Ayers Known As Scholar, Not Radical

AP, Aol News ^ | October 17, 2008 | By DEANNA BELLANDI

[Portrait of a Lady]

CHICAGO (Oct. 17) - These days, Bill Ayers doesn't want to talk about the Weathermen, the Vietnam-era radical group he helped found that carried out bombings at the Pentagon and the Capitol.

That doesn't mean the man who has become a political headache for Barack Obama is hiding his past. In fact, all you need to do is stand outside Ayers' office at the University of Illinois in Chicago to be confronted with it.

Ayers' connection to the Weather Underground is plastered on his door. A postcard for a documentary on the group shows an old mugshot of Ayers. Nearby is cover art from Ayers' 2001 memoir, "Fugitive Days."

But also affixed to the door is the title that reflects how Ayers, now 63, has become known in the past two decades in Chicago: distinguished professor.

"He gives of himself greatly to his students. He gives of his time, his energies, his commitment," said Pamela Quiroz, an associate professor who works in the college of education with Ayers. "He is just a superb individual."

Quiroz is among more than 3,200 people, mostly academics, who have signed an online petition protesting the "demonization" of Ayers during the campaign for the White House.

[Yaelle]

Charles Manson makes a mean jailhouse chili. His laundry duties are performed so well that people all over his cell block prefer his touch with their striped outfits. He’s known as a model citizen now, not a serial mass murderer. Why, that was years ago.

[cynwoody]

I wonder what Timothy McVeigh would be known for if he had lived gotten off on a technicality.

Minor correction.