44 Comments

1. Pajamas Media » Shame on Chris Matthews:

[...] the entire story here [...]

Dec 11, 2008 - 12:57 pm 2. AnninCA:

Again, I repeat. I’m from Ayer’s generation. There were multiple groups to join to protest the war. We all knew which group lined up best with our own principles.

Those who joined Ayers were into violence. No question.

He’s whitewashing it, and it won’t work. There are too many of us who remember.

As far as Matthews? I haven’t watched that nitwit for 2 years, at least.

I only see his remarks on u-tube.

Why do you even give him due by making him the center of your story?

He’s either an obvious idiot, not worthy of comment, or you think he’s important.

My question is why?

Dec 11, 2008 - 1:29 pm 3. Frank:

You’re a stronger man than I am, Ron. I flipped by while Matthews had him on and quickly grew so angry I had to change the channel. I admire your ability to watch such tripe.

Dec 11, 2008 - 1:33 pm 4. Thinking Person:

Great article Mr. Radosh! The news giants of yesteryear are truly gone. I remember the days when the reporters actually reported the news and weren’t trying to insert themselves into it. Imagine Ayers trying to run his rubbish past Cronkite? When I heard that Chris Matthews was looking into running for office I knew that journalism had gasped it’s last honest breath. These days Ms. Coric, Matthews, Olbermann and the rest are more interested in their own persona than getting the facts for us at home. Bill Ayers, the sleazy slimebag that he is, just took advantage of the situation. He’s enjoying his pseudo-celebrity status and the starry eyed media types are all too willing to let him.

Dec 11, 2008 - 1:34 pm 5. Rachel Peepers:

Lap dog of the year: Rover Matthews. The biggest suck up job since Linda Lovelace.

Dec 11, 2008 - 1:39 pm 6. Princess:

Chris Matthews is a twit

Ayers is Obama’s good friend.

God help us all

Dec 11, 2008 - 1:48 pm 7. The Fatman:

Rachel,
Give Linda her due, she was a professional doing an excellent job. Matthews is a retard.

Dec 11, 2008 - 2:12 pm 8. tanstaafl:

…after listening to him, declaring that he is a “changed man” and not the person who was in The Weather Underground.

Of course he’s a changed man. He’s a 64 YO ex-druggie, who can’t, exactly, keep up the old lifestyle. He still “hates capitalism”, however, while living quite well these days off the same system he seems to think he was tasked to destroy as a stoned 20 something.

ABC, MSNBC, I guess Ayers is some kind of interview “get”. I’ve not watched, but I’ve seen a few excerpts where Ayers seems almost pathologically bent on “re-inventing” himself.

I never watch Chris Matthews, but would guess that the “tingle” up his leg is now reverberating in what’s left of his brain. And no, the TV media of old (even Cronkite & Rather) would not be giving a national audience to arrogant criminals like Bill and Bernadine.

I’m getting tired of Ayers, too. His (second) 15 minutes of fame can’t end soon enough.

Dec 11, 2008 - 2:21 pm 9. Zeph:

I seriously hope MSNBC goes bankrupt. Because we all know they won’t turn against Obama. Even when this nation starts going to junk they’ll be right by his side.

Dec 11, 2008 - 2:28 pm 10. Mary:

Regardless, Obama and the other dems will trip over each other supporting Mathews.

Dec 11, 2008 - 2:39 pm 11. pete:

Chris Matthews, that paragon of disinterested journalism, sees it as his job to help the Obama administration succeed; and if he can help Obama’s buddy Ayers lie about and excuse his foul life he’s only too happy to help. Ayers’ slogan is “Guilty as hell, and free as a bird”. What’s Chris’ slogan?

Dec 11, 2008 - 2:40 pm 12. Gerard Harbison:

There was also the fire bombing of Justice Murtagh’s home, which Ayers denies the Weathermen did, but Cathy Wilkerson (who joined the New York collective shortly afterwards) admits was theirs. In fact, Wilkerson has written it was Ayers who egged Terry Robbins (the Greenwich Village bomber) on to ever more violence. And Ayers supposedly told Larry Grathwohl that Bernardine Dohrn planted the bomb that killed Brian McDonnell, three months before the townhouse explosion.

Dec 11, 2008 - 2:44 pm 13. tanstaafl:

What’s Chris’ slogan?

“Sycophant Extraordinaire !”

Dec 11, 2008 - 2:45 pm 14. toritto:

There are 55,000+ names on a black wall where we “honor” our war dead

Too many young kids died too far away from home for far too little.

Our government drafted them off of the streets (no deferrments for them) gave them three or four months training and dropped them far from home to “kill commies”.

The anti-war movement, both peaceful and not, was called “unAmerican” by the likes of Nixon and Agnew, who vowed to “bring the troops home with honor”. When pols speak those words it usually means someone else’s kid will have to die for an empty slogan.

May bedroom set is marked “Made in Vietnam” I guess a “commie” Vietnam was not the threat to American it was portrayed to be.

The names on that black wall, including my best friend – those PEOPLE – died for nothing as did the kids at Kent State and the hundreds of thousands of vietnamese.

Bill Ayers was wrong – but so was the United States of America.

Let’s give it a rest.

Dec 11, 2008 - 2:53 pm 15. Войска ПВО:

..insert obligatory “tingle running up leg” comment here..

Dec 11, 2008 - 3:05 pm 16. stopthepresses2:

We have an interview we did with William Ayers, that you won’t see in the mainstream media. We also answer the question, does Chris Matthews have a “School Girl Crush” on Obama?

Dec 11, 2008 - 3:06 pm 17. stuart Williamson:

Note that Bill Ayers kept a VERY Low profile throughout the run-up to the election. Now that Obama is in, he is everywhere, releasing new editions, chatting up with the MSM. Pre-election: don’t mess up my boy’s chances. Post-election: Exult! Let the folks now that Socialism is in – to stay! Anyone who thinks that Bill Ayers hasn’t been, and remains, an important mentor for Obama is a simpleton.

Take a look at Ayers website. In the upper corner of the head is a Red Star, rising over the arc of the globe. What further evidence do you need?

If Ayers were honest he would just say:” Hey. When I was a young Marxist I believed in violent, armed revolution. With maturity, I realized I can accomplish the same end by hiding in Academia. living a cozy tenured life, and trading on the weak-willed tolerance and moral equivalence beliefs of a moribund capitalist culture”. It is working fine, right now, with the Chris Matthews and New York Times of the world. Viva la Revolucion!

Keep on hammering him, Mr. Radosh.

Dec 11, 2008 - 3:10 pm 18. John Janski:

Ayers deserves a good ass kicking. I will volunteer.

Dec 11, 2008 - 3:33 pm 19. Donna V.:

Torrito said:

There are 55,000+ names on a black wall where we “honor” our war dead

My first cousin was killed during Tet. Our family honors his memory – no scare quotes involved.

I do not want to get into an argument over whether the war was justified. (I noticed a long time ago, however, that the leftists who cried about the poor North Vietnamese seemed not to give a rat’s patoot about what happened in SE Asia once the draft ended. In fact, I recall meeting a few old peaceniks who initially, at least, thought the Khmer Rouge were pretty cool. My Lai was a tragedy, but small potatoes compared to the killing fields of Cambodia, or even what happened in Vietnam after Saigon fell.)

I think we probably should have stayed out of the place altogether. Once in, the war was horribly mismanaged by geniuses like McNamara (another reason why I am not persuaded that an Ivy League degree means the holder has superior wisdom and is therefore entitled to govern the rest of us.)

But I do not buy for a second that America and Ayers were equally at fault. America was trying to aid an ally and stop the spread of Communism. The pols badly screwed up the strategy. That was not the fault of the men who fought there. Most of them served honorably and did not deserve the venom directed at them by more privileged kids who were able to get deferments.

And of course, Ayers and Co. did more than spew venom – they wanted to kill some of those kids. Only their own incompetence kept them from murdering other Americans. If your best friend had been killed by the Weathermen at Fort Dix instead of in Vietnam, would you still be so willing to give Ayers a pass?

There were decent and honorable people who opposed the war. Ayers was not one of them. I don’t accept your moral equivalence and no, I don’t think Ron should leave it alone.

May bedroom set is marked “Made in Vietnam” I guess a “commie” Vietnam was not the threat to American it was portrayed to be.

Vietnam isn’t “commie” in the economic sense, although it is totalitarian. A Hanoi official lectured former self-described “peace creep” and present-day conservative P.J. O’Rourke on the importance of free enterprise when O’Rourke visited Vietnam in the mid-90’s. (The official was preaching to the choir – Ayers is the one he should be lecturing. But people like Ayers and Jane Fonda don’t seem to take much interest in Vietnam these days and I can guess why.)

Dec 11, 2008 - 5:13 pm 20. Anita Hope:

AnninCa. By bringing attention to CM, we all can attempt to reach those that think he is knowledgeable and factual, he needs to be exposed for the snake in the grass he really is. If there is one thing we all must recognize and protect against, what ever our affiliation is, our those that our treacherous to our laws and freeddom’s. America must never fall into Socialistic or Communistic control
Ron is doing what is right & possitive for all of us that read his blog, drawing attention to Chris Mathews and all those who he coddles up too, that have
used violence to attain their goals. These type of players have only one game, reach the masses and play on their unhappiness, promessing a utopia to
happiness for them if they only listen and follow their preachings. Being aware and prepared to dispute them with truth is the only way to win, if we are going to stop them.
Have a great week.

Dec 11, 2008 - 5:31 pm 21. Donna V.:

Oh, and please bear in mind that nobody would find Ayers all that interesting in 2008 if he were quietly growing organic beets in Vermont or something of that sort.

He’s an educator, a respected member of the Chicago establishment, and a friend of our president-elect. And he’s also an utterly unrepentant terrorist. So Radosh is right to point out present MSM efforts to whitewash Ayers’ past.

Dec 11, 2008 - 5:35 pm 22. toritto:

donna V. – my sympathies for your family’s loss.

You are right when you said ‘we probably should not have gone in there” – those 55,000+ would be alive and with us instead of a name on a wall.

The Vietnamese were fighting an anti-colonial war – they fought the Japanese, then the returning French, then us. We were fighting to “contain the spread of communism” – so when Vietnam fell to the Reds, what happened? Nothing.

Today Vietnam is totalitarian – and peaceful. It bothers no one. American companies are manufacturing there and selling Coca Cola.

Your cousin and my buddy died while politicians did everything possible to avoid admitting they made a mistake. It’s always someone else’s kids who die for mistakes.

So for what exactly did your cousin and my buddy die?

They died for an empty slogan. If I had a son and he faced being drafted into a similar war situation I would send him to Canada.

Dec 11, 2008 - 8:31 pm 23. zeppenwolf:

toritto: The names on that black wall, including my best friend – those PEOPLE – died for nothing

Those people didn’t die for “nothing”, (and that’s not a “scare quote”), they died defending your right to wear an asshat.

The people who died for “nothing” are the millions who died when we surrendered despite having won militarily– the ones rounded up and put into “camps”, the boat-people who drowned, the ones who died because people like Senator Kennedy and you would not even allow funding for medicine, etc.

You, Jane Fonda, Cronkite, John Freakin Kerry– you have the blood of millions on your hands, and have so much nerve that you can get self-righteous about that war and its aftermath when you should be apologizing, and you will never be able to do that enough that it matters.

To say that “we shouldn’t have been there” is as stupid and ignorant as saying “we shouldn’t have been part of the cold war”.

Dec 11, 2008 - 8:49 pm 24. Dave:

Vietnam was a salient. It was not a proper place to commit ground forces.

I did three tours there. I do not regret it.

Had the generality of American youth my age
behaved less like me and more like Bill Clinton, there could not have been a Reagan Presidency. The USSR would still be in business. America would function a lot more like Bill Ayers would like for it to function.
So forth and so on.

When a pack of idiots commit to a salient, somebody has to fill that position with their
own bodies and buy the time for others to correct.

That is what we did. And there shall be no farther talk of dying in vain.

Dec 11, 2008 - 9:18 pm 25. Donna V.:

We were fighting to “contain the spread of communism” – so when Vietnam fell to the Reds, what happened? Nothing.

Well,not to us. Although I think one can argue that America’s humiliation in Vietnam helped set the stage for the debacle of the Iranian hostage crisis and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan later in the decade. The sense that America was, in bin Laden’s words, a weak “paper tiger” had its genesis in the fall of Saigon.

I don’t see how the fall of South Vietnam can be seen as anything but a tragedy for the people of SE Asia. The boat people, the reeducation camps, the miserable poverty that Vietnam was mired in until it, ironically, surrendered its Marxist principles and adopted capitalism, to say nothing of the mass murder which went on in neighboring Cambodia – that’s not nothing. Too many on the left painted a rosy picture of Uncle Ho and pretended that a Communist Vietnam would be some sort of peasant Utopia once we left – and then they spent the late ’70’s largely ignoring all evidence to the contrary.

And, while I think the war should have been avoided in the first place, I have never understood how it can be described as a “colonial” one on our part. The Japanese had territoral ambitions there, as they had for all of Asia. And the place, of course, had been a French colony. But what colonies were we intending to plant there? What resources does Vietnam have that we lusted after? Rice and bugs? I never thought the problem was that we were imperialist, but that we got entangled in someone else’s civil war. The intentions were good, we had crack troops ( NVA General Vo was astonished when Tet was presented by the Western media as a defeat for the Americans, when he knew it was precisely the reverse. The North Vietnamese were quick to seize the propaganda front, helped by useful idiots like Jane Fonda), but the whole thing was horribly mismanaged and we ended up floundering around terribly.

Well, like I said, I don’t want to refight the war. I was once entirely convinced the anti-war people had been right and nothing could be said to justify Vietnam. Now I am more conflicted and confused about the whole thing (and my comments undoubtably reflect that:-) The more I read about that war, the more uncertain and confused my feelings have become. It’s hard for anybody who knew and loved someone who was killed there not to think of the waste and tragedy.

But I do know that some people – whether they were pro-war or anti-war – behaved honorably in those years and others behaved disgracefully. I would no more defend Lt. Calley than I would Bill Ayers. And since Ayers is putting himself in the limelight, and has written books and given interviews justifying his despicable actions, (and since he is connected to the President-elect of the United States) I think Ron Radosh is doing the right thing by continuing to point out Ayers lies and evasions. I am deeply offended that someone who wanted to kill US servicemen who were not very different from my cousin is now being lionized by people like Chris Matthews.

Lastly, I am truly sorry for the loss of your friend.

Dec 11, 2008 - 9:44 pm 26. Blue Collar Todd:

Did Chris Matthew’s feel a tingle up his leg again? I like how Ayers morally equivocates between violent and nonviolent action.

Dec 12, 2008 - 12:11 am 27. Julie K.:

zeppenwolf: You have summed it up PERFECTLY. You are 100% correct. Thank you.

Donna V: To you too, I say “Thank you” for clearly seeing (though you claim not to!) and stating the obvious. I am so very sorry about your cousin; but in what you’ve written you’ve done him great honor, and helped to keep the record straight, which is exactly what people like Ayers and the other so-called “anti-war” types hate most. YOU are the enemy they fear.

Dave: You are exactly right. Thank god for people like you who had the motivation and the courage to fight those who wished to enslave first Vietnam, and then Southeast Asia generally, and, in the end, the whole world–as was Communism’s stated aim. And in so doing you certainly did help to hold back the dark for us all. Thank you so very much!

There’s no question but that it was the people who succeeded in persuading the American public and politicians to abandon the South Vietnamese–first militarily, and eventually even in our capacity as financial and advisory support–who have tried to rob the American soldiers who died in Vietnam of their claim to victory. It is THOSE people who devalue their contribution and it is THOSE people who must be reminded constantly of, and held to account every minute of every day for, their part in the atrocities that resulted from the abandonment of Southeast Asia.

Now I am hearing from certain “anti-war” ’60’s retreads that “Vietnam was over 35 [sic] years ago, time to put it to rest.”

Despicable. Of COURSE they want to “put it to rest”–so would I if I had on my hands the blood they have on theirs, or else spend the rest of my life trying to atone.

They have no honesty and no shame.

And I for one will NOT put it to rest. NEVER FORGET.

Dec 12, 2008 - 12:42 am 28. JohnR22:

Although I’m Right-of-Center, I used to watch Hardball 4-5 nights a week. I stopped watching in September and am through with Matthews for good. It was obvious during the primaries that Matthews was in Obama’s pocket, but he reached such absurd levels in September that I just couldn’t take it any more.

And if “tingle down the leg” and “I’m so inspired”, and comparing Obama’s race speech to the Gettysburg Address (and can anyone actually remember anything Obama said in that speech?) weren’t enough, we recently had the utterly astounding claim by Matthews that it’s “his job to ensure the Obama administration succeeds”. Couldn’t have said it better myself, Chris. But I’ll give Chris one thing; unlike most of the MSM media, he at least no longer maintains a pretence of being unbiased.

Dec 12, 2008 - 6:35 am 29. Bob L.:

Pete – Maybe CM’s slogan should be “Dumb as dirt and proud of it”? I do not watch Chris Matthews or any of that ilk, because I want news that is objective, not “tingly”, etc. After having been in the broadcast business for 32 years, I wash my hands of this new breed of news readers who think we care about their editorializing. Report the news, don’t think you’re so important that you can make it!

Dec 12, 2008 - 6:53 am 30. Bernard Chapin:

Very glad you’re on PJ Ron. Great piece but you can’t shame the shameless I’m afraid.

Dec 12, 2008 - 6:56 am 31. tanstaafl:

I appreciate all the profound and intelligent comments on Vietnam.

Today, one of Ayers’ rationalizations/justifications for promoting of all those (bombing and other) exploits in the late 60’s and early 70’s is that “we were opposing an unjust war.”

This is somewhat of a fabrication, like everything else about Bill Ayers. As a good radical Marxist adherent, his real mission was “opposing” the decadent, bourgeois, middle class, capitalist society in which he found himself living.

When the dope smoke cleared and the LSD wore off temporarily, that was the “vision” Bill Ayers was looking at through the haze of his mind.

(ultimately, of course, Ayers’ real mission, like would be revolutionaries everywhere, was his own power trip/ego)

Since police stations were among the Weather Underground’s targets, it is ironic as hell that, a month or so ago, Ayers phoned the police when the Foxnews producer showed up at his house. And the police came at the request of this “private citizen” who’d (somewhat frantically) told the Fox producer he was on “private property” !

Dec 12, 2008 - 7:50 am 32. thinking mom:

So—chicago POLITICS rears its mostly ugly head again…

Bill Ayers’ ideological “uncle” is AL CAPONE. No, I kid you not.

+++Ayer is a partial ideological descendant of Chicagoan Saul Alinsky’s super radical change policies—And remember – Alinsky probably got a few hints on “management by violence” when doing his so called sociological studyof Al Capone & co. (Sound crazy? Look up the extensive Saul Alinsky interviews online – the old “Playboy” interviews. Alinsky hung around and says he even partied with Capone’s guys. I kid you not!!!).

And there is a core of amorality amongst Alinsky’s activist work…which Ayers carried forth!!!

Dec 12, 2008 - 8:45 am 33. Scotch Indian:

I taught at the alternative school in Ann Arbor which Bill Ayers ran in the late 1960’s. It was one of the options which we had for getting hands on experience in one of my psych courses.

The ladies (moms) loved Billy. When he came into the class area, they would swarm around him. How romantic, dressed in his farmer overalls, red wool shirt, big workboots, curly hair and mustache. “He’s the big radical on campus, and don’t you know, his Dad is PRESIDENT of Commonwealth Edison in Chicago” whispered one of my fellow students. Rich boy gone bad, how romantic! Prep school commie, just like Fidel and Che!

The Destructive Generation does a great job of telling the story of Billy, Bernie and the Weather Underground. The area which is missing in the Billy Ayers story is his later life, after becoming a “distinguished professor of education”.

More destructive than his Weatherman days has been Billy’s involvement in influencing the teaching of young teachers. He is very influential, and he preaches that public school teachers should focus on radicalizing their charges through a “social justice” agenda. This is what he teachs young teachers to do; this is what he and Obama were doing as part of the Annenberg challenge. “You are a victim, America is terrible, the only solution is radical change”.

Prep school Billy has made adherence to the radical agenda work for him with the help of a rich Dad who kept him out of prison and got him his sweet professor gig. However, the poor, disadvantaged young people who are indoctrinated in the “social justice” agenda in the public schools do not benefit from adopting an antagonistic, victim mindset.

Billy has turned radical chic into an endless opportunity to get laid, use drugs, and to be the center of attention. What a creep.

Dec 12, 2008 - 11:45 am 34. ster:

Since Ayers is a self-described Communist, i am STILL waiting to see him move to a Communist country.

Hmmm… funny how the guy who tried to kill police now uses police to protect him, and the same guy who hates capitalism is now promoting his book on television like the Home Shopping channel.

Do as I say….

Dec 12, 2008 - 12:44 pm 35. sonoffar:

I tuned in to the Chris Matthews ‘Hardball’ show just to see Ayers take a little heat. What I was teated to was Matthews, literally, fawning over Ayers and his tale of valor and sacrifice in the 60’s. What drivel. Ayers was a Communist then and remains one of the staunch few today. What a sad spectacle. But fear not, I think we can look forward to even more ‘new history’ from the New Left. In a few months a sad spectacle will morph into a disastrous ‘new deal’ that will cause even FDR to turn in his grave. And Ayers?, look for a nice piece of the pie coming from the new administration. It is the way of the parasite.

Dec 12, 2008 - 3:19 pm 36. Scotch Indian:

Chris Matthews is a joke.

Dec 12, 2008 - 8:55 pm 37. james wilson:

Embarrassed? People of the far left are, without exception, incapable of embarrassment. That is the identifying marker in the personality type.

Dec 12, 2008 - 9:20 pm 38. Craig:

Bill Ayers has an interesting blog. I enjoy getting the viewpoints of others.

http://billayers.wordpress.com/

Members of the Vietnam era will debate the war and anti war movement forever. Pretty important to us. Here is the question I pose.

The anti war left was successful, and the US withdrew and cut off funds. Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia (Kampuchea) became Communist. The blood bath that followed is well known in Cambodia, where the new regime exposed
the genocide of the previous regime. The genocide in the other three countries
is not well known, since the same murderous regimes are still in power.

Professor R. J. Rummel of the U of Hawaii on his web page at http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/ has documented the worst mass murderer nations. He excludes soldiers killing each other in combat
or accidentally killing civilians.

Here are the 10 worst nations in the 20th century, with the numbers murdered rounded to the nearest million, up to 1987.

Nation Years Millions murdered

USSR 1917-87 62
China PRC 1949-87 35
Germany 1933-45 21
China KMT 1928-49 10
Japan 1936-45 6

China Mao 1923-49 3
Cambodia 1975-79 2
Turkey 1909-18 2
Vietnam 1945-87 2
Poland 1945-48 2

Communist regimes were the top 6 out of 10 times. They murdered far more than
Hitler and Tojo.

The charming regimes of Cambodia and Vietnam made the list.
__________________

Question – If it was correct to stop Hitler & Tojo, was it not also correct to try to stop Stalin, Mao, Ho Chi Minh, & Pol Pot?

Thanks for your review and answer.

Dec 13, 2008 - 10:54 am 39. Barnett:

Shame just on Matthews? Is there a real journalist on the scene anymore, especially, on camera? The impending tragedy as a consequence of the death of Journalism is the country will be kept even more in the dark.

Dec 14, 2008 - 4:53 am 40. Mary Stella:

Last November, voters made a perilous decision. By electing Obama, a quite different ERA of ideology and economy our country will be headed. The erosion of economy, living standard, granting government more power through courts, will usher a whole new order and structure that average Americans will be asked to sacrifice for the good of the country. Of course, our liberal media will be cheering the Marxist socialist government, as they will be among the elite leaders looking down on dissidents.

Dec 16, 2008 - 5:16 pm 41. Jack:

Sometimes you have to stand up to a government that is criminal (I wish Ayers was in his 20’s during the Bush years). The Vietnam war was atrocious, Johnson listened to his army generals pushing all kinds of theories and false reasons to escalate, one being the domninoe effect. btw, army brass are interested in one thing, war, that’s what they train for, that’s what they do. Vietnam had done nothing to us, we killed 100s of thousands of civilians, and guess what, after all was said and done, no dominoe effect, well go figure. Ayers never killed anybody, the fucking national guard killed innocent student protesters for nothing. Ayers is a recognized scholar who has done many good things in education and community service. It was 40 years ago people, let it go, cut the guy a break. The problem with you Republicans is, you’re too busy looking for faults in others that you can’t see the crap in your on back yard. So get off the phony patriotism and get a real life.

Dec 16, 2008 - 6:25 pm 42. Scotch Indian:

Jack, if you think that the “social justice” agenda is the right thing for our public schools, then you will love Billy Ayers.

The social justice agenda he promotes means not teaching kids that America offers tremendous opportunities to young people who work hard and study hard. Rather, promotes teaching that America is inherently injust, that it is almost impossible for them to get ahead, and therefor the kids should work to “change society” through radical means.

My personal experience tells me this is so wrong — the Armenian immigrant who moved to the US from Lebanon at 20, started out working in a sandwich shop, and now owns two restaurants ant a building in San Francisco … the Chinese kids in my Chem class at City College of SF who gathered at the back of the class after each lecture so that the English speakers could translate their notes into Cantonese … now successfuly professionals …my daughter’s friends at UC Riverside, which is 80% first college in family, mostly non white … getting Congressional fellowships, scholarships to medical school … the kid who sat next to me at City College language class whose family had escaped from Red China … my lecturer in grad school whose parents were Vietnamese boat people … my wife’s family successful lawyers, bankers, business people despite being African American … it goes on and on. Look at your personal life, think about the people you know. Unless you live a really insulated life in Ivy league schools, or in academia, the examples of success by so called “disadvantaged” people are all around you in this United States. No it ain’t perfect, but it’s the best there is. And promoting the idea that you can’t get ahead here creates a self fulfilling prophesy for these “disadvantaged” kids.

So that’s the big problem with Bill Ayers. He is actively working to tear down a system which does work to replace it with what … a notion of a world which has never existed anywhere … a world with total “social justice”.

Dec 18, 2008 - 6:12 pm 43. Helen:

Jack, Evidently you have never lived in a Communist country & don’t know what it is like to live without the freedoms you enjoy (& are about to lose) in the USA. Bill Ayers is an UNREPENTED TERRORIST!! Do you understand what that means??? He is no better than the Islamic terrorists & is as much of a threat to YOUR freedom as they are. Obama is a MARXIST, was indoctrinated by his Grandparents, his parents & his radical Chicago mentors. You need to read the COMMUNIST MANIFESTO & WAKE UP TO THIS THREAT AGAINST YOUR FREEDOM!!

Dec 22, 2008 - 3:41 pm 44. Helen:

Jack, If you truly wish to understand the threat of losing YOUR FREEDOMS read ‘THE NAKED COMMUNIST’ by Cleon Skousen which was written in the 1960’s & see if you recognize how our America today is already down the Red tube of Communism. Also read ‘NONE DARE CALL IT CONSPIRACY’ by Gary Allen & please WAKE UP!!!!

Dec 22, 2008 - 4:24 pm

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