Obama has other creepy friends. Call it guilt by association, but like Tony Rezko, the Rev. Wright, former Weather Underground terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn figure into Obama's past. I don't know where they fit into his present--perhaps not at all. Guilty by association perhaps, but for whatever reason, Obama has some pretty interesting associations.
I didn't get to ask Obama about his relationship with Bill Ayers today, but did ask his chief strategist (and reigning expert on Chicago's political tribes), David Axelrod, about the two men.
"Bill Ayers lives in his neighborhood. Their kids attend the same school," he said. "They're certainly friendly, they know each other, as anyone whose kids go to school together."
He called Ayers current defense of his 1960s bombings "objectionable, and I think Barack would also say that was objectionable. I don't think he's ever had an in-depth discussion [with Ayers] about them."
Ayers' kids are adults, Obama's daughters are six and nine. Axelrod got the part about the kids wrong, which is why Obama, not Axelrod, should be answering these inquiries--Yes, I know presidential candidates have to ration their time--well, maybe Mike Gravel doesn't, but unless he's forced into a corner with no other way out, Obama has a noticeable pattern of avoiding situations where he might be asked tough questions.
After State Senator Alice Palmer announced she wasn't running for re-election (she later changed her mind) so she could run for Congress, she brought Obama around to the homes of prominent residents in her district--including the graystone of Ayers and Dohrn, who are now both tenured university professors. In 2001, Ayers donated $200 to Obama's State Senate campaign fund, and the two served together on the board of The Woods Fund. Interestingly, The Woods Fund invested $1 million into a partnership run by Allison S. Davis, a former boss at the law firm Obama once worked and a contributor to his campaigns.
In April 2002, Ayers, Dohrn, and Obama, then an Illinois state senator, participated together at a conference entitled "Intellectuals: Who Needs Them?" sponsored by The Center for Public Intellectuals and the University of Illinois-Chicago. Ayers and Obama were two of the six members of the "Intellectuals in Times of Crisis" panel.
Obama's ties to Rezko and Wright are far deeper. But he needs to explain to the voters where he stands on Ayers and Dohrn, two unrepentant former terrorists.
So speak up, Obama, about Ayers and Dohrn. You. Not Axelrod, not Bill Burton.
UPDATE 10:15 PM: While trolling Technorati, I noticed that John Stephenson of Stop The ACLU covers much of the same territory, and more, in this post.
Barack Obama is still not telling everything he knows about his relationship with unreptentant terrorist Bill "Bomber" Ayers. Or for that matter, Ayers' wife Bernardin Dohrn. In his interview on on Hannity & Colmes I saw two hours ago, John McCain said something along the lines that during their halcyonic terror days, Dohrn was the better known terrorist.
Which is true. Strikingly attractive in her younger days, Dorhn, a former high school cheerleader, was the celebrity beauty of the Weather Underground. McCain knows his stuff.
ABC News' Charlie Gibson asked Barack Obama about the man Obama in April dismissed "as a guy who lives in my neighborhood."
FACT: Barack Obama And William Ayers Have A Long Relationship Beyond Serving On One Board Together
Barack Obama's Relationship With Ayers "Went Much Deeper, Ran Much Longer And Was Much More Political Than Obama Said." CNN'S DREW GRIFFIN: "Barack Obama confirmed during a primary debate that he knew Ayers and when pressed, said they served on a charitable foundation board together. And Obama condemned Ayers support of violence. But the relationship between Obama and Ayers went much deeper, ran much longer, and was much more political than Obama said." (CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360," 10/6/08)
In 1995, During Barack Obama's First State Senate Campaign, William Ayers And Wife Bernadine Dohrn Hosted A Meeting Of Chicago Liberals At Their Home (pictured on the right) For Barack Obama, Which One Attendee Said Was Aimed At "Launching Him." "In 1995, State Senator Alice Palmer introduced her chosen successor, Barack Obama, to a few of the district's influential liberals at the home of two well known figures on the local left: William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. While Ayers and Dohrn may be thought of in Hyde Park as local activists, they're better known nationally as two of the most notorious -- and unrepentant -- figures from the violent fringe of the 1960s anti-war movement. ... 'I can remember being one of a small group of people who came to Bill Ayers' house to learn that Alice Palmer was stepping down from the Senate and running for Congress,' said Dr. Quentin Young, a prominent Chicago physician and advocate for single-payer health care, of the info rmal gathering at the home of Ayers and his wife, Dohrn. '[Palmer] identified [Obama] as her successor.' ... Dr. Young and another guest, Maria Warren, described it similarly: as an introduction to Hyde Park liberals of the handpicked successor to Palmer, a well-regarded figure on the left. 'When I first met Barack Obama, he was giving a standard, innocuous little talk in the living room of those two legends-in-their-own-minds, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn,' Warren wrote on her blog in 2005. 'They were launching him -- introducing him to the Hyde Park community as the best thing since sliced bread.'" (Ben Smith, "Obama Once Visited '60s Radicals," The Politico, 1/22/08)
· CNN: The Meeting Was Widely Considered As "Barack Obama's Political Coming Out Party And It Was Hosted By Bill Ayers." CNN'S DREW GRIFFIN: "Anderson, this meeting at Bill Ayers home has been classified in many different ways. What I can tell you from the two people who were actually there, is number one, former Senator Alice Palmer says she, in no way organized this meeting and she was invited and attended it briefly. And Doctor Quentin Young, a retired doctor, told us this indeed was Barack Obama's political coming out party and it was hosted by Bill Ayers." (CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360," 10/6/08)
CNN: The Paths Of Barack Obama And Ayers "Repeatedly Crossed" At The Annenberg Challenge. CNN'S DREW GRIFFIN: "One place their paths repeatedly crossed, according to a CNN review of board minutes and other records, was Chicago's Annenberg Challenge project where a $50 million grant from the Annenberg Foundation matched locally raised funds to improve schools. According to participants and project records, Bill Ayers fought to bring the Annenberg grant to Chicago, Barack Obama was recruited as its chair. For seven years, Bill Ayers and Obama among many others, worked on funding for education projects, including some experiments supported by Ayers." (CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360," 10/6/08)
· From March Of 1995 Until September Of 1997, Barack Obama And Ayers Attended At Least Seven Meetings Together Relating To The Chicago Annenberg Challenge. (Chicago Annenberg Challenge, Board Of Directors Meeting, Minutes Of The Board, 3/15/95, 3/31/95, 4/13/95, 6/5/95, 9/30/97; National Annenberg Challenge Evaluation Meeting, List Of Participants, 5/24/95; Chicago Annenberg Challenge, Chicago School Reform Collaborative Meeting, Minutes, 10/23/96)
· NOTE: Bill Ayers Was Asked To Help Barack Obama Formulate The Chicago Annenberg Challenge By-Laws. (Chicago Annenberg Challenge Board Of Directors Minutes, 3/15/95)
In 1997, Barack Obama Praised Ayers' Book On The Juvenile Justice System. "The two men were involved in efforts to reform the city's education system. They appeared together on academic panels, including one organized by Michelle Obama to discuss the juvenile justice system, an area of mutual concern. Mr. Ayers' book on the subject won a rave review in The Chicago Tribune by Mr. Obama, who called it 'a searing and timely account.'" (Jo Becker and Christopher Drew, "Pragmatic Politics, Forged On The South Side," The New York Times, 5/11/08)
· Barack Obama On William Ayers' "A Kind And Just Parent: The Children Of Juvenile Court": "A searing and timely account of the juvenile court system, and the courageous individuals who rescue hope from despair." (Chicago Tribune, 12/21/97)
"[Obama And Ayers] Have Also Appeared Jointly On Two Academic Panels, One In 1997 And Another In 2001."(Russell Berman, "Obama's Ties To Left Come Under Scrutiny," The New York Sun, 2/19/08)
From 1999 To 2002, Barack Obama Served With Ayers On The Board Of Directors For Woods Fund Of Chicago. "[Ayers] served with [Obama] from 1999 to 2002 on the board of the Woods Fund, an anti-poverty group." (Timothy J. Burger, "Obama's Chicago Ties Might Fuel 'Republican Attack Machine'," Bloomberg, 2/15/08)
· Barack Obama And Ayers "Served Together On A Second Charitable Foundation, The Woods Foundation." CNN'S DREW GRIFFIN: "While continuing work on the Annenberg Challenge, Barack Obama and Bill Ayers also served together on a second charitable foundation, the Woods Fund. Among its recipients, Jeremiah Wright's Trinity United Church where Obama attended and a Children and Family Justice Center, where Ayers' wife worked." (CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360," 10/6/08)
· During The Time Barack Obama And Ayers Served Together On The Woods Fund, Ayers Was Quoted Saying "I Don't Regret Setting Bombs ... I Feel We Didn't Do Enough." "'I don't regret setting bombs,' Bill Ayers said. 'I feel we didn't do enough.' Mr. Ayers, who spent the 1970's as a fugitive in the Weather Underground, was sitting in the kitchen of his big turn-of-the-19th-century stone house in the Hyde Park district of Chicago." (Dinitia Smith, "No Regrets For A Love Of Explosives," The New York Times, 9/11/01)
· While Barack Obama And Ayers Were Serving On The Woods Fund Together, Ayers Posed Standing On An American Flag For An Article In Chicago Magazine Entitled "No Regrets."(Marcia Froelke Coburn, "No Regrets," Chicago Magazine, 8/01)
Barack Obama And Ayers Are Neighbors In Chicago's Hyde Park Neighborhood. "Twenty-six years later, at a lunchtime meeting about school reform in a Chicago skyscraper, Barack Obama met Mr. Ayers, by then an education professor. Their paths have crossed sporadically since then, at a coffee Mr. Ayers hosted for Mr. Obama's first run for office, on the schools project and a charitable board, and in casual encounters as Hyde Park neighbors." (Scott Shane, "Obama And '60s Bomber: A Look Into Crossed Paths," The New York Times, 10/4/08)
· Obama Spokesman Ben LaBolt Told The New York Times That Last Year Obama And Ayers "Bumped Into Each Other On The Street In Hyde Park." "[Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt] said they have not spoken by phone or exchanged e-mail messages since Mr. Obama began serving in the United States Senate in January 2005 and last met more than a year ago when they bumped into each other on the street in Hyde Park." (Scott Shane, "Obama And '60s Bomber: A Look Into Crossed Paths," The New York Times, 10/4/08)
Last night National Review contributor Stanley Kurtz, the man who led the push to get my alma mater, the University of Illinois, to open up the files of the Barack Obama-Bill Ayers endeavor, the Chicago Annenberg Project, appeared on the O'Reilly Factor.
Here's a repost of an entry put together by ThirdWaveDave while I was in Corinth, Mississippi in May.
Last night on the O'Reilly Factor, Bill started an ongoing Factor Investigation into the relationship between Obama, Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn, and the Weather Underground. O'Reilly's goal is to educate the viewers on the true nature of this relationship.
Marathon Pundit has been investigating this relationship since as far back as 2006, and he'd like to refresh his readers on a couple recent posts he did with the hopes of keeping this issue front and center. Below are two of his most widely read and important posts on the subject:
**WEATHER UNDERGROUND'S "SMASH MONOGAMY" CAMPAIGN--posted May 8, 2008
We've all heard that former Weather Underground members Bill Ayers and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn, are unrepentant ex-terrorists. Are they unrepentant about smashing monogamy? From the late, great, Moonbat Central blog in 2005:
According to the 1989 book Destructive Generation: Second Thoughts About the '60s by Peter Collier and David Horowitz, Weatherman trainees underwent grueling rituals of self-abasement and abuse in which their dignity, individuality and even sexual identity was brutally extinguished. On pages 84-87, Collier and Horowitz write...continue reading.
**BILL AYERS STEPPING ON A U.S. FLAG IN 2001--posted May 4, 2001. (every major blog site linked to this post)
My good friend Anne Leary of Backyard Conservative, a fabulous North Shore blogger, tipped me off to this picture, which I've heard rumors about, of Bill Ayers stepping on a US flag in 2001.
I believe it's from Chicago Magazine, and it accompanied an article in which Ayers was peddling his terrorist memoir, Fugitive Days. ...continue reading.
As I mentioned above, O'Reilly has launched a Factor Investigation that will continue throughout the election season. Below is O'Reilly's first installment that aired Monday night, May 12:
Educate yourselves on the Obama--Ayers relationship by reading the above posts and hitting the links. Blog about it too. Remember, this isn't the first time the political machine in Chicago has tried to put a man in the White House. Remember the 1960 election?
Keep checking back for more posts about Ayers--Obama and for updates on John's trip to Mississippi.
UPDATE 8:50pm CDT:ThirdWaveDave comes through again and tells me YouTube has last night's O'Reilly Factor segment with Kurtz discusses Ayers--and Obama.
Bill Ayers lives in (Obama's) neighborhood. Their kids attend the same school. They're certainly friendly, they know each other, as anyone whose kids go to school together. Barack Obama's top advisor, David Axelrod, February 26.
Axelrod got the part about their kids wrong, Ayers' are adults, but his fellow ex-terrorist wife Bernardine Dohrn is involved at that school in an unidentified capacity.
Last week former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers, an unrepentant former terrorist, spoke at the University of North Dakota. His next speaking appearance is on Chicago's South Side, at Shimer College, which is located within the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology.
As I've noted in earlier posts, in a unity tour, then-State Senator Alice Palmer brought Barack Obama to the home of Ayers and Dohrn, since in some eyes they are prominent citizens, and Palmer introduced Obama to the couple as her successor.
Ayers and Obama served together on the board of The Woods Fund, and participated in a few conferences together.
Obama, the man who is so eager to talk with our enemies once he is president, has not spoken publicly about his relationship with Ayers.
Read below for more on Ayers and the Weather Underground:
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