Obama and Bill Ayers

Okay I can't remember if I've mentioned this before. Probably when I was talking about Obama and his ties with Tony Rezko (HERE, HERE). If you are not familiar, Bill Ayers is the former leader of the Weather Underground, a terrorist organization that bombed government buildings and killed some people back in the day.

So the facts, or what we know of them, are these: Ayers lives in Obama's neighborhood. In 1995 Ayers hosted a fundraiser for him at his home. There are some tinfoilers out there (of which, I may or may not be a part of) that believe the magician behind Obama's meteoric rise in the Dem party is owed in large part to Ayers and his introduction of Obama to Chicago society. We also now, that Ayers and Obama served on a board together several years ago. Obama maintains that this is an acquaintance, and they don't really talk.

American Issues Project is running an ad attacking Obama's relationship to Bill Ayers:



From everything that I've read ... nothing in that video is false. But Obama has issued the following response ad - which BIZARRELY enough ran last night during the DNC. (Can we say, stupid, stupid, stupid?)


So ... first of all, that message above is approved by Obama. The one from American Issues Project is not approved by McCain. So ... why is Obama attacking McCain when it was not McCain who attacked him?

And, he's trying to get the justice department to ban the ad from the airwaves. Why? Is it slanderous? What is mentioned that is false?

HELLO ... Obama does know Ayers. He has said friendly things about him. Whether or not he denounces what he did 40 years ago does not matter. He has still been cordial to him presently. That in and of itself will not sit well with the American electorate that are on the fence.

Would it be okay if McCain had been or was friendly with Timothy McVey? Would it be okay if he had associated with Osama Bin Laden?

And really, Obama's never explained the relationship well enough. Especially in light of some of the reporting going on. (Pajamas Media, National Review, Wall Street Journal,

From the NRO article:

When Obama made his first run for political office, articles in both the Chicago Defender and the Hyde Park Herald featured among his qualifications his position as chairman of the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a foundation where Ayers was a founder and guiding force. Obama assumed the Annenberg board chairmanship only months before his first run for office, and almost certainly received the job at the behest of Bill Ayers. During Obama’s time as Annenberg board chairman, Ayers’s own education projects received substantial funding. Indeed, during its first year, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge struggled with significant concerns about possible conflicts of interest. With a writ to aid Chicago’s public schools, the Annenberg challenge played a deeply political role in Chicago’s education wars, and as Annenberg board chairman, Obama clearly aligned himself with Ayers’s radical views on education issues. With Obama heading up the board and Ayers heading up the other key operating body of the Annenberg Challenge, the two would necessarily have had a close working relationship for years (therefore “exchanging ideas on a regular basis”). So when Ayers and Dorhn hosted that kickoff for the first Obama campaign, it was not a random happenstance, but merely further evidence of a close and ongoing political partnership.

It gets better.

This much we know from the public record, but a large cache of documents housed in the Richard J. Daley Library at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), is likely to flesh out the story. That document cache contains the internal files of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. The records in question are extensive, consisting of 132 boxes, containing 947 file folders, a total of about 70 linear feet of material. Not only would these files illuminate the working relationship between Obama and Bill Ayers, they would also provide significant insight into a web of ties linking Obama to various radical organizations, including Obama-approved foundation gifts to political allies. Obama’s leadership style and abilities are also sure to be illuminated by the documents in question.

The reporter made arrangements to go to the university and read the documents. He was granted access, but when he was on the plane someone higher up banned access. Since Ayers still teaches there, it seems logical that Ayers himself may have played a role. Read the whole thing. Even if you're an Obama supporter, to know what the other side is saying.

If it can all be explained away ... I'm very eager to hear the explanation.