Ayers stomping on the flag follow up

I didn't get a chance to watch Hannity & Colmes on the Fox News Channel last night because I was taking part in Andrea Shea King's BlogTalk Radio program when H & C was on the air.

The duo were interviewing Karl Rove. Here's a partial transcript:

HANNITY: Now there's Bill Ayers, who said on 9/11, "I don't regret bombing the Pentagon, setting the bombs at the Capitol, New York City Police headquarters. There he is stomping on an American flag. Barack Obama says he's friendly with him. He sits on boards with him, and he gives speeches with him.

Do you think this will grow into a bigger issue in the campaign?

ROVE: It could. It depends upon the degree to which we come to understand their relationship. You know there have been some indications that when Senator Obama decided to run for his first political office, the Illinois state Senate, that he went to Mr. Ayers — or Dr. Ayers, Professor Ayers, and received his blessing in his introduction to the Hyde Park, you know, liberal community.

Now, we're going to need to see more of the relationship between the two before this gets to be an issue like Reverend Wright is.

COLMES: He's also worked with Daley, though, and Daley has praised him — Mayor Daley of Chicago. That hasn't hurt Mayor Daley. He seems to be part of the political structure in Chicago.

Interesting. I commented to Andrea last night that Daley's father, who was Chicago's mayor for 21 years, and Ayers' father, Thomas, knew each other well. So when the younger Mayor Daley, who took office in 1989, called on Ayers to assist in the reform of Chicago's worst-in-the-nation schools, calling on Bill Ayers, an education professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago, wasn't as far-fetched as it appears. Thomas Ayers, who was the CEO of Commonthwealth Edison, then Chicago's electric utility, passed away last year.

About 3 million people live in Chicago, but the city is run like a small town. Party affiliation is important, but so is family.

H/T to Brad Marston of Reality Bytes for the Hannity & Colmes story.

Related post:

The Daley family, the Ayers family, and the Land of Coincidences

Technorati tags: 60s Chicago radicals Bill Ayers terrorism Weather Underground Obama politics Barack Obama Election Democrats Politics Left Wing Extremists UIC flag desecration flag University of Illinois metroblogging Richard Daley history Fox News Hannity & Colmes