Ayers: "Pal around together? What does that mean? Share a milkshake with two straws?"

[BurtWorm]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/04/AR2008110404171.html?nav=rss_politics


'PAL AROUND TOGETHER? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?'
Ayers Decries GOP Tactics, Says He Is Not Close to Obama


Former radical William Ayers became an anti-Obama symbol for Sen. John McCain. (By Peter Slevin -- The Washington Post)

By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 5, 2008; Page A32

CHICAGO, Nov. 4 -- William Ayers, the former Weather Underground leader who became an issue in the 2008 campaign, said Tuesday that he is not close to Sen. Barack Obama and that Obama's opponents had turned him into "a cartoon character."

Ayers, an author and education professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said he thought the accusation by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin that Obama had been "palling around with terrorists" was absurd.

"Pal around together? What does that mean? Share a milkshake with two straws?" Ayers said in his first interview since the controversy began. "I think my relationship with Obama was probably like thousands of others in Chicago. And, like millions and millions of others, I wish I knew him better."

Republicans have tried to make Ayers into Obama's Willie Horton. A mug shot from Ayers's anti-Vietnam War days appeared in campaign advertisements across the country. The story of his radical past, as told by his critics, is a cable television fixture.

Yet Ayers, 64, said he does not "feel very victimized." Although he declined media interviews and received hate mail, he continued to teach and write, postponing the release of a book because of the controversy.

"I didn't do anything. It's all guilt by association. They made me into a cartoon character; they threw me up on stage just to pummel me," Ayers said. "I felt from the beginning that the Obama campaign had to run the campaign and I had to run my life."

Although Ayers served with Obama on the boards of two foundations, he said he had no contact with the Obama campaign. "That's not my world," he said.


...

[leftofcool]

1. I expect we will hear a lot more from him now

[BurtWorm]

3. That would not be a bad thing.

More of Ayers would steal the right's thunder. People will see he's just an old hippie, like half of Americans his age.

[LisaL]

6. I don't want to hear from him.

I still don't understand why he was not put on trial.

[YOY]

10. I don't think we will.

He said what he wanted at a time when little spin can be taken on it. He knows that. He doesn't like the spotlight.

[bunkerbuster1]

13. If you understood the extra-Constitutional methods the Justice dept. used to obtain evidence

then you'd understand why he was not put on trial.

[scarletwoman]

24. Were you around in the 60s? Do you have any idea what it was like back then?

If your answer is "no", then you ought to stfu. Ayers never killed anyone, the Weather Underground went to great lengths to make sure no people were hurt. You think the last 8 years have been bad? You have no idea what it was like to be a dissenter in the 60s -- dissenters got KILLED.

There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all! Mario Savio 1964

I'll root for Ayers any day.

sw

[Thorandmjolnir]

25. He was not put on trial

because the prosecution screwed up. Or rather the FBI did. With illegal wiretaps, illegal searches and a whole lot of other prosecutorial misconduct. The Judge basically threw out the case, because most of the evidence the Government had against him was tainted and thus not admissible at trial.

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[BurtWorm]

27. Yeeeehaw!

Howdy, son! Take off yer shoes and set a spell!

:hi:

[ecstatic]

2. lol @ his shirt :) nt

[AspenRose]

5. Right....

THAT's going to go over well with the Freeps. :rofl:

[lurky]

11. That's genius!

I would have figured him for more of a Huey kind-of-guy, though...

I love how he just made all the newspapers in America blur out the image on his shirt.

:rofl::rofl:

[NightHawk63]

4. Damn...I love that T-shirt.

Riley flipping the bird!

:)

[YOY]

7. I'd prefer Huey doing the same personally!

n/t

[CatBO]

8. Contrast this guy with Attention Whore the Plumber...

Ayers kept out of it, and I respect him for that. He was dragged into this, and it was a shame. His response was fitting, and well-delivered.

[BurtWorm]

9. Excellent observation.

:thumbsup:

[ecstatic]

17. I'm so glad he waited until after the election to talk. LOL nt

[navarth]

18. Attention Whore the Plumber LOL !! Well crafted, friend

May I borrow that?

[CatBO]

20. Oh yes please!

Always happy to come up with a new, insulting moniker. :D

[genna]

12. Love his shirt. Love that he held his fire until it would not splash back on Obama.

But I think these play villains the MSM and Republicans dug up need to come out and kick both in their knees.

Joe the Plumber asked a question then rolled it up into a future career. I know a lot of people hate the prototype especially when he doesn't make any money and he is woefully ignorant of policy BUT I AM AGGRAVATED to see his personal business aired like he is a public figure negotiating policy.

If the MSM wants to take a public figure like Tom DeLay down, cool...he ran for office. But Joe Schmoe the guy who is unlicensed fixing the toilet or the 1960s guy who has flies right now or even the Sunday Pastor who says stuff that scares people on the right (haven't Sunday pastors on the right been scaring folks on the left for years)...what do any of them have to do with whether or not Obama could actually run the government?

[Jennicut]

14. This is funny, the man barely knew Obama.

Stupid Rethugs.

[navarth]

15. I think I would be proud to 'pal around' with this man.

He's got a wonderful wit, as evidenced by the 'two straws' comment (LOL).

And he's got plenty of reason to be pissed off, but is showning class about it.

It's a curious coincidence: during this camapign I just happened to read "Soon To Be A Major Motion Picture" by Abbie Hoffmann. Great read, btw. His comments regarding Ayers impressed me far more than the hogwash that Sarah Palin put forth.

Yep. I'd pal around with this brother anytime.

And the T Shirt ain't bad, either.

[Alhena]

21. Has Ayers said why he dedicated his 1974 book to Sirhan Sirhan?

Have a hard time forgiving that.

[Alhena]

22. Has Ayers said why he dedicated his 1974 book to Sirhan Sirhan?

Have a hard time forgiving that.

[kenny blankenship]

16. Friendship rings.

[AlCzervik]

19. Huey!

[Window]

23. K/R.

:kick:

[Clio the Leo]

28. Thanks Bill for holding your tongue all this time!

I know it must have been hard but he kept his mouth shut until it was safe to speak.

Something Rev. Wright chose not to do.