63 Comments

1. Pajamas Media » Ayers-Dohrn-Obama Tie Shouldn’t Be Dismissed:

[...] [More from Roger L. Simon: Barack Obama -- Running on Empty with Bernadine Dohrn] [...]

Oct 6, 2008 - 10:11 am 2. hermie:

Anyone living in Chicago would’ve at least heard about Dohrn and Ayers’ history. The story that Obama didn’t know anything about them is pure bull.

Oct 6, 2008 - 10:25 am 3. Victor Erimita:

It’s not even interesting to discuss whether Obama knew what Ayers and Dohrn did. Of course he did. He thought it was no big deal, or maybe even a little admirable, or perhaps in the world of radical leftism in which he has lived his entire adult life, maybe just a little too extreme, but hey, what’s a little excess in the realization of big-picture good intentions?

The “interesting” thing, to me the really central thing, is the role the media have taken for themselves in this election. The coverup and even whitewash of Obama’s radical past, his singular lack of career achievement, his character, and so on, is, I think, the story of this campaign round that will have the biggest and most lasting impact on America. And we are way past the time when being outraged by the latest sleazy NYT story or Katie Couric interview is useful to parse and fact check in the blogosphere. None of that matters much if the MSM still has the power to shape the views of the public.

We can all crow about the rise of the blogosphere and the deline of Old Media. But the sole reason a man of Obama’s radical past and absurdly thin resume can be not only leading the polls but the object of cultlike adoration is the power of Old Media (including the entertainment industry) to still shape popular views. Their business model might be broken, but they still shape the “reality” most Americans believe. Anyone who gets into any discussion with the people who live in NYT/NPR Land know that look of utter incredulity you get when you mention any fact that has not been promulgated by Old Media. It appears they still rule. Maybe more than ever.

Oct 6, 2008 - 10:56 am 4. Insufficiently Sensitive:

What Victor Erimita said.

Oct 6, 2008 - 11:02 am 5. hermie:

There are enough ‘baby boomers’ who remember Ayers and Dohrn, and plenty who were angry that these two were allowed to get away with their crimes.

At the least, Obama was willfully blind, much like his other unsavory associations. Can such a man be allowed to occupy the chair of Washington,, Lincoln, FDR, Truman, and Reagan?

Oct 6, 2008 - 11:07 am 6. Tina Trent:

Look, anyone working in ACORN, not to mention getting endorsed and feted by W.A.N.D. types (Women’s Action for New Directions), not to mention working for Project Vote, or being anywhere near the politics/academia nexus in the 1990’s, would be perfectly familiar with Ayers and Dohrn. They were on the high-end lecture circuit for fellow tenured terrorists and deep in with those in state politics who held the purse strings/cash bags for incarceration policy and school funding. And where was Obama? There. He was there.

Oct 6, 2008 - 11:29 am 7. David Thomson:

“The story that Obama didn’t know anything about them is pure bull.”

And if true—it proves that Barack Obama is too stupid to be president. The reality, of course, is that he resides in a cultural milieu that could care less about the violent past of Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. These folks are self-hating Americans. Our country is supposedly so corrupt that it justifies the murderous behavior of the radical leftists. Obama minimally at a tacit level embraces this mindset.

Oct 6, 2008 - 11:46 am 8. Kevin:

The problem is not Obama and Dorn+Ayers but the lefts refusal to see them as homicidal, antidemocratic anti freedom thugs. Full disclosure I’m pretty much a cranky Chris Hitchens progressive so these b@st@rds are “my b@st@rds” to my shame and disgust.

The mainstream right takes “their” terrorists and tosses them under the bus without hesitation (and sticks needles in their arms when they can get a jury to concur) as so they should. McVey, Randolph and Duke are either dead or so totally marginalized that only rabid UK anti-Israel academics quote them positively to bolster their arguments (as some educated moron did citing some screed on David Duke’s website).

We give our terrorists tenure. Go figure.

So when people ask what was Obama doing near Ayers, I give him a partial pass. What is Ayers doing *anywhere* in *anyone’s* sphere of respectability?

The question SHOULD be, “why are Ayers & co not sleeping in a cardboard box under an interstate overpass?” And that’s the question Obama’s apologists don’t want to answer.

Oct 6, 2008 - 11:51 am 9. Charles:

From the National Review

Open this link to see a brilliant diagram of all of ACORN’s work, and the Senators and presidential candidates who make it happen. Dodd, Frank, Schumer, and of course Barack Obama are stuck in the swamp of self-dealing, corruption, and politicial machinations, all masquerading as social justice and cheap real estate for the poor, at quite large taxpayer expense. This is a savvy Democrat web site. Follow the link for a really astonishing set of Democratic web sites which compete with each other in their exposition of Obama’s perfidies, corruptions, and non-messianic attributes. Remember — former libs are much better at political knife fighting than those whose first instincts are, and remain, conservative.

Oct 6, 2008 - 11:51 am 10. Paul from Florida:

He wasn’t there when Rev Wright was going off the rails, why shouldn’t he b not there when Dorn was there?

Anyways, in the Army there was a phrase for a soldier that was around, but no one ever seem to get hold of him, ‘Casper’. Like the ghost. (I’spose that won’t work with Barry, what with Casper being white and all.)

The whole thing is confusing for my non law school brain. Can’t we all just get along? Can’t we all just hope for change, or change for hope, or is it..um…er…ah…

…Oh hell, I give up.

Oct 6, 2008 - 11:57 am 11. Allie:

Bernadine Dohrn — my, but how the left loves a pretty face and a striking pose. The left doesn’t espouse policy, they just swoon over photogenic figures. If George Bush had looked like Paul Newman, he would have been the most beloved president ever.

Oct 6, 2008 - 11:57 am 12. Net hick:

The biased news media has inadvertantly hurt the democtrats for years. The natural selection process is so absent the strongest candidate rarely becomes their nominee.

The media does provide plenty of scruitiny in the republican nomination process so the strongest, most electable candidate usually prevails.

That sets up a campaign between the tough and the sheltered with the media pulling for the weakest and least qualified. Coaches son syndrome is always exposed on gameday

Oct 6, 2008 - 12:29 pm 13. miriam:

Can such a man be allowed to occupy the chair of Washington,, Lincoln, FDR, Truman, and Reagan?

No, but he can occupy the chair of Jimmy Carter (noted anti-Semite) just fine.

Oct 6, 2008 - 12:38 pm 14. David Thomson:

“The biased news media has inadvertantly hurt the democtrats for years.”

It also did so this year—but John McCain’s polital correct tendencies prevented him from taking advantage of the situation. Hillary Clinton was the real threat to the Republicans. Barack Obama should have been easy road kill. His non-violent radicalism is beyond dispute. McCain unfortunately wasted precious time. He now only has about 28 days to warn the American middle of the road voters. This is not an impossible task, but it is admittedly daunting.

Oct 6, 2008 - 12:44 pm 15. frankie:

What does your past association with Bernadine Dohrn say about you, Roger?

Oct 6, 2008 - 1:26 pm 16. Roger L Simon:

Well, Frankie, since you asked, I didn’t have personal association with Bernadine Dohrn, though I did with others of her ilk. You can read all about it in my forthcoming memoir Blacklisting Myself. Unlike Obama, I am quite forthcoming about my mistakes and quite willing to admit them. Obama’s approach is to hide as much as possible until he is forced to reveal it.

One other difference: As you may have noticed, I am not running for President of the United States. I’m just a writer, trying to do his best and maybe sell a few books. I’m also trying to make a company named Pajamas Media work. One thing I’ve noticed: the more honest and forthcoming you are, the more people appreciate it.

Oct 6, 2008 - 1:35 pm 17. Anita Hope:

Frankie, if you had read Roger’s descriptive of “Berndine”, it is quite nagative of her and her personality and wriings. There is so much coverup and dishonesty in this campaign that when someone attempts to point out true facts, they face those who fail to do research regarding the points stated, just attempt to slander the person or people who have done their research or personal knowledge regarding same.
The computer is an easy fact finder for both sides of the coin.

Oct 6, 2008 - 2:00 pm 18. DEEDEE:

Isn’t it time for Katie Couric to ask Obama what news sources he uses to inform himself. Apparently there has been plenty of national and local info on Ayers and Dorhn’s background in Chicago and yet Obama says he knew nothing about that nice couple around the corner.

Oct 6, 2008 - 2:03 pm 19. Cantara Christopher:

Bernadine Dohrn’s remark: “Dig it! Manson killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them, then they shoved a fork into a victim’s stomach.”

More about the Bill Ayers-Running on Empty connection can be found in “Bildung in Hollywood”, my essay which has been floating around the small lit blogs for some time and which is now available at http://snurl.com/bildu.

Oct 6, 2008 - 2:21 pm 20. Nancy Reyes:

Just for the record: The name of the policeman killed by the bomb that Dohrn placed had a name: Police Sargent Brian V. McDonell.

According to the SFPolice Officer’s Association, the bomb that killed him contained “large metal staples” and bullets as shrapnel to make the bomb more lethal.So much for Ayer’s claims that they never tried to hurt anyone.

Oct 6, 2008 - 2:52 pm 21. Roger L Simon:

Cantara Christopher - fascinating article. Thank you for posting.

Oct 6, 2008 - 3:12 pm 22. cfbleachers:

I happen to believe that some of the most courageous individuals in this country are David Horowitz, Roger Simon and David Mamet.

Why? Because they stood up to the bullying and intimidation and peer pressure tactics of leftist slander machine…having been immersed in it themselves…as full fledged believers, and on occasion, participants.

I believe we owe these men a debt of gratitude and they, in no small measure, have been the catalysts in the formation of my own political worldviews. I am much like them in many regards. I come from one of the most liberal areas of the country. Everyone in my sphere of influence growing up, was a Democrat.

I attended a fully integrated junior high school and high school. My parents never, not once, voted for a Republican. My father donated half his time in his practice to inner city handicapped children. We believe in equal opportunity and lending a helping hand to folks who truly need it.

But the Soros/Ayers/Dorhn/Wright/Pfleger/Michael Moore/Noam Chomsky/Keith Olbermann/ wing of the Democratic Party…holds absolutely nothing of interest for me. I cannot and will not stand for a constant slander of my country and my countrymen. Neither would my late father, who had a heart filled with compassion and walked the walk, not merely content to talk the talk.

In the dreams of MY father, one could give of themselves to help others and STILL be loyal and grateful for all the gifts citizenship in this counrty provide.

One could hold compassion close, and loyalty, honor and integrity closer.

One could champion the working man, without slandering his employer. One could pray for world peace and yet confront an enemy with courage and conviction, not self-loathing and betrayal.

One could insist the government be of the people, by the people, and for the people, without insisting that the government be a self-flagellation tool of the people, gamed by the people, or an ATM for the people.

We owe a debt of gratitude to the founders and contributors of Pajamas Media (Roger Simon, Glenn Reynolds, Charles Johnson, Jeff Goldstein, Pat Frey, Bob Owens, Victor Davis Hanson, just to name a few) for doing enormous work in giving oxygen to the windpipe of American political debate…which has otherwise been strangled and would have remained in a leftist chokehold…in the suffocating arms of the morally bankrupt leftist media.

If you are inclined to pray…when you hit your knees tonight, say a prayer for those who are trying to save our information stream. And say a special one for the folks who looked their leftist friends in the eye and said…”I can’t do this, it’s wrong”

Standing up to tyranny and totalitarianism is tough enough. It take real courage to stand up to it, when you are on the inside and you stand to lose your friendships, your standing, your reputation …your identity. Not many men have that kind or courage. Roger Simon has absolutely nothing to apologize for or about. He’s a model for what we all should seek within ourselves…and he deserves our thanks and prayers.

Oct 6, 2008 - 3:33 pm 23. Anita Hope:

“CFBLEACHERS” I put your name in capital letters an add a famous quote “BULLY FOR YOU” and I approve your writtings and hope it causes people to open up their eyes before it is too late & we are walking on the path of the 1930’s here in America. For most of the media Truth is hard to swallow after being so blinded, but with PJ and those around the world connected we can all hope for brighter and cleaner air to open those lost
by the smoke clouding the truth for so long. Thank you

Oct 6, 2008 - 4:00 pm 24. Dirty Harry’s Place… » …And A William Ayers Script Makes The Rounds:

[...] Roger L. Simon has more on the Ayers connection to Running On Empty (which is a very good film): 1988 was the same year that Barack Obama entered Harvard Law School.  It was highly unlikely he did not know about Running on Empty. It was one of the most talked about movies of the year for serious people, like Ivy League law students. The subject of the film was clearly the ramifications of a life of violence on friends and family.  And yet he chose to start his career in politics via Ayers-Dohrn (note the emphasis). And now he denies knowing who Ayers was or what he did.  Well… as the saying goes… I lost it at the movies. [...]

Oct 6, 2008 - 4:34 pm 25. Laurence:

In 1994, the DNC pick Chicago for its 1996 convention. Starting immediately, the media was full of the Ayers-Dohrn connection to the Days of Rage and the Weather Underground. Obama had a meeting with them in 1995 which launched his career.

See http://www.redstate.com/diaries/redstate/2008/oct/06/in-1996-media-coverage-of-bill-ayers-was-too/

In 1996, Media Coverage of Bill Ayers Was Too Extensive to Believe Obama Did Not Know Who Ayers Was
=====
Also, a thought experiment. Imagine that the couple in Running on Empty had bombed an abortion clinic.

Oct 6, 2008 - 6:44 pm 26. cfbleachers:

Thanks, but I am having trouble posting here…getting caught up in the spam filter.

Oct 6, 2008 - 7:03 pm 27. cfbleachers:

http://frontpagemag.com/articles/Read.aspx?GUID=D6E27ECE-9798-4F01-A378-3F1405F69704

If they were coming, how would we know?

Oct 6, 2008 - 8:33 pm 28. California Dreamer:

Center field bleachers, I too would put you in, you’re ready to play…today. Shall we add Dennis Miller to your list?

Oct 6, 2008 - 10:34 pm 29. Marc Cooper » Blog Archive » Running On Fumes:

[...] my old bud, Roger “El” Simon has really taken the Bill Ayers thing one bridge too far. Sorry, [...]

Oct 7, 2008 - 12:12 am 30. Josh:

This is a borderline retarded argument. Seriously. You can’t be serious.

Pathetic. Plain and simple.

Oct 7, 2008 - 1:22 am 31. Markus:

Obama, unlike David Horowitz and perhaps Roger, didn’t hang out with Weather Underground members. He hung out with ex-Weather Underground members who had transformed themselves into tenured radicals at elite universities. I would imagine that in the community of Chicago law professors, it is hard for anyone NOT to rub shoulders with a tenured radical. It would be useful if this non-issue was a debate about tenured radicalism and leftist orthodoxy in academia. But Obama has been too busy trying to ingratiate himself and move up and up and up to be much of a radical. (Except when he was trying to develop his black street cred.) Aside from possible shenanigans in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, or hiring an ex-commie or two for some mid-level Department of Education positions, it is highly unlikely I think that he would govern to the left of how Dukakis, Gore or Kerry would have governed had they been elected. He is much more likely to be mediocre than radical.

Oct 7, 2008 - 6:44 am 32. BMoon:

Josh,
Are you just being dim-witted for our amusement or are you truly that slow?

Oct 7, 2008 - 7:03 am 33. Ayers-Dohrn-Obama Tie Shouldn’t Be Dismissed « Thoughts Of A Conservative Christian:

[...] [More from Roger L. Simon: Barack Obama — [1] Running on Empty with Bernardine Dohrn] [...]

Oct 7, 2008 - 7:04 am 34. CNN Exposes Obama’s Lies About Ayers | Right Voices:

[...] given that there was a late-eighties lightly-fictionalized movie about their days on the lam called Running on Empty. Any man of the left– which Obama obviously was –would have known about [...]

Oct 7, 2008 - 7:06 am 35. Mark:

So Markus, using your argument there would also be no problem with hanging out with and being friends with a KKK member who bombed the 6th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham killing 4 little girls. That was so long ago after all, and he has gone on and done so many other things…. It was just one killing, who cares about that. It doesn’t matter that as recently as 2001 Ayers was PROUD of what he did and wished he had done more bombings… It was so long ago… just ignore it.

I’m sorry, but that is not the way most people operate. If you are friends with an unrepentant KKK member, then it is valid to question your judgment and opinions. In the same way, if you are friends with an unrepentant leftist who used violence and bombs against the US, it is also valid to question your judgment and opinions.

Oct 7, 2008 - 7:29 am 36. Captain Hate:

Markus,

Then why does he continually misstate the nature of the relationship? Why doesn’t he own up that he worked with him on the Annenberg Challenge where they spent lots of money and the schools stayed terrible? I’m still waiting for some fan of Obama to tell me something he’s accomplished in his career that would give me a good indication of what kind of president he’d be. Writing two memoirs at his age doesn’t qualify.

Oct 7, 2008 - 8:24 am 37. Gary Rosen:

Not surprising at all that “markus” would make excuses for Ayers and Dohrn, who 1) are not “ex-radicals” but are still radicals, they have not renounced their previous political views AT ALL and are still promoting them and 2) willfully tried to murder people and got away with it. Imagine if McCain had any connection whatsoever to someone who had bombed an abortion clinic, got off on a technicality and said he “wished he had done more”. Note also the typical cheap shot at two Jews (Horowitz and Roger).

Oct 7, 2008 - 9:19 am 38. Walt:

Markus,

You’re pathetic. You’d probably excuse Governor Palin’s connection with the radical Alaskan independence movement, too!

Oct 7, 2008 - 9:32 am 39. Jay:

I’ve been trying, Roger, to stay away from your website, given how you, who talks like a hawkish, anti-terrorism interventionist, have been known to co-opt the language of the Rwandan genocidaires and call your opponents “cockroaches” (I trust a call to “cut down the tall trees” will be next.), but just as passers-by are attracted to trainwrecks, it has been fascinating to watch your meltdown. You claim Sarah Palin put in a strong performance in her only, limited debate, yet every immediate poll of voters said otherwise. She has not given a single press conference, and your best comeback has been, “She can give one right after Obama gives a press conference with the Confederate Yankee and Glenn Reynolds,” as though there is no difference between credentialed reporters, and you three bloggers who play Pictionary every weekend at Horowitz’s house.

Furthermore, you claim to have had associations with people of Bernadine Dohrm’s ilk. Comes the question: what affects you more, the association itself, or your totally subjective view that Obama has been dishonest about it? Just because you yourself claim to have been honest about your past, that does not mean you haven’t lost more than a bit of credibility yourself by “paling around” with Commies and Black Panthers in the first place.

You seem to have this hidden vision that Obama and Ayers once huddled together to plot an overthrow of the government. So out with it already. Is Obama a traitor to his country, as governor Palin recently implied, or not?

Clearly, Ayers has become a figure people just have to “deal with” in Chicago. Even Richard Dailey, a frequent White House invitee and partner of President Bush on some matters, knows this. I hate this about our politics, that sleazeoids can become influential, but it happens, time and again, on both sides (Indeed, when are you going to answer for St. Rudy’s sheltering of a pedophile priest and McCain’s footsie with right-wing terrorist G. Gordon Liddy?). This does not excuse what Ayers did, however, if he happens to be the only person with any real knowledge of education policy in the city, that is how it is, and it says more about Chicago politics than Barack Obama.

I have stated my reasons for supporting Obama here before-his support of a national service bill, his updating of the Nunn/Lugar bill, his capacity to move the young to actually do something with their lives-with any other candidate, these would be sufficient, thoughtful reasons, and Obama has a track record on the three above matters. It is not the fault of the candidate or his supporters if you and your supporters. Roger, have no real interest in Senate procedure, speeches, floor votes, and position papers. Many of Obama’s supporters share my interest, and many more have at least some idea of how he has voted, or else your candidate, the one you believe to be oh-so-transparent and trustworthy, would not be desperately behind. Indeed, Roger, you are not running to be the president of the United States, but you have no real interest in the American presidency, just the spread of innuendo about whatever candidate you are opposing at the moment.

Oct 7, 2008 - 9:33 am 40. Political Party Poop:

[...] From Pajamas Media - Barack Obama: Running on Empty with Bernardine Dohrn By Roger L. [...]

Oct 7, 2008 - 11:03 am 41. Markus:

It appears the Weather Underground made effort not to kill people when they bombed property. They were spoiled white, radical boomers after all. The ones who later joined the murderous Black Liberation Army attacks, including the Brinks robbery in ‘81, are now deservedly spending the rest of their lives in jail. That doesn’t mean that the others are not terrorists, or aren’t worthy of our scorn. I guess the cop killed in San Francisco bombing is the case that is being discussed that Ayers may be responsible for. But it is not clear that Weather did that one, no indictment has ever been made, another group may have been responsible, and I don’t think you can pin that particular death on Ayers given all these factors.

Mark,

I have no respect for Ayers and Dohrn, I just think the real scandal is not Obama’s relationship with them after they turned into typical garden variety leftist professors, but how they got a chance to reinvent themselves in such a lucrative manner in the first place.

Captain Hate,

The Annenberg Challenge looks like one more well-meaning, ineffectual liberal initiatve to bilk rich foundations out of their money. Without the Ayers connection, it wouldn’t meet Wikipedia notability standards, and nobody would be able to get through an article or press release on it without falling asleep.

To answer your question, no he hasn’t accomplished much except win honors and get promoted. For a variety of reasons, it looks though that he’s likely to become our next President, and inherit a political and economic situation so dismal that he will he is likely either to be a Roosovelt or a Carter figure - greatness or failure, nothing in between.

Gary,

I know you get a kick out of being an asshole. I have to admit, I’m often amused and tempted to bait you further. Especially when you’re usually so goddam humourless about it. (Though “Buchanan’s not just in bed with antisemites, he been having perverted sex with them for years” was uncharacteristically funny.) You’re an obnoxious online bully who tosses around the “antisemite” slur at the drop of a hat, then slinks away without a word when the subject of your scorn rebuts your lies.

I was factual and non-insulting about Horowitz, and as far as I know, about Roger. They are interesting people who were enamoured with radicalism in the sixties and seventies, spent years rubbing shoulders with and excusing the behavior of unsavory characters (Horowitz, at least), grew disaffected, saw the light, decided to chronicle their revulsions. I might have added Whittaker Chambers to the list if he hadn’t been dead for half a century. I don’t agree with Horowitz’s enthusiasm for neocon foreign policy, and I don’t think radicals have as much power or influence as he thinks they do, but I admire him for being willing to examine his beliefs and change them, even losing friends in the process. That takes brains and guts. Feel pretty much the same way about Roger.

Oct 7, 2008 - 11:34 am 42. Captain Hate:

Markus,

I appreciate your answer although you still didn’t get to the crux of what I was asking: Namely why does Obama keep dodging questions about the relationship? Even accepting the benign spin you put on the Annenberg Challenge (which I’m not questioning for the purpose of this argument), he could simply use it as an example of a single working relationship they had and leave it at that. But he’s not willing, for whatever reason, to do that, which sends up red flags for me. This isn’t the new politics of hope and change; this is the willful obfuscation of a situation that, given his thin resume, voters have a right to know about.

Oct 7, 2008 - 12:10 pm 43. bill:

Roger, you are deluded if you believe that first year law students have the time to go to movies. I was a 1L in 1983-84 at Columbia. I do not recall going to the movies during my first year. Films and screen writers do not matter to 1Ls. This first year memory illustrates the 1L outlook. While walking down the main hall in the law school, I overheard one of my classmates telling someone that she finally had the time to spend a few minutes looking at the newspaper. (For Columbia grads, that would be the hall that linked into the then-International Affairs Building.) 1Ls who went to movies usually left law school before finishing: they certainly did not make law review.

However, I would also like to comment upon your claims for “Running On Empty.” I did my undergrad at Columbia. Then I went to grad school in American History at Columbia for two years before going to law school. I was interested in the history of the New Left and student radicalism. In grad school, I had a class with Eric Foner the first year that he returned to Columbia. (In about 1970, Eric published his first book “Free Soil Free Labor Free Men”. He dedicated it to his then-wife Naomi Foner.) After graduating from law school, I went to alot of films. Nevertheless, I did not go to “Running On Empty”. Eventually, I saw it years later on cable. To the degree that I thought the film referred to anyone, I thought it was Kathy Bodine. Bodine had returned to public view in 1981, when she engaged in the robbery of an armored car. The perpetrators also killed several police officers. (I also believe that they murdered at least one guard, but I am genuinely unsure about that.)

If I did not know that the film was based on Bill Ayers and Bernadette Dohrn, I doubt that many others who had met neither Dohrn nor Naomi Foner would have known it either.

I only discovered your claim about “Running” on another website, which provided a link. I do not read your blog, but I could not resist commenting. I spent nine years in Ivy League. Alot of the people whom I know are also from the Ivy League. Believe me, neither you nor your work ever comes up in conversation. The same is true for Naomi Foner and her work. (Naomi Foner’s children come up, but they are movie stars.)

Oct 7, 2008 - 12:26 pm 44. Kim Zigfeld:

Here’s what Ayers said about his terrorist activities in 2004:

“I’ve thought about this a lot. Being almost 60, it’s impossible to not have lots and lots of regrets about lots and lots of things, but the question of did we do something that was horrendous, awful?… I don’t think so. I think what we did was to respond to a situation that was unconscionable. Two thousand people a day were being murdered in Vietnam in a terrorist war, an official terrorist war… This was what was going on in our names. So we tried to resist it, tried to fight it. Built a huge mass movement, built a huge organization, and still the war went on and escalated. And every day we didn’t stop the war, two thousand people would be killed. I don’t think what we did was extreme…. We didn’t cross lines that were completely unacceptable. I don’t think so. We destroyed property in a fairly restrained level, given what we were up against.”

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/weatherunderground/interview.html

Oct 7, 2008 - 1:03 pm 45. David:

The Annenberg Challenge — old Republican money overseen by a bipartisan board. Sounds pretty radical. As one who lived in Chicago at the time in question (including some time in Hyde Park) and is a year older than Obama, I can offer only three observations: 1- I’m a bit of a 60s history junkie (having missed it) and I wouldn’t have known Ayers if I literally ran into him on the street. Isn’t it time for you boomers to stop reliving your culture wars at the expense of the rest of us? 2- Any effort to improve the Chicago schools (called the worst in the nation by Reagan’s education secretary) was enthusiastically welcomed in the mid 90s. 3- The movie in question tanked, and though I’ve seen bits and pieces of it on cable over the years, its characters are so vaguely drawn that I can’t see how anyone not projecting his own history onto it would see any real people in it (which is probably why it was such a lousy flick). Uh … don’t we have more important things to worry about these days?

Oct 7, 2008 - 1:10 pm 46. nlcatter:

It is Highly likely he did NOT know who they were since the nautral state is not to know people.

Thus onus is on you to prove any connection.

Oct 7, 2008 - 1:38 pm 47. nlcatter:

In interview they did not say they bombed anything.

I remember at the time that Dohrn was being sought after someone blew themselves up in New york , but did not even know about any other alleged bombings.

and I was involved in the Anti war movement, our group even had its own FBI informant.

Oct 7, 2008 - 1:42 pm 48. nlcatter:

why are my posts not appearing
what are you afraid of?

Oct 7, 2008 - 2:06 pm 49. Markus:

Captain,

I guess he hasn’t addressed it because doing so honestly wouldn’t make him sound very good. “I became friends with Ayers because he’s another radical who has reinvented himself as a politically correct liberal do-gooder with tenure, and frankly, there are so many people like this in Hyde Park that I lose track of which ones I need to avoid and which ones I need to ingratiate myself with.”

Words to that effect.

Maybe if he gets attacked tonight, he will say something. But I do think McCain would do much better, if he wants to go negative, to harp on this Fannie Mae stuff instead. It is astounding how ineffective the negative attacks on Obama have been over the past year. That is because they relate only tenuously to what kind of President he would be.

Oct 7, 2008 - 2:09 pm 50. Markus:

Whoops, I meant to call Ayers a “politically well-connected liberal do-gooder with tenure”

Politically correct, too.

Oct 7, 2008 - 2:15 pm 51. Roger L Simon:

“why are my posts not appearing
what are you afraid of?”

Mostly bad jokes and too many cheeseburgers.

Oct 7, 2008 - 2:22 pm 52. Gary Rosen:

“slinks away without a word when the subject of your scorn rebuts your lies.”

Bwaha, that’s what C-fudd always says - are you he? But you’ve never rebutted a damn thing I’ve said - there’s plenty of evidence of your antisemitism on Roger’s blog, despite your belated attempt to suck up to him and Horowitz. You also didn’t refute anything I said about Ayers, because it’s all true, in contrast to your lies - “politically well-connected liberal do-gooder” my ass, like he’s some refugee from the League of Women Voters. They haven’t taken up bombing yet, AFAIK. But what else would you expect from “markus”, whose favorite Republican is Pat Buchanan?

Oct 7, 2008 - 2:25 pm 53. Eowyn2:

Kim
those arent the words I think I know:)

Oct 7, 2008 - 2:59 pm 54. Rachel Cohen:

And Naomi’s exhubby, Eric Foner, teaches at Columbia. That’s a neat little package, isn’t it? She changed her name at the precise moment that her children, Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, overtook her ex in fame.

Oct 7, 2008 - 5:19 pm 55. Steve Smith:

It’s safe to say that if Running on Empty was released at the same time Senator Obama was starting his first year of law school, he probably didn’t see it. Going to movies simply isn’t a high priority when one is matriculating through One-L, much less finding the time to see a River Phoenix vehicle being marketed towards teenage girls and aging Baby Boomers.

Oct 7, 2008 - 7:56 pm 56. patrick:

Must reading from Marc Cooper on this ridiculous thread

http://marccooper.com/running-on-fume/

Oct 7, 2008 - 8:55 pm 57. Grupetti:

Roger “El” Simon wrote:
“One thing I’ve noticed: the more honest and forthcoming you are, the more people appreciate it.”

I’ve noticed the more you stroke people’s ego and tell them what they want to hear, the more sycophants you attract. And to think I used to read your blog with great interest - that was when I was more of a centrist.

Oct 7, 2008 - 11:48 pm 58. Markus:

Gary Rosen, I guess changing my name is the simple, unsatisfying way to deal with an online thug like you. Nothing I’m saying is off-color or inappropriate, and you’re only able to impute bad motives to me by tortuously reading things into my comments after you find out that it is I that have made them. Accusing someone of anti-semitism is a powerful weapon. Whoever you are, you have no license to wield it indiscriminately for sport, and doing so insults the memory of people who really have paid the price for being Jews. Comparing Kahane’s proposal to forcibly evict Arabs from West Bank to Nazism is not anti-semitic. Neither is suggestion that personal gun ownership by Jews might have made things worse for them in Nazi Germany. (Especially for the hundreds of thousands who were able to escape prior to 1939.) You’re a coward and bully and its disgusting that you’re tolerated here and on other sites.

Oct 8, 2008 - 8:04 am 59. Gary Rosen:

Puh-leeze, markus, I’ve been called worse by you and others on the Internet. It’s only electrons. My dislike for you is based not only on your animus towards Jews, but your sophistry and dishonesty. You haven’t answered anything else I said about, for instance, Ayers in this thread. And when you say Pat Buchanan is your favorite Republican you better be prepared for some people to think that maybe you are not exactly in love with Jews. Anyway it’s always amusing when people are more outraged by accusations of antisemitism than by antisemitism itself.

Oct 8, 2008 - 10:36 am 60. nlcatter:

Mccain lost AGAIN

stop your weeping. LoL

Oct 8, 2008 - 10:39 am 61. nlcatter:

Imagine the uproar if Michelle Obama was revealed to have joined a black nationalist party whose founder preached armed secession from the United States and who enlisted the government of Iran in his cause?

Particularly if Barack Obama himself was videotaped giving the anti-American secessionists his wholehearted support just months ago.

Where’s the outrage, Sarah Palin has been asking this week, in her attacks on Obama’s fuzzy ties to Ayers? The question is more appropriate when applied to her own disturbing associations.

Oct 8, 2008 - 11:01 am 62. Markus:

Actually, gary, if we’re talking about speech rather than acts, falsely accusing someone of antisemitism IS just as bad as antisemitism.

If Ayers “willfully tried to murder people” then some DA ought to charge him with attempted first degree murder. Or some lawyer ought to sue him for assault. If you can’t reach that threshold, then you better explain how Obama’s opportunistic aquaintence with him ten years ago with him shows he’s likely to be a bad President. Failing that, pardon me for caring a lot more that this well paid leftist toad has tenure and gets to teach white kids to hate their heritage.

I’m not sure why Zionists hate Buchanan and the paleocons so much. Reading him, and people like Lawrence Auster and Paul Gottfried (both Jews), has certainly and most sincerely strengthened my support for Israel. Unlike leftists, most liberals, many neocons, paleoconservatives understand the moral value of nationalism, preserving cultural and religious traditions, Western Civilization, the desire to preserve the ethnic makeup of a nation, all factors that ought to engender support for best little European settler state in Palestine. And if Israel doesn’t want to meet the sad fate of other European colonial settler states like Rhodesia or South Africa, then she ought not make the same mistake of those countries, by getting out of the native occupation business ASAP. That means militarily occupy the West Bank until the Palestinians turn into Finns if you must, but don’t build Jewish settlements there.

Oct 9, 2008 - 11:45 am 63. Markus:

Sorry, meant to write “unlike leftists, most liberals and many neocons, the paleoconservatives understand…”

Oct 9, 2008 - 11:50 am

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