Posted on 10/03/2008 5:46:20 PM PDT by mathprof
At a tumultuous meeting of anti-Vietnam War militants at the Chicago Coliseum in 1969, Bill Ayers helped found the radical Weathermen, launching a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and United States Capitol.
Twenty-six years later, at a lunchtime meeting about school reform in a Chicago skyscraper, Obama met Mr. Ayers, by then an education professor. Their paths have crossed sporadically since then, at a coffee Ayers hosted for Obama’s first run for office, on the schools project and a charitable board, and in casual encounters as Hyde Park neighbors.
Their relationship has become a touchstone for Obama’s opponents. Video clips on YouTube, including a new ad that aired Friday, juxtapose Obama’s face with the young Mr. Ayers or grainy shots of the bombings. In a televised interview last spring, Senator John McCain, his Republican rival, asked: “How can you countenance someone who was engaged in bombings that could have or did kill innocent people?”
More recently, conservative critics who accuse Mr. Obama of a stealth radical agenda have asserted that he has misleadingly minimized his relationship with Mr. Ayers, whom the candidate has dismissed as “a guy who lives in my neighborhood” and “somebody who worked on education issues in Chicago that I know.”
A review of records of the schools project and interviews with a dozen people who know both men, suggest that Mr. Obama, 47, has played down his contacts with Mr. Ayers, 63. But the two men do not appear to have been close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers, whom he has called “somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8.”.
Obama campaign aides said the Ayers relationship had been greatly exaggerated by opponents to smear the candidate
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Oh pleeeezzzzzzz.
No more lies.
How nice if the “Whitey” tape exists. Certainly not out of the realm for the American hating MS Obama to have said.
I will get you the link. I found it when I was researching something else. http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/obama-ayers-and-the-annenberg-challenge-cover-up/2/ - on page 2 —
That is a relationship that goes well beyond “a guy who lives in my neighborhood.” And there is a possibility the relationship began long before 1995. In 1987 there was a push for school reform in Chicago. Thomas Ayers was a leader of the ABCs Coalition which was coordinated by his son, Bill Ayers. One member of the coalition was the Developing Communities Project, headed up by Barack Obama before he left for Harvard.
http://www.pr-inside.com/william-ayers-and-barack-obama-finally-r797225.htm — explains how Obama was financed at Harvard and what he did in the summer
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/obama-ayers-partners-in-revolution/ — Looks like the connection to Bill Ayers goes back to 1988
http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/05/29/ayers-obama-philanthropy-corruption-what-big-media-refuses-to-disclose-about-obamas-checkered-past-in-chicago-machine-politics/ — this describes Thomas Ayers and how he ran Illinois including getting the millions for the Annenberg project that Obama Chaired.
I am sending these for starters.
He was part of it but Obama was working as a community organizer looks like with ACORN when he met the Ayers family in 1988. I just posted a bunch of links. You will see the connections and see how Thomas Ayers got Obama into the law firm where he met his wife.
The ties to the Ayers Family — Father Thomas and son Bill are intertwined. It has been an education to track this back and see what can be double sourced. Looks to me like they are covering up the connection going back to 1988 and the fact Bill Ayers did a fundraiser for Obama the first time he ran for IL Senate. When you read about Thomas Ayers you find they consider him the Godfather of IL politics so it looks like that the father and son were both involved with Obama way back and the father encouraged him to become a lawyer. You will also read where Bill Ayers got someone to raise funds for Obama’s Harvard Law School.
I was shocked at the connections between Thomas and Bill Ayers and everywhere Obama has been. MSM are asleep at the switch IMHO.
They're at the bottom of the tank now.
OBAMA/AYERS ON CRIME
The self proclaimed “I’m a radical, Leftist, small ‘c’ communist,” terrorist Bill Ayers, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122212856075765367.html#printMode
who said he didnt do enough on 9/11
“a guy who lives in my neighborhood... He’s not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.,” http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/09/12/obamas-new-bill-ayers-lie/
O’REILLY: Yes, but you guys partnered up on a youth crime bill. Do you remember that?
OBAMA: And it was a good bill.
O’REILLY: No, it wasn’t. That bill said that if a youth commits a second violent felony, he does time in an adult prison. That’s two shots. You said no. You know the Southside of Chicago. You know how many people are hurt.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Utilities/printer_preview.asp?idArticle=15386&R=13BA26C
The most intriguing thread linking Obama, Ayers, and crime, however, runs through Ayers’s wife, Bernardine Dohrn. Dohrn founded the Children and Family Justice Center at Northwestern University, and along with her associates there, she regularly and energetically opposes “get tough” crime laws. Ayers draws on his wife’s wisdom in A Kind and Just Parent, and Dohrn, like her husband, publicly presents her work on juvenile justice not as a repudiation of her youthful radicalism, but as a continuation of it.
The Ayers-Dohrn-Obama nexus was jolted into action in late 1997 and early 1998, when a major juvenile justice reform bill was introduced in the Illinois General Assembly. Written by prosecutors and sponsored by a Republican ex-prosecutor, the bill was neither simplistic nor partisan. Well aware of evidence that sending juveniles to adult prisons can backfire and actually raise recidivism rates, sponsors met rehabilitation-minded critics halfway. The proposed bill was an early example of “blended sentencing,” in which juveniles who have committed serious crimes are given both a juvenile sentence and a parallel adult sentence. So long as the offender keeps his nose clean, doesn’t violate parole, and participates in community-based rehabilitation, he never has to serve his adult sentence. But if the offender violates the provisions of his juvenile sentence, the adult punishment kicks in. That gives young offenders a powerful incentive to do right, and puts toughness at the service of offering kids a second chance.
Blended sentencing is generally viewed as an innovative compromise. To those on the far left, however, blended sentencing is just another mean-spirited “get tough” crime measure in disguise. That’s why, when the Illinois blended sentencing bill was introduced in 1997, both Obama and Bernardine Dohrn were cited by the Chicago Sun-Times as key local critics of the bill. Steven A. Drizin, an associate of Dohrn’s center (who is thanked in Ayers’s book) was a member of the study commission that helped produce the bill, yet remained an energetic critic, not only of blended sentencing, but of nearly every other prosecutor-favored provision in the bill.
Meanwhile, Obama worked closely with the Illinois Black Legislative Caucus to slow the bill’s progress, expressing skepticism about the blended sentencing provisions. While one report speaks of Obama negotiating with Cook County state’s attorney Richard Devine for a compromise, there is good reason to believe that Obama’s actual aim was to scuttle the entire bill. We have this on the authority of someone who may very well be Michelle Obama herself. Michelle Obama organized a University of Chicago panel about Bill Ayers’s crime book in November 1997, just as the battle over the juvenile justice bill was heating up. That panel featured appearances by some of the key figures discussed in Ayers’s book, along with Obama himself, who was identified in the press release as “working to block proposed legislation that would throw more juvenile offenders into the adult system.” In effect, then, this public event was a joint Obama-Ayers effort to sink the juvenile justice bill-Obama’s decision to plug Ayers’s book in the Chicago Tribune the following month was part of the same political effort.
...
Also in 1998, according to the Hill, a Washington newspaper, Obama was one of only three Illinois state senators to vote against a proposal making it a criminal offense for convicts on probation or on bail to have contact with a street gang. A year later, on a vote mandating adult prosecution for aggravated discharge of a firearm in or near a school, Obama voted “present,” and reiterated his opposition to adult trials for even serious juvenile offenders. In short, when it comes to the issue of crime, Obama is on the far left of the political spectrum and very much in synch with his active political allies Ayers and Dohrn.
No, no, no.
Everyone is making too much of this. I think we should take David Alelrod at his word when he says they are simply acquainted because their kids go to the same schools.
</S>
http://texasdarlin.wordpress.com/2008/08/21/obama-ayers-annenberg-and-acorn-a-family-affair/ — Connection to ACORN:
Obama, Ayers, Annenberg, and ACORN: a family affair?
August 21, 2008 by texasdarlin
By Judah Benjamin and TexasDarlin
Introduction
In the past few days, we’ve published three articles separately that now appear to possibly be connected. Comments and feedback from readers got us thinking, then digging. We’ve been trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together, but we haven’t been able to do that yet, not completely. So the purpose of this post is to set forth a few observations and questions. We hope to turn this into a longer follow-on story.
In a nutshell, we believe that there are links worth investigating between the Barack Obama campaign, William Ayers, the Annenbergs, and ACORN.
The three stories that may be connected in ways that we initially did not realize, are:
Obama’s Caucus Fraud Trick: how the delegates were “won”.
The Annenberg Files: ACCESS BLOCKED!
Obama, ACORN, Citizen Services Inc: False FEC Filings; and
First, keep in mind: Senator Obama was the first Chairman of the Board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, which was a Division, or Project, of the Annenberg Foundation.
William (Bill) Ayers, unrepentant Weather Underground terrorist and a friend of the Obamas, was instrumental in founding the Challenge, thanks to his ties to Mayor Richard Daley. The first Daley was also a pal of Thomas Ayers, Bill’s father, former CEO of ComEd (owned by Exelon).
[Incidentally, the current CEO of ComEd, Frank M. Clark, is a major money bundler for the Obama campaign.]
You’ll recall from Wednesday’s story that the Annenberg files have suddenly been locked down under mysterious circumstances, after a reporter was promised access.
Factcheck.org, used as a resource by so many who wish to “debunk” negative coverage of Obama, is also a Division, or Project, of the Annenberg Foundation.
You’ll recall that Factcheck was the second site to publish the now-suspect Certificate of Live Birth (COLB) reportedly received from the Obama campaign.
[The Annenberg Foundation and family has an interesting history that we may examine in more detail.]
Second, keep in mind that ACORN has received payments of nearly a million dollars from the Barack Obama Campaign in 2008, as NancyA reported on this blog Aug. 15. Apparently the payments were funneled through Citizens Services Inc., and may have been falsely reported to the FEC.
The Senator has been working with ACORN since his first days as a Community Organizer in Chicago:
“In 1992, Acorn Hired Mr. Obama To Run A Voter Registration Effort. He Later Became A Trainer For The Group, As Well As Its Lawyer In Election Law Cases.” (John Fund, Op-Ed, “Obama’s Liberal Shock Troops,” “The Wall Street Journal”, 7/12/08 )
and
“Representing ACORN, Obama And Other Attorneys Sued The State Of Illinois, Forcing It To Implement Federal “Motor Voter” Legislation That Makes It Easier For The Poor And Minorities To Register To Vote.” (”Some Cases Obama Worked On In His Career As An Attorney,” “The Associated Press”, 2/20/07). Hence again impartiality is not possible.
More Press Quotes on ACORN:
ACORN Used “In Your Face” Tactics Like Disrupting Hearings, Bursting Into City Council Meetings, And Protesting Mayor’s Homes. (Stanley Kurtz, Op-Ed, “Inside Obama’s Acorn,” “National Review”, 5/29/08 )
“ACORN Has Been Accused Of Voter Fraud In 13 StatesSince 2004 And Was Convicted Of Falsifying Signatures In A Voter Registration Drive Last July, Drawing A Fine Of $25,000 In Washington State.” (Editorial, “George Soros: The Man, The Mind And The Money Behind MoveOn,” “Investor’s Business Daily”, 9/21/07)
“ACORN Has Been Implicated In Similar Schemes In 14 Other States - Including Ohio, Where A Worker Traded Crack Cocaine For Fraudulent Registrations.” (Editorial, “Another ACORN Scandal,” “New York Post”, 7/13/08 )
[Notice that the first of these quotes is from the very man (Kurtz, from National Review) who has been denied access on flimsy, and possibly illegal grounds, to the Annenberg Files.]
Meanwhile, keep in mind: ACORN has been a beneficiary of grants from the Chicago-based Woods Fund, which has a history of issuing controversial grants. Ayres and Obama served together on the Fund’s board (and are still listed). [Other grantees during their tenure included PLO employee Rashid Khalidi and the Obamas’ church, Trinity United.]
Conclusions
Are you starting to see the potential connections and conflicts of interest? Here’s what we see:
1. Potential conflict of interest between Obama and anything funded by the Annenbergs, including Factcheck.org. [For starters, why were they one of only a small handful of media to get a copy of the COLB?]
2. Obvious conflict of interest between Obama and ACORN: He has been directly involved in funding ACORN, has worked for ACORN, and is now PAYING ACORN in exchange for assistance to his campaign.
3. What kind of assistance is ACORN providing the campaign? When we read about ACORN’s expertise in “voter fraud” and “in-your-face” tactics, it instantly reminded us of Obama’s caucus fraud tricks (see Wednesday’s story).
4. Is there a direct connection between the Annenberg Foundation and ACORN, or are they just three degrees of separation apart, with Ayres and Obama smack in the middle? We are curious about that. [Walter Annenberg, founder of the $500 million gift that funded the Annenberg Challenge, had deeply rooted Chicago ties that clearly intersect with some of the same ties to Thomas and William Ayres.]
We hope to continue this story…
Why are they hiding the connection? When you start researching you realize that Obama and Ayers go back at least to 1988. I was shocked to find out that Thomas Ayers was into so many liberal groups handing out money in Chicago and you keep coming back to Obama and his son Bill Ayers.
The main stream media is not mentioning it because if known and understood by Americans, it would be toxic for Barack Obama.
America in general is much further to the right than Barack Obama, and if many who were considering voting for them would, I am sure, be shocked if they knew.
As Richard Nixon once said of the Soviet Spy Alger Hiss: “If the American people understood the real character of Alger Hiss, they would boil him in oil.”
I think the same would be true of Barack Obama.
“If you ask my wife, we had the first coffee for Barack,” Rabbi Wolf said. He said he had known Mr. Ayers for decades but added, “Bill’s mad at me because I told a reporter he’s a toothless ex-radical.”
“It was kind of a nasty shot,” Mr. Wolf said. “But it’s true. For God’s sake, he’s a professor.”
Oh, he's a professor? Well then never mind. We all know that nobody could be an American hating, violent, Marxist radical and get hired as a professor anywhere.
Has one solitary soul in the entire MSM establishment attempted to pick up the phone and see what the subject of this article has to say about whether he is a reformed or unrepentant terrorist, and what exactly his relationship is with Obama?
Ayers is very toxic for Obama and MSM are trying to give us someone with radical connections and they see nothing wrong with their lack of investigation. Ethics and this current crop of MSM are not friends.
Wish someone would use their money to buy TV time nationally that would expose Obama and Ayers — probably couldn’t get anyone to run the ad.
This is so disgusting — facts are there and the MSM ignores everything for their agenda to bring us closer to socialism.
I wish that were the case. I think the MSM is wide awake and spinning and burying information to protect Obama.
This is an example of the fifth column activism at it's finest.(or worst)
Remember when Palin was first announced and the MSM was screeching about her (or then her husband's or then maybe no one’s association) with some political group that wanted Alaska to secede? But something like Barry closely associated with a former terrorist, a racist preacher and on and on....just goes away...poof!
It is more than disgusting.
But, as mentioned upthread...the fact that the NYT is mentioning it at all is pretty interesting.
“I don’t think there’s a statute of limitations on terrorist bombings,” Mr. Chapman said in an interview, speaking not of the law but of political and moral implications.
“If you’re in public life, you ought to say, ‘I don’t want to be associated with this guy,’ ” Mr. Chapman said. “If John McCain had a long association with a guy who’d bombed abortion clinics, I don’t think people would say, ‘That’s ancient history.’ ”
Love it.
we need to find out if Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and Ayers are close...I bet the NYT could spend weeks on invesigating that
BHO can now say, “this is old news. The NYT already looked into it and found nothing there.”
Exactly. It compares directly to an April 2004 NYT piece on John Kerry's presence at meetings of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War where a plan to murder pro-war US Senators was discussed and actually voted upon. The purpose of both articles is to innoculate the Democrat against criticism of his leftist terrorist assocations.
Can you even imagine the outright MSM lunacy that would accompany any Republican associated with the likes of this “guy who lives in my neighborhood” defense? My gawd, he’d be keel-hauled by the media. When will the NYT go bankrupt?!?
“I did not have radical relations with that man, William Ayers.” -
More in-the-tank Obama cheerleading:
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h124/Roscoe_Karns/mattews_walk.jpg
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