Obama: Ayers Did What? Huh?

Ayers Did What? Huh?

That's what Barack Obama's campaign wants America to believe -- that he knew nothing about Bill Ayers' anti-American activities as a founder and active, unrepentant member of the Weather Underground.

The mainstream media want you to buy it, too.

The following is the review of CNN's "American Morning" on October 6, 2008:

CNN's John Roberts: "I just want to try to get to the heart of it so that people at home can understand. Our Jim Acosta talked with your senior strategist David Axelrod about this. In 1995, William Ayers held kind of a get-to-know you event at his place where he was introducing Barack Obama to the political culture there in Chicago when he was running for the State Senate for the first time. David Axelrod said that at that meeting Senator Obama was not aware of Ayers' radical background. Is that true?"

Obama Senior Strategist Robert Gibbs: "Look, if that's what David said, that is true. Look, again, this is a relationship, excuse me, that Barack Obama has condemned the actions of Bill Ayers. This is somebody that The New York Times said Barack Obama's not close to, and, again, John, this is a way of distracting the American people from what's important."

It's not a distraction for Americans to find out what Obama knew and when he knew it. It speaks to Obama's judgment and his character.

FACT CHECK: Axelrod Has Said Ayers and Obama Are "Certainly Friendly," And The Obama Campaign Has NEVER BEFORE SAID Obama Didn't Know Ayers' Radical And Violent History -- But Has Referred To Him As "Respected Advisor" To Chicago Mayor

When Politico First Reported On Obama's 1995 Meeting At William Ayers' Home Reportedly Launching His Campaign, The Obama Campaign Never Said He Didn't Know Ayers' Radical History. "In 1995, State Senator Alice Palmer introduced her chosen successor, Barack Obama, to a few of the district's influential liberals at the home of two well known figures on the local left: William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. While Ayers and Dohrn may be thought of in Hyde Park as local activists, they're better known nationally as two of the most notorious -- and unrepentant -- figures from the violent fringe of the 1960s anti-war movement. ... I can remember being one of a small group of people who came to Bill Ayers' house to learn that Alice Palmer was stepping down from the senate and running for Congress,' said Dr. Quentin Young, a prominent Chicago physician and advocate for single-payer health care, of the informal gathering at the home of Ayers and his wife, Dohrn. [Palmer] identified [Obama] as her successor.' Obama's campaign dismisses the notion that his relationship with Ayers should be seen through the lens of the latter's violent past, or his present lack of regret for the bombings. ... He described Ayers as a professor of education at the University of Illinois-Chicago and a former aide to Mayor Richard J. Daley,' referring to printed reports that he had "advised" Daley on school reform. Dr. Young and another guest, Maria Warren, described it similarly: as an introduction to Hyde Park liberals of the handpicked successor to Palmer, a well-regarded figure on the left. When I first met Barack Obama, he was giving a standard, innocuous little talk in the living room of those two legends-in-their-own-minds, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn,' Warren wrote on her blog in 2005. They were launching him -- introducing him to the Hyde Park community as the best thing since sliced bread.'" (Ben Smith, "Obama Once Visited 60s Radicals," The Politico, 1/22/08)

When Senator Hillary Clinton Made Similar Attack, Obama Campaign NEVER Made Argument That He Didn't Know About Obama's Radical And Violent Past. (Obama For America, "Fact Check On Obama And Ayers, factcheck.barackobama.com, 4/17/08)

Obama Campaign Argued That Ayers Was "Respected Advisor" To Chicago Mayor Daley, And That "Charges Against Ayers Were Dropped And He Served No Time." (Obama For America, "Fact Check On Obama And Ayers, factcheck.barackobama.com, 4/17/08)

Axelrod Has Previously Said Obama And Ayers Are "Certainly Friendly." AXELROD: "They're certainly friendly, they know each other, as anyone whose kids go to school together." (Ben Smith, "Ax On Ayers," www.politico.com, 2/26/08)

Two Years After Meeting Ayers, Obama Published "Rave Review" Of Ayers' Book In The Chicago Tribune, And Jointly Appeared On Academic Panels Together. "The two men were involved in efforts to reform the city's education system. They appeared together on academic panels, including one organized by Michelle Obama to discuss the juvenile justice system, an area of mutual concern. Mr. Ayers's book on the subject won a rave review in The Chicago Tribune by Mr. Obama, who called it a searing and timely account.'" (Jo Becker and Christopher Drew, "Pragmatic Politics, Forged On The South Side," The New York Times, 5/11/08)

Clearly, the Obama campaign is really floundering on this one.

The lib media are doing their best to cover for Obama, but the facts are the facts. On the record statements can't be removed from the record.

(Unless you're Russ Feingold and you're talking about infanticide and you have the Congressional Record altered in an effort to expunge traces of your extremism. Of course, the infanticide thing is also a problem for Obama, but back to his Ayers problem for now.)

Power Line asks: "What Did Barack Obama Know, and When Did He Know It?"

Sarah Palin's calling out of Barack Obama over the Bill Ayers connection has finally caused some mainstream outlets to report the story (albeit generally in misleading fashion) and has compelled the Obama campaign to respond. That response is surprising, to say the least: Obama now claims that he didn't know about Bill Ayers' terrorist past through all the years when he worked with Ayers in Chicago!

...This strikes me as a rather stunning development. Obama appears to be admitting that if he knew about Ayers' terrorist history, and the fact that he still takes pride in that history and despises America, it would be an error in judgment to form a close association with him.

But it is inconceivable that Barack Obama knew Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn well enough to kick off his first political campaign in their living room, but didn't know that Ayers and Dohrn were Communists who led the Weatherman faction of SDS, urged young people to "kill your parents," carried out approximately 30 bombings, including New York City's police headquarters, the Capitol and the Pentagon, celebrated the Charles Manson murders, spent years living underground to avoid criminal prosecution, and continued to express their lifelong hatred for the United States in books, magazine articles, and public speeches. This is rather like a person claiming that he had worked closely with Arnold Schwarzenegger for years, but had no idea that he was once a bodybuilder and movie actor. Ayers' and Dohrn's radical past is their only claim to fame.

There must be a great many people who can attest that Obama was well aware of Ayers' and Dohrn's history. It will be interesting to see whether any of them are willing to blow the whistle on Obama's latest evasion.

It is inconceivable that Obama was so clueless that he didn't know about Ayers and his war on America. Nonetheless, I don't expect anyone to blow the whistle on Obama's latest evasion.

And I certainly don't expect the lib media to press the issue.

Instead, they're focusing on the "desperation" of the McCain campaign to raise the issue of Ayers.

That's the spin, and it's remarkably lame.

I fail to see how revealing the truth and exposing lies being put forth by the Obama campaign is irrelevant to this election.