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

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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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