Bill Ayers: Would you see a movie about Obama's secret pal?

You know how it goes in Hollywood: Enough about the stock market taking a dive...does it help my movie's opening weekend? So is it good news for writer-director John Hancock that Bill Ayers, the subject of Hancock's new script, "Fugitive Days," may suddenly become a hotly debated focus of the Obama-McCain presidential campaign? In recent days, Republicans have been stepping up attacks on Obama, with Sarah Palin accusing him of being someone who would "pal around with terrorists," her term of endearment for Ayers, who was a founding member of the Weather Underground and a fugitive from justice for a decade. Ayers has acknowledged being involved in several bombing attempts, including one on the Pentagon in 1972.

Politico's Jeffrey Resner has an intriguing story about Hancock, who directed "Bang the Drum Slowly" and was a '60s war-protester himself. Hancock tells Resner that he spent about 40 hours interviewing Ayers and his wife, Bernadine Dohrn, after optioning Ayers 2001 memoir, also called "Fugitive Days." Ayers turned himself in to authorities in 1980, served time in prison and has since rehabilitated himself. He's currently an education professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and has worked with Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley to shape Chicago's school reform agenda. He and Obama became friends after crossing paths as members of the board of a local anti-poverty group.

Hancock told Resner that his agent has sent the script, co-written with Dorothy Tristan, out to various producers, but so far has received only "nibbles, but no bites." Of course, now that Ayers has become a political football, it's hard not to imagine everyone in Hollywood wanting to get a look at the script. (That goes for me too, John, if you've got an extra copy lying around.) As it turns out, Ayers has already gotten the Hollywood treatment, since he and Dohrn were the inspiration for the fugitive couple played by Judd Hirsh and Christine Lahti in the 1988 drama, "Running on Empty" (he was also featured in archival footage in the 2002 Oscar nominated documentary "The Weather Underground.")

Those of us who follow Chicago politics know that there's a great untold story about Ayers that hasn't surfaced yet in the national media. If the Republicans continue to hammer away at Obama about his admittedly casual relationship with Ayers, expect him to rescued by the poster boy for unimpeachably  Middle American values -- Mayor Daley himself. In the insular world of Chicago machine politics, the current mayor isn't just good pals himself with Ayers -- his father, the first Mayor Daley, the guy who had his cops beat up protesters at the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention, was even better pals with Ayers' father, who was a pillar of Chicago business circles, chairman of Commonwealth Edison and a loyal Daley supporter.

Now that would make a great movie. Imagine the scene where Bill Ayers' dad calls Mayor Daley I when Bill has gone underground after trying to blow up the Pentagon, asking him for some help with the feds who are trying to find his wayward son. "Anything for a friend," the mayor would say. "Just make sure we don't have any blackouts this summer."

The Chicago political machine isn't what it used to be, but don't be surprised if Mayor Daley II pops up to offer Obama support, figuring it would be hard for anyone to believe that the mayor of Chicago could possibly be pals with a wild-eyed terrorist. Hancock says he might add a reference to Obama in his script to reflect the current situation. I hope he makes room for Mayor Daley too. If he turns out looking good, they could probably find a way to shoot the whole film in Chicago for free.       

Mug shot of Bill Ayers from the Chicago Historical Society.

Comments

[Retrofit]

Who are you kidding! Ayers was a terrorist! He should still be in prison making license plates. Instead they call him professor. What a joke. I would not walk across the street to "P" on his grave. All of us who are vets from that period will remind you that this pervert did nothing for his country other than to pose his own and Weatherman's ultra radical revolutionary philosophy. There is one thing to be a revolutionary and stay within the rule of law. That was not Ayers! He bombed and killed innocent American citizens and now you want to glorify this son-of-a-bitch by making a movie about him! Pull your head out of you're you know what and get some sense of reality.

[Jim]

McCain's relationship with G. Gordon Liddy a radio host and convicted Watergate burglar?

Liddy is unrepentant for his crimes on behalf of Nixon.

Liddy has acknowledged preparing to kill someone during the Ellsberg break-in "if necessary"; plotting to murder journalist Jack Anderson; plotting with a "gangland figure" to murder Howard Hunt to stop him from cooperating with investigators; plotting to firebomb the Brookings Institution; and plotting to kidnap "leftist guerillas" at the 1972 Republican National Convention -- a plan he outlined to the Nixon administration using terminology borrowed from the Nazis. (The murder, firebombing, and kidnapping plots were never carried out; the break-ins were.) During the 1990s, Liddy reportedly instructed his radio audience on multiple occasions on how to shoot Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agents and also reportedly said he had named his shooting targets after Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Liddy has donated $5,000 to McCain's campaigns since 1998, including $1,000 in February 2008.

McCain has appeared on Liddy's radio show during the presidential campaign, including as recently as May.

Listen to McCain on Liddy's show on 11/10/07 http://tinyurl.com/4k8f28

Check out Liddy's many radio programs that strongly support McCain

http://www.radioamerica.org/POD_ggl.htm

in November McCain praised Liddy for his adherence “to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great,” Chapman reports.

http://tinyurl.com/3nyx6o

Palin has a very close relationship with a very radical anti-American:

Todd Palin, Longtime Former AIP Member - Alaskan Independence Party

"Palin's husband Todd was a member of the AIP from October 1995 through July 2002, except for a few months in 2000. He is currently undeclared"

third-party ("Alaska First -- Alaska Always") that wants Alaskans to get a vote on whether or not the state can secede from the U.S. But her husband was a long-time member, and at least two AIP officials recall her attending the 1994 convention, though she says she did not attend.

http://tinyurl.com/3s3un2

Todd Palin broke the law by not showing up to answer questions about the trooper investigation.

[Granny Nerd]

If incarceration of criminals is, as some think, to rehabilitate an offender, then the politicans should leave this alone. Apparently Ayers got rehabilitated: earned his degrees and got a respectable job. I thought that once somebody paid their debts to society for breaking laws, then those crimes, while not entirely forgotten, are theoretically forgiven. Clearly, Obama's "palling around" with Ayers was after he had served his sentence and was rehabilitated.

[PHADE2BLK]

I guess since if we are playing time capsule politics, this should be presented as a double feature! How about say.... with a Sarah (Lucille Ball) Palin cartoon playing between the movies, The cartoonesque Palin could fill the screen with ellie mae clampett sound bites and feature a bimbo junkyard "deputy dog" attitude. in a Gidget Goes to Washington type spoof.

This would be shown between the aforementioned Bill Ayers feature and then followed by the KEATING FIVE Feature for a reality effect!

GEE I wonder which would prove more realistic and true! Perhaps a G Gordon LIddy murder plot would make a more interesting twist! He could sport around with a best friend angry midget who attends the naval academy and finishes 5 from the bottom ranking in his class. He could then self proclaim himself as Maverick!

Imagine a habit of crashing planes, skipping class, cheating on those that wait for you as the perfect role model! Yea he could be presidential!! Ain't that just Hollywood?

[john]

I have no problem with this story, but the headline is deeply irresponsible. To refer to Ayers as "Obama's secret pal" is simply a lie. Their modest connection is not secret and they are not pals. By publishing such a headline in the LAT it gives the story credibilty. I found the header up on Google news, which many will see without reading the article.

[CALIFORNIAMARTY]

Wm. Ayers was a close personal associate of Obama. Ayers headed CAC and chose Obama to dole out millions to schools that taught radical anti-American drivel to children. Obama did so and also doled out money to the Rev. Wright. The latest papers finally released confirm this. Obama also worked with Ayers on the Woods Foundation which funded ACORN the group under investigation, many members of which have been indicted for fraud in voter registration of people many times over or who were dead. ACORN pressured lenders to made subprime loans to minorities who did not qualify.
Obama tried to distance himself from his contributor and friend Wm. Ayers the unrepentant terrorist bomber but he cannot. Too bad too few think that this association does not reflect on Obama's integrity, or judgement or pure love of our country and that most people would not shake hands with Ayers the unrepentant hater of America let alone accept funds from him.

[Donna H.]

Given the current political climate, it's grossly irresponsible for the Times to write this headline without at least putting "secret pal" in quotes. I'm not surprised by blatant disregard for the truth from Sarah Palin, but I don't expect the Times to give credence to her lies.

[John Hancock]

Thanks for the article, Patrick. I'd be happy to email you a script. Just tell me where. Yours, John

[Kevin]

Ayers is unrepentant. He wishes he had done more. He has the typical arrogance of people who believe that because they hold the correct opinions, they have the right to destroy public property or other people's private property in order to force those opinions on others. I don't see McCain campaign posters and stickers defacing public property. The Obama campaign ought to send campaign staffers out to remove their stickers and posters from public property. Otherwise, I will start to think, "So, do I vote for that experienced courageous leader who put his country before himself when he served in the military and when he supported the surge, or do I vote for that guy who is the preferred candidate of vandals?"

[Vicki]

The title you gave the article to get people to read it is nothing less than the Palin comment. Obama was 8 years old. I would go see the movie. I moved from Hollywood to Austin, Texas in 2003. I still am a Californian. They call me Texi-Cali. I am going to watch Body of Lies and W. I look forward to it. Hollywood may be a sore eye for people that have never lived there. To me filmmakers are the makers of stories that people flock to theaters to watch and that is the way it is. History is good. If the war mongers and money grabbers of today's Washington and Wall Street think they have committed no crimes, that is their biggest lie. They should be convicted as well. SO BE IT! Peace brothers and sisters.