up as a biracial child in Indonesia and Hawaii I'd have it written by a white hippie who never lived outside the continental US.
|11.12.08 @ 12:32PM|#
GG, you may have noticed that Camille Paglia does not apparently have any ambitions of working for a major media operation. Ergo, her musings (and another connection between Obama and Ayers, via their wives) do not contradict my thesis that serious investigation and reporting on their relationship are radioactive to anyone who does have such ambitions.
Lindsay Beyerstein|11.12.08 @ 12:40PM|#
It's not stupid to say that political leaders should engage with
dissident and radical viewpoints. In fact, it's pretty
obvious.
I would think that Reason Magazine would encourage political
leaders to expose themselves to radical views on pornography,
drugs, privacy, and personal liberty.
MAX HATS|11.12.08 @ 1:01PM|#
Oh, and Ayers is a writer, dumbass.
So who ghostwrote Ayers books then? We need a team of "writing
analysts." Stat!
|11.12.08 @ 1:04PM|#
Lindsay,
Of course, it is not stupid to say that. I think Moynihan's point
(and it is certainly one I agree with) is to call attention to
Ayers's hypocrisy. Using bombs/violence to express your political
opinion means precisely that you DON'T believe in free speech and
democracy. It means you believe your views should prevail, no
matter the cost.
The reason people feel angry with Obama for associating with Ayers
(and, for example, the AERA for appointing him Vice President of
Curriculum Studies) is that it sends a message that democracy isn't
important, IDEALISM is. (Idealism, of course, as defined by someone
else...)
Les|11.12.08 @ 1:49PM|#
The reason people feel angry with Obama for associating with
Ayers (and, for example, the AERA for appointing him Vice President
of Curriculum Studies) is that it sends a message that democracy
isn't important, IDEALISM is.
I could take these people more seriously if they held everyone to
the same standards. Ayers deserves to be shunned, but no more than
anyone involved in, say, the Iran/Contra affair.
When the people who are upset with Obama for associating with Ayers
can muster the same reaction for those who associate with people
like Elliot Abrams and John Poindexter, both of whom actively
supported terrorism in order to overthrow a democratically elected
government, I'll take them seriously.
|11.12.08 @ 2:31PM|#
OK, Les, turnabout is fair play.
Since you, apparently, believe that associating with people who
support terrorism to overthrow a democratically elected government
is good reason to shun someone, do you also condemn Obama for
associating with Ayers?
Les|11.12.08 @ 2:57PM|#
Since you, apparently, believe that associating with people
who support terrorism to overthrow a democratically elected
government is good reason to shun someone, do you also condemn
Obama for associating with Ayers?
Absolutely, there is a list of things I'd condemn Obama for, and
associating with Ayers is on it. But it's near the bottom of that
list (let's be real, there are cops and District Attorneys all over
the country who have done more damage to actual people than Ayers
ever did, despite his best efforts), unless he hires Ayers or
praises him for his "service" or decides to work directly with him
again, in which case it will shoot to the top.
People like Poindexter and Abrams and Ollie North and Kissinger
will continue to be respected by politicians and partisans, despite
the fact that they've all worked directly to support
anti-democratic terrorism. I mean, if we're going to make a list of
people to condemn, to shun, to foam at the mouth over, why not put
the people who were actually involved in the deaths of innocent
civilians at the top?
|11.12.08 @ 4:00PM|#
You let strategic considerations about advancing Republicans' political campaigns determine what you write about, Michael?
|11.12.08 @ 4:09PM|#
You know what's even more pathetic than a Baby Boomer who won't
stop refighting the hippie/square wars of the SixtiesMan, and
indulsing in paranoid conspiracy theories about why American
politics don't revolve around his SixtiesMan obsessions?
A post-Baby Boomer who does the same thing.
|11.13.08 @ 10:11AM|#
Kudos to you for refraining from the Ayers noise.
Here is the problem:
The right took Ayers and made him a Celebrity. Now, obviously,
Ayers has always had a Madonna-type knack for
"reinvention"--alas!--but it was the Right that made him a
household name.
Maybe Ayers can go on a Lecture Tour debating "Joe the Plumber"
(whose name isn't Joe and who isn't a licensed plumber, but Madonna
didn't actually give birth to Christ either, so who cares?).
But, God! The Weather Underground is back and Michelle and Rush and
so many others did the PR work along with Sarah Palin.
Site comments/questions:
Media Inquiries and Reprint Permissions:
(310) 367-6109
Editorial & Production Offices:
3415 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Suite 400
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 391-2245