Ex-radical William Ayers dodges TV crew to avoid comment on Obama

William Ayers, the Chicago education professor and co-founder of the 1960s radical group Weather Underground, has been vilified in the current presidential campaign as a "washed up terrorist'' -- with Democrat Barack Obama, who has served on civic boards with the educator, accused by John McCain's campaign of "palling around with terrorists.''

Chicago's Mayor Richard Daley says the two are "friends" and Obama strategist David Axelrod says they are "friendly."

But Ayers, for his part, has had nothing public to say about it all, as an encounter with journalism students and ABC News over the weekend underscored.

Ayers told a journalism student attending an education justice symposium in New York Sunday that he and other former radicals were being "demonized" by Fox News, ABC reports. "We're nice guys, right?"

Asked by the student if he repudiated the work of the Weather Underground, which carried out a series of 1960's robberies and bombings, ABC reports, Ayers walked away without answering.

Ayers declined requests for an interview from ABC News, and after the appearance in New York, he used a garbage-littered freight elevator in an unsuccessful attempt to duck ABC News cameras waiting outside.

"I have nothing to say," he told ABC News as he ran off seeking a taxi.

Our colleague Mark Silva has the rest of the unusual story over at the Swamp.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: William Ayers. Credit: Associated Press

Comments

[coolrepublica]

ex-radical? Is that the same as ex-child molester or ex-murder?

I hope Osama Bin Laden is reading this blog. Mr. Laden just know that in a few years, we would have forgotten about your deeds and if you move to Chicago and keep low for a while, you too would be referred to as ex-terrorist.

Time is a healer.

[Fred]

He tried to avoid cameras by using a garbage-littered freight elevator.

The lights were turned on and this Cockroach scurried away....
Run away! Run away!

If Obama wins, Ayers will have to hide out for another 4 years - probably in the basement of the White House as a member of Obama's brain trust.

[Cecil]

William Ayers is a shoe in for Secretary of Homeland Defense.

[Stan2008]

10 things to know about Bill Ayers. A primer

Compare the statement below to the statement reported by the New York Times:

In 2001, Ayers told the Sun-Times he regretted that "people were hurt, that three of my dear friends were killed, that we were stupid, immature, intolerant and unwise. I regret that I hurt people's feelings." He did not regret "throwing myself as wholeheartedly as I could figure out into opposition to war and to the system of racial injustice."

http://tinyurl.com/4bfwbs

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

Liddy went to prison for his part in the Watergate Burglary, but he has said he has no regrets about what he did, insisting that he went to jail as "a prisoner of war."

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.

In 1998, Liddy's home was the site of a McCain fundraiser. Over the years, he has made at least four contributions totaling $5,000 to the senator's campaigns -- including $1,000 this year. (Ayers donated $200 in the 1990s)

Last November, McCain went on his radio show. Liddy greeted him as "an old friend," and McCain sounded like one. "I'm proud of you, I'm proud of your family," he gushed. "It's always a pleasure for me to come on your program, Gordon, and congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great." He was also on the show in May 2008

[Yellow Journalism]

Putting a little spotlight on Ayers just days before the election? How underhandedly unscrupulous. I await your expose on Rev. Wright which I know is forthcoming.
Hack.

[lightnin]

For anyone who hasn't already voted, and those who haven't yet decided who to vote for:

Consider the "Wealth Redistribution" that will occur if, as he intends to do, Obama succeeds in giving:

(1) Amnesty, citizenship, and full voting rights

(2) Medical Insurance,

(3) Social Security, and

(4) Welfare, Food Stamps, etc.

to the 11 million (or more) Illegal Immigrants who

(A) are already here, plus

(B) the untold number who will come here immediately when they hear about it!

That will: (1) buy the democrats the votes of those people for a long time (the goal),

(2) require taxing a lot more than the "top 5%" to pay for it,

(3) bankrupt this country, and possibly bring on Socialism as a result (possible goal)

(4) happen if Obama is elected, with democrats controlling the House and Senate.

You can (A) vote to let it happen, or

(B) vote to prevent it.

[steven wheeler]

last i knew, we had a legal system in this country. while nobody likes what the weather men did ayers has gone through our system of justice. republicans and democrates alike have judged him by his current actions and put him on education boards, etc. obsama, if caught would have to goes through our legal system too. if you don't like the out come change our legal system. or maybe you would favor a system similar to north korea's.

[Peggy McGilligan]

Every crime depends on someone not waking up too soon, and without exception most of us wake up too late. William C. Ayers and his ilk moved into the academy in masse during the 1990s. The press simply declines to cover the story; but it's huge. So, lets talk higher education. Outcome Based Education ensures the Politically Correct de jour, a means of actually graduating from college. Its called “social justice.” Take William Ayers. Besides drugs, he knows domestic terrorism. It's more than a way to stay stoned, firmly ensconced in the 70s. Just look at Ayer’s bourgeois neighborhood. You should have a t-shirt sporting a big red star. Professor Ayers also decides education policy. Ayers does much more damage to America than he ever could with mere explosives. The faculty sets the tone at any university. “Education,” says Ayers, “is the motor-force of revolution.”

Saul D. Alinsky, Hillary D. Clinton’s old mentor and comrade-in-arms would be doing double back flips. President William J. Clinton pardoned Weather Underground Organization members Susan Rosenberg and Linda Evans. Today, WUO founder William Ayers teaches “social justice” & “education reform” at the University of Illinois, Chicago. During the Vietnam War, while John S. McCain endured a North Vietnamese prison, a draft dodging “Slick Willie” participated in "teach-ins" against the VN War, while visiting the former Soviet Union. No worries though, if Barack H. Obama wins, Hillary D. Clinton could wind up with a Supreme Court nomination.

Bill Ayers, another self-professed “communist street fighter” decides who will graduate. We don’t need no stinking core curriculum. We don’t need no accountability, say educators. It’s part and parcel of the “culture of mendacity” manifested by the Left. This is the face of higher education, a first class political reeducation. And, these people are dead serious. In true Trotsky fashion, Bill Clinton expanded home ownership for the new Democratic demographic with PC loans, as worthless as the aforementioned PC diplomas. In short, “economic justice.” Another formula for disaster: flood of worthless diplomas on the job market. “From each according to his ability to each according to his need.” In 1995 Barack Obama and Bill Ayers got together to focus on education; Bill Clinton proclaimed himself the education president. It was a paradigm shift. Yet Clinton never boasts his role as catalyst, not a single time: never: http://theseedsof9-11.com

[EmilyAnne]

In response to "lightnin" (a little while ago), no Bill Ayers did not go through our legal system. See, we have this thing called the Statute of Limitations. If someone has committed a federal crime that is not murder is not caught within five years of said crime, the charges are dropped... As for changing the system, I would love to change it just a little. Get rid of the Statute of Limitations.

Loopholes do not equal justification.