With polls closed, William Ayers now complains of being a 'cartoon character'
Now that all the votes are cast and it looks like his South Side Chicago neighbor Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States, William Ayers, the founder of the violent Weather Underground in the 1960s, granted a newspaper interview.
Ayers, along with Tony Rezko and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, were among the Obama Chicago relationships that critics used to question the freshman senator's judgment.
Called a "washed-up terrorist" by John McCain, Ayers has kept months of self-imposed silence during the campaign. During one debate Obama described him merely as "someone I know," though Ayers hired Obama as chair of the board of a $50-million education reform project and held a fundraiser in his home for Obama early in the lawyer's political climb.
Ayers is now objecting to being turned into "a cartoon character."
"Pal around together?" Ayers said. "What does that mean? Share a milkshake with two straws? I think my relationship with Obama was probably like thousands of others in Chicago. And, like millions and millions of others, I wish I knew him better."
"I didn't do anything," Ayers added. "It's all guilt by association. They made me into a cartoon character. They threw me up on stage just to pummel me. I felt from the beginning that the Obama campaign had to run the campaign and I had to run my life."
Ayers called today an "exciting moment" and said he planned to attend Obama's evening rally in Chicago's downtown Grant Park.
Our colleague Mark Silva has more on this interview over at the Swamp.
-- Andrew Malcolm
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Andrew Malcolm's immigrant parents repeatedly stressed the importance of active participation in a democracy. Early lessons included learning the alphabetical list of states by watching televised roll calls of national political conventions. That childhood exposure led to a lifelong fascination with politics, including 40-plus years of covering them and a brief stint practicing them as press secretary to Laura Bush in 1999-2000. A veteran foreign and national correspondent, Malcolm served on the Times Editorial Board and was a Pulitzer finalist in 2004. He is the author of 10 nonfiction books and father of four.
Johanna Neuman is a veteran Washington correspondent for both The Los Angeles Times and USA Today, having covered presidents and politics as far back as Ronald Reagan. A former president of the White House Correspondents Assn., she authored a book on media and foreign policy, “Lights, Camera, Wars.” Most recently she was co-author of the 
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I don't understand why (even if it is untrue) being a "pal" of the most recognized and best liked political leader in the world is a bad thing.
Posted by: BDG | November 05, 2008 at 04:29 AM
Mr. Ayers can complain all he wants, but he remains what he's always been: an unrepentant communist revolutionary and former terrorist who'd probably have no qualms about supporting terrorism today. Check out the description on Amazon.com of a book published in 2006, Sing A Battle Song, where Ayers, along with wife Bernardine Dohrn and former SDS leader Jeff Jones are listed as editors of a compilation of Weather Underground manifestoes and poetry from 1970-1974. Is this anything other than a commemmoration/celebration of their underground days?
Posted by: danr27 | November 05, 2008 at 04:56 AM
@BDG: I reckon you don't understand a lot of things, then. It wasn't Ayers who was being bashed for being Obama's friend; it was Obama being taken to task (rightly so) for having a friendly relationship with an unrepentant terrorist. One who is only walking free today because of prosecutorial misconduct, I might add.
Posted by: Jeff | November 05, 2008 at 06:42 AM
Why is this guy still walking the streets rather than rotting in jail? Obama would have probably pardoned him though. Corrupt Chicago machine is in full swing now. USA deserved this since it elected this guy and believed the media hype.
Posted by: Jeremy | November 05, 2008 at 07:51 AM