Obama has repeatedly- and harshly- condemned Ayers for his action in the 60's

[cali]

and 70's. He's said they were despicable. He's rejected completely what Ayers did.

So what's the point of trying to defend what Ayers did? That's hardly what Obama is doing.

Whatever you think of Ayers, trying to defend what he did back then is pointless. It's much more beneficial to point out that whatever Ayers did then, he's now a respected scholar and author, and that Obama was hardly the only prominent person to work with Ayers on the Annenberg Challenge- plenty of republicans did as well, including some high profile ones.

[Virginia Dare]

1. This is all they've got, so they think they can use it...

just as they used the Swiftboat lies against Kerry. It won't work against this backdrop, but that won't stop them from trying. They're backed into a corner and desperate right now.

[still_one]

2. I agree /nt

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

3. I can see one (not me) defending what Ayers did AND pointing out Obama doesn't. -nt

[RaleighNCDUer]

6. Such as myself.

Had his bombs done anything more than property damage I'd sing a different tune, but I wholly support radical action that is intended to stop wholesale slaughter. While Ayer's bombs damaged a couple buildings were were bombing N Vietnam back into the stone age - we killed a half-million N Vietnamese and destroyed tens of thousands of buildings.

I applaud Ayers for trying to bring a bit of that back home, while NOT killing anyone.

And yes, Obama disagrees.

[cali]

7. his girlfriend was killed building a bomb- along with two others

and they certainly planned to do physical harm to others. that they fucked up and blew themselves up, hardly exonerates them. Do you really think he didn't know what they were doing in Greenwich Village? He split from WU in the seventies, but before that he did advocate violence against people as well as property.

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. Why do you have it in for him that you would lie like that?

He always insisted on hitting targets that were unoccupied, scoping them out in advance so there would be no possibility of collateral damage. He was attacking institutions and structures, not people. You can't lump them blowing themselves up into that because I hardly think they were targeting themselves.

It is possible, that if the townhouse explosion had not cut their bomb-making short that they MIGHT have taken on targets that produced casualties - but 'possible' is not 'is'. They DIDN'T do that. After he left the group, a couple other members were involved in crimes where there were casualties - an armored car guard was killed, IIRC, but HE had nothing to do with that. In fact, I suspect (though of course I don't know) that some of the others wanting to step it up was one of the reasons he quit - the war was all but over, the troops were out of Vietnam, and there was no point to continuing, and especially no point to getting anyone killed.

What it sounds like is you have swallowed all the propaganda the government put out there about them. Why believe the government over the evidence of history?

[cali]

11. I don't have it in for Ayers. I respect his academic work

and his advocacy for early childhood ed. I have it in for historical revisionism- which I have no use for. I agree Ayers had nothing to do with the Brink's crime. He'd rethought his involvement in violent action by then. But it's not true that that was the first Weathermen/WU violent crime. There was the bombing of the Police Station which killed one in CA. Some say that Ayers was involved in it, others don't. But he was certainly actively involved with the WU at that time.

[Ishoutandscream2]

4. Exactly. That was 40 damn years ago!

Ayers is a law abiding citizen of the United States. No one is defending what he did 40 years ago, but it's time to acknowledge that he's obviously not the same person he once was. My God, this shit is becoming so old (no pun intended).

[Double T]

5. Skeletons in the closet are no longer enough.

Now the re thugs have to go back decades and dig 'em up.

[stillcool]

9. I can't sit by and watch another..

person being vilified. I don't enjoy public lynchings, and I think defending a human being against a witch hunt is not pointless.

[cali]

10. Obama's being villified by his innocent association with Ayes

Whether Ayers is being unjustly villified is debatable.

[stillcool]

12. to you it is debatable...

to me it is not. There is no doubt that this man is being unjustly vilified for political points. He is a pawn, a pinata, a punching bag, and it is unjust.