So there is a lot of talk about William Ayers (also known as Bill) these days. Â Bill Ayers was a part of the Weather Underground, a radical organization that fought against the Vietnam War. Â The internet buzz is coming from the fact that Sarah Palin is claiming that Barack Obama pals around with terrorists (ie Ayers). Â Well of course it’s more complicated than that. Â In fact, Ayers is now a professor of education and what he did happened 40 years ago. Â It should also be noted that Ayers turned himself in to the authorities.
I recommend everyone watch the documentary The Weather Underground for some background on the group.
Also, in case you were wondering how ridiculous Sarah Palin’s claims are, head on over to the Huffington Post to watch a clip from The View.
I like Barbara Walters wish the smearing would stop. Â There’s important things to discuss, like healthcare. Read up on each candidates healthcare plan:
takepart to learn what Barack Obama thinks about healthcare
takepart to learn what John McCain thinks about healthcare.
CATEGORIES: Culture, Ethics
Related Posts:
Stay Informed with TakePart:
Get Blog Updates:
Blogroll
- AlterNet
- Amnesty International Livewire
- b-listed
- Boing Boing
- Brave New Films
- CauseCast
- Changents
- Climate Crisis
- Democracy Now!
- Ecorazzi
- EdNews
- Environmental News Network
- Ethicurean
- GOOD
- Grist
- Harvard World Health News
- Huffington Post
- Human Rights Watch
- Inhabitat
- Meatless Monday
- Media Matters
- NewsTrust
- NRDC Switchboard
- Rock The Vote
- SEED Magazine
- SocialVibe
- Sustainablog
- TechPresident
- The Daily Dish
- The Democracy Center
- Think Progress
- TreeHugger
- Truthout
- Why Tuesday?
- Worldchanging
Gina,
If John McCain had even had a cup of coffee with Timothy McVeigh, his campaign would be toast. And I didn’t realize that there exists a statute of limitations on unrepentant domestic terrorism. Good to know that Ayers turned himself in (do you know why, by the way?). Not so good to know that he wished he had bombed more and considered all US citizens as acceptable targets.
It’s a legitimate question that goes to Obama’s character and judgment. Or maybe the NY Times should run a few more front page stories on the pregnancy of Sarah Palin’s daughter? Talk about smearing…
So why would William Ayers, with his Weather Underground history, want to host a young and talented Barack Obama in his house? Aren’t you even curious?
The View as a source of expert opinion on politics? OK:-) I lost all respect for Barbara Walters when she wrote about her affair with Edward Brooke (hey, need a hook to sell a book, so privacy be damned;-)
Francis,
Thanks for your thoughts! In posting The View clip I wanted to point out that both McCain and Obama have met with or had access to etc.. people who are questionable (not that The View is great journalism) I think it is important that at the time Ayers did what he did Obama was 8 years old and since then Ayers has become a contributing member of society (despite his views on what he did). Obama did not meet with the man while he was doing his illegal activities.
But in the end it comes down to the fact that both men has people in their past (and their present) and both sides could use those people to bring up the character of EITHER candidate. It is become of this that we really need to focus on the issues