Ayers’ Invite – What Were SC Educrats Thinking?
We’ve felt all along that the “Obama Connection” to former domestic terrorist Bill Ayers – which was raised last week by Republican presidential nominee John McCain (well, actually by his veep pick Sarah Palin) – is a sign of GOP desperation.
Given the current status of the election, that’s obvious.
But that doesn’t make the questions concerning Obama and Ayers’ relationship any less valid in our eyes, nor does it justify Obama’s evasiveness and misdirection in avoiding these questions … two observations we’re sure all the McCainiacs (who seemed pretty ticked off at us yesterday) will be happy to hear.
But what happens on the national stage concerning Ayers is secondary to us.
It’s the “South Carolina connection” to this guy – who led a leftist bombing and cop-killing outfit called the Weather Underground back in the 1970’s – that has us more than a little worried, and more than a little curious as to how an unrepentant terrorist who said he “didn’t (bomb) enough” was invited to speak not once, but twice (that we know of), to groups of South Carolina public school children.
We received reports about Ayers’ connections to the University of South Carolina early Monday morning and decided to call and check them out, but we never received the information we were promised by the USC press office.
Then yesterday afternoon, all hell broke loose as Barack Obama’s campaign put out a press release comparing their candidate’s relationship with Ayers to that of S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford, who serves as the ex-officio chairman of the USC Board of Trustees.
“By Governor Palin’s standards, that means Governor Sanford shares Ayers’ views,†the Obama release said, neglecting to mention that Sanford is a ceremonial chairman of the USC board and is ineligible to vote on University-related matters.
Nonetheless, the flurry of attention prompted the University to fess up and admit that Ayers has spoken six times at the USC campus over the last thirteen years, and has also addressed at least two “cultural” events which included public schoolchildren in the audience.
FITS has learned that the public school students who attended Ayers’ lectures (in 2004 and 2006) were enrolled at schools in two midlands South Carolina districts – Richland County School Districts 1 & 2.
Richland One is a largely urban, low-income school district in downtown Columbia, S.C. while Richland Two is located in the more affluent suburbs of the city.
Ayers was compensated with a daily stipend and was paid travel expenses for his visits to USC, which has yet to issue any comment beyond confirming the details of his visits – like why they felt it was a good idea to put this guy around our children.
Anyway, we’re grateful to the Obama campaign for dragging Ayers’ South Carolina connection into the limelight, but in doing so they showed precisely why this is – and should be – an issue at a much higher energy level.
Frankly, Obama attacking Gov. Sanford (who no more controls what goes on at USC than he does at any other non-Cabinet agency) wreaks of the same desperation with which the original charges were thrown at Obama.
Except it turns out that the original accusations against Obama aren’t just “charges,” they are backed up by a documented history of a close, personal relationship.
Here’s what Carter Clews of ALG News had to say in a provocative Ayers-Obama column published this morning on that organization’s website:
Barack Obama, from the first day he joined forces with Ayers back in 1987 surely knew who Bill Ayers was. Despite his transparent denials, by the time Ayers launched Obama’s political career over wine and brie in 1995, the community organizer had to have known what Ayers had done. And, worst of all, Obama absolutely knew as recently as 2006 when he accepted campaign contributions from Ayers that the man lamented that he “didn’t do enough†when he bombed his own nation and its innocent civilians.
Clews continues by documenting Obama’s extensive association with Ayers and his wife, another former terrorist named Bernadine Dohrn.
“That’s why Obama chose to appear on numerous panels with Ayers extolling the unrepentant terrorist’s radical philosophy,” Clews writes. “That’s why Obama served with Ayers on the board of the Woods Fund – from which the two funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to the repugnant racist, Jeremiah Wright. It’s why Obama was approved by Ayers to chair the Chicago Annenberg Challenge as it steered millions of dollars to leftwing causes. It’s why Obama and Ayers served on as many as eight different boards together, including their 1987 joint venture, the Alliance for Better Chicago Schools. And it’s why Ayers in his book ‘A Kind and Just Parent,’ specifically cites Obama as a kindred spirit in his Hyde Park neighborhood (along with Mohammed Ali and Louis Farrakhan). All of which Obama, of course, denies.”
These revelations of a deeper Obama-Ayers connection are being echoed by former Bill Clinton strategist Dick Morris, who also wrote wrote a column today detailing the relationship between the two men:
The records of the administration of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC), released last week by the University of Illinois, show that the Ayers-Obama connection was, in fact, an intimate collaboration and that it led to the only executive or administrative experience in Obama’s life.
Morris goes on to say that Obama was “following Ayers’s admonition to grant the funds to ‘external’ organizations, like American Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) to pair with schools and conduct programs to radicalize the students and politicize them.”
“Barack Obama should have run screaming at the sight of William Ayers and his wife, Bernadette Dohrn,” Morris writes.
But he obviously didn’t, and Morris raises a possible financial incentive as to why he didn’t.
“Why did Obama put up with Ayers?” Morris asks, “because he got a big job and $50 million of patronage to distribute to his friends and supporters in Chicago.”
As even CNN has noted, “the relationship between Ayers and Obama went much deeper, ran much longer, and was much more political than Obama said.”
No wonder Obama’s people threw such a transparently nonsensical attack at Gov. Sanford yesterday …
This whole thing stinks, people.
But irrespective of presidential politics our questions still stands – what the hell was this guy doing getting paid to address South Carolina school children?
cartoon source: ALG News (William Warren)
Comments
By Let's impeach the terrorists in the White House on October 8th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Holy crap batman !!! Obama hanging out with unsavory fellows probably benefiting financially from the relationship. Reminds me of McCain down in the Caribbean with his Keating 5 buddies partying on their yacht yucking it up how they were screwing over the taxpayers in the 1980’s.
Also reminds me of McCain kissing the buttocks of the wacko, dangerous, religious zealots he used to call intolerant. Didn’t some of the right wing wack jobs favor assassinating foreign leaders?
I could care less about what Ayers did 40 years ago- why don’t we focus on the present and why McCain doesn’t favor impeaching Cheney and Bush for their bombing of innocent civilians and lying us into war ????
Oh I guess that would take real courage ……
By dorian on October 8th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Was he being paid to teach school children how to make bombs? Or was he asked to speak as a respected professor of education, which he now is?
By alindra on October 8th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Ayers is Distinguished Professor at the University of Illinois, author of 15 books. It is in this capacity that he was invited to address the students, not to reminisce about the 60’s. By the same token, if anyone invited Menahem Begin to speak (when he was still alive) it would be in his capacity of former prime-minister and not in his capacity of former terrorist.
By worldsfairdesign on October 8th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
You can’t just bracket (bomb) into your quote and print that as honest journalism: “He didn’t (bomb) enough” The quote was “He didn’t DO enough” and it was in reference to the vietnam war. He didn’t do enough to end the Vietnam War.
Ayers has entirely rejected his past activities and is a prominent professor trying to help educate children. It was in this context that Obama and the Gov. met him. If he had known someday he’d run for president, or, if he’d known that someday there might be a revanchism of McCarthyism and guilt by association in our country of free speech maybe he would have run. But Bill Ayers is an emphatically different person 40 years later.
Lucky he didn’t ever shake hands with a Communist, huh?
I find it offensive that Palin let a witchdoctor endorse her, but I wouldn’t imply that she is a witchdoctor in disguise waiting to bring her witchdoctor ways to Washington.
This is essentially what you are implying by this article and charge. And yet you don’t have the courage to come out and say it. That you think Obama is or may be a terrorist, which is not true.
Just admit you’re intolerant and let America vote on the issues, which aren’t the ones you support. Too bad so sad, democracy actually works and most people don’t subscribe to your fear-mongering hypocritical agenda – they see right through it.
By rick on October 8th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Apologists each and every one. Such a waste of possible intelligence. Bill Ayers is an unrepentent terrorist. If Hussein wasn’t aware or if Bill had been repentent for past wrongs, Hussein wouldn’t have been hiding his relationship. This taken with his history with his religious leaders say much about Husseins lack of character and honesty. Had he stepped up at first and said “yes he’s a friend, and as his friend I’ve been informed….but he didn’t, he tried to hide his involvement. So spin and whine and cry all you want….from the tone of the postings, some of Ayers friends are having hurt feelings.
By FlaLady on October 8th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Dorian wrote: Ayers is a “respected professor of education”.
Gee, I guess there’s hope for people like Timothy McVeigh that he can get a teaching job if nutcases like you think it will make him respectable.
And, let’s see what the investigation into the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac debacles will tell us–after the election, of course. Can’t have anything to pin on incompetent, corrupt DEMOCRATS who put this economy in the toilet, now can we? And while we’re at it HOLY CRAP BATMAN, Obama says he’ll attack Pakistan — without provocation, but with advance notice (snicker). But I’m sure that’s just fine and dandy with you, as long as it’s a radical lefty-loony waging war.
By Pat Hendrix on October 8th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
I could laugh all day reading this stuff. Just think about it this way, a black dude named Barack Hussein Obama that’s been in the Senate for 15 minutes, is – according to you folks – a close friend with a terrorist, hates America, is the most “liberal” member of the Senate and is also possibly a muslim, is leading the Republican by 11 points. What does that tell you, fellas?
By Pat Hendrix on October 8th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
By the way, Timothy McVeigh has been dead for most the decade. His chances at a tenured position are pretty slim. And as far as terrorists go, I think Ayers was a pretty bad one. He had zero kills. McVeigh had 168.
By Let's impeach the terrorists in the White House on October 8th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Fla lady – Obama said he would go kill Osama bin Laden if he found him in Pakistan .
Most U.S. voters would support us going into Pakistan to quickly kill bin Laden and then get the hell out- it is a shame Bush/Cheney are incapable of doing anything but giving the Pakistani president billions of dollars to not find osama bin laden.
I would suggest you read or watch the entire Obama quote on Pakistan and get your facts straight rather than listening to the propaganda machine Faux News pollute your mind with lies .
By SC Lawyer III on October 8th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Americans for Limited Government and Dick Morris? Really? Fantastic sourcing. Just fantastic.
By DFHS-student on October 8th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Even radical Hamas terrorists have praised him.
“We like Mr. Obama and we hope he will win the election,” Ahmed Yousef, senior Hamas leader was quoted by ABC radio as saying.
YIKES
By local yokel on October 8th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Facts.
1. Barack Obama’s middle name is not Hussein no matter how many time the American Taliban (aka the cult of Christian Fundamentalism repeat) that lie. (I fear that some posters here are of that ilk. *sigh* Living with the endless tiresomeness of these mindless bigots is as much a part of Southern living as chiggers and mosquitoes.)
2. Barack Obama is a Christian. He goes to church not temple or mosque.
3. Sarah Palin is not a “citizen servant” like Mark Sanford.
(Can you imagine our thrifty Gov charging the state of SC per diem for staying in his own home? On the other hand, Gov. Palin would probably get on well with some of our other Republican “conservatives”. Hard to believe that any supporter of Sanford could support a ticket with her on it.)
4. The John McCain that is running for office in 2008 is not the same John McCain who ran in 2000. (He sold his soul to try to win this election and is doing all the nasty things that were done to him. Sad.)
Opinion –
You know who really hates “America”? Pat Hendrix and his fellow “Country Firsters”, that’s who. “America” is its people – ALL its people, not just people of a certain race, sex, religion, whatever. If you truly love your country, you will love its people. If you don’t care for your fellow citizens, then you, My Friend, are not true American, but a member of a special interest group.
By CountryFirster PalinGal on October 9th, 2008 at 8:57 am
All this hatred for conservatives! all this desire to censor conservatives! BE CAREFUL – YOUR FACIST SIDE IS SHOWING!!!
Conservatives are a small part of the McCain/Palin supporters – the rest are moderates – many conservatives don’t like either name on the Rep. ticket.
So let’s apply some Handy-Dandy Political Correctness here:
1) If you don’t like the Rep. ticket because both candidates are white, I get to call you racist (Rev. Wright – friend and spiritual leader for Obama family).
2) Is it because they are Christian? I can call you hate-monger (Militant Muslim extremism – Farakan, also linked with the Obama’s minister ).
3) Is it because you are a murderous psycho anarchist and simply want to cause trouble for the establishment? I can call you a left-wing extemists terrorist (Bill Ayers and his wife – both, unrepentent domestic terrorists and both worked closely and cooperatively with Barak AND Michelle Obama on exteme left youth projects that cost 50 Million tax dollars).
4) Should I dare suggest that you don’t like Palin because she’s woman???? (no, THAT would be below the belt, I suppose).
The bottom line is this —
Obama is a PRODUCT of Bill Ayers and Rev. Wright with a little Muslim Extremism sprinkled in. THERE IS NO WAY he can be good for American – if it looks, smells, and sounds like a socialist extremism, then he probably is – add in his ties to Ayers, that makes him DANGEROUS.
Ask the average well-informed American if they would open a mysterious package with Bill Ayers return address on the label and they would probably throw the package as far as possible and call the Feds!!!!!!
WE NEED TO TOSS OBAMA FAR, FAR AWAY!! He is MORE DANGEROUS than your avergage liberal.
Republicans are very diverse – all sexes, colors, sexual orientation, beliefs, and even political stances – AND PEOPLE ARE BEGINNING TO LISTEN TO THE CONSERVATIVE VOICE – THAT IS WHY YOU HATE US! YOU ARE THE PUBLIC-SCHOOL, LEFTIST-UNIVERSITY ENDOCTRINATED GENERATION AND YOU NEED TO WAKE UP FROM THE IGNORANCE BEFORE IT DESTROYS ALL THE DIVERSITY THAT MAKES AMERICA SO STRONG AND GOOD!!!!!!!!!!
FOR THE LOVE OF FREEDOM —- VOTE AGAINST THE OBAMA/AYERS PLAN!!!
By rick on October 9th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Well said, Country Firster. While all the storm and fury is flowing on sites like this, the problem at its core is most Americans fail to understand that you don’t kill off the part of your society that produces jobs and wealth. I believe that the majority of Hussein supporters fail to understand that you cannot raise taxes on business owners because they just pass those taxes to their customers in the form of raised prices. If you raise the cost of doing business and the business is portable i.e. manufacturing, then that business has the incentive to move elsewhere, i.e. Mexico, China. If the business is service in nature, the owner reduces the number of employees and the benefits they receive. If you mandate small business owners provide health insurance for their employees which hussein says he will, then they must determine how they’ll pay for it and what they have to do to meet the requirement, i.e reduction in employees, other benefits etc. They need to ask themselves why Irelands economy sped up after reducing taxes on companies and why its economical for European companies to build plants in America. (the answer is a skilled, educated workforce and a benefits package quite abit smaller than those required by the Socialist societies of the parent company.)Yea Yea I know, it had little to do with Bill Ayers and SC.
By website design on October 9th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Remember – Bill Ayers isn’t just a professor, he’s tenured.
Keep that in mind when I start blogging about the fun I’ll be having looking for an academic job soon.
If any of you knows someone super rich and conservative looking to start a new school, let me know.
By Debra on October 11th, 2008 at 6:55 am
Worldsfairdesign and other followers of the “Messiah”: Wow… just love the Obamabots trying so hard to help Blowbama brush off yet another “unsavory” radical loon that he claims is “just a guy in the hood” and goes on to get caught up in lies about.
All politicians have them and John has too, but Blowbama’s are endless and you haven’t heard the last of them. Just wait until next week when these names hit the fan (all EXTREMELY DANGEROUS terrorist/racist thugs) Odinga, Khalidi, Al Monsour. And there’s more the next week.
The MSM can’t keep covering his ass by ignoring the stuff and Obama can’t hide it all anymore no matter how hard he tries to sanitize the web. It’s all out there documented in old official newspaper articles from around the globe, videos, newsletters and available on the web. The dam is about to break. Hope it’s in time, but if not… it’s going to be a hoot watching all the MSM, Dems, and Obamabots wiping egg off their faces in the coming months. That is if we are still FREE and lucky enough to have the money to buy eggs.
If people would actually research the guy (outside of the Democrat and Obama websites), they’d be scared. How can anyone even think of voting for a guy with countless socialist/marxist/racist/communist/maoist/radical connections. Trust me… this dude has nothing good in store for us.
OH… AND AS FAR AS CLAIMING THAT AYERS IS NOW “MAINSTREAM AND REPETANT”, YOU REALLY NEED TO DO SOME READING UP. HE IS NOT SORRY IN ANYWAY AND IF YOU READ HIS BOOKS AND ARTICLES, YOU’D KNOW HE DID BELIEVE HE DIDN’T DO ENOUGH BOMBING AND FIGHTING IN THE 60′S/70′S. HE IS STILL OF THE SAME MINDSET AS HE WAS IN THEN TODAY, BUT HAS FIGURED OUT HOW TO USE US TAXPAYERS MONEY TO SPREAD HIS LITTLE REVOLUTION.
By local yokel on October 12th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
CountryFirster Palin Gal, Rick, Debra – I am afraid y’all have drunk the kool-aid and need to be deprogrammed. Didn’t you hear McCain say you don’t have to be afraid of Obama?
At least y’all make good Yankee deterrents ’cause if I wasn’t brought up hearing this kind of raging insanity on a regular basis, I would be concerned. I’m from SC and know it is typical of certain folks. It is historic, even. Cole L. Blease would be so proud of y’all, his spiritual heirs (I learned about him at a public school called USC). : )
BTW CFPG, wasn’t Obama-tossing made illegal in SC?
By C. R. Morse on October 24th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
William Ayers is a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, with whom Barack served on the board of an education-reform organization in the mid-1990’s. According to the Associated Press, they are not close: “No evidence shows they were “pals” or even close when they worked on community boards years ago …” (http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D93KD6Q00&show_article=1)
Smear groups and now the McCain campaign are trying to connect Obama to acts Ayers committed 40 years ago – when Barack was just eight years old. Here’s what the New York Times reported on the connection (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/04/us/politics/04ayers.html)
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.”
Barack has publicly denouncedAyers’ radical actions from the 1960’s (http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/02/obamas_weatherman_connection.html):
Senator Obama strongly condemns the violent actions of the Weathermen group, as he does all acts of violence. But he was an eight-year-old child when Ayers and the Weathermen were active, and any attempt to connect Obama with events of almost forty years ago is ridiculous.