Bill Ayers NY Times Editorial: I Was "Asked To Play A Role In A Profoundly Dishonest Drama"

In the recently concluded presidential race, I was unwillingly thrust upon the stage and asked to play a role in a profoundly dishonest drama. I refused, and here's why.

Unable to challenge the content of Barack Obama's campaign, his opponents invented a narrative about a young politician who emerged from nowhere, a man of charm, intelligence and skill, but with an exotic background and a strange name. The refrain was a question: "What do we really know about this man?"

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[miamia]

I heard this man set a trash can on fire in a bath room. Is this true?

What type of bombing took place?

Where are details of the actual event?

[ozwald888]

This OpEd was in answer to MONTHS of lies, hate-speak, obsification and outright nonsense. Mr Ayers is right, he was used by some of the most corrupt, unethical and uniformed politicians ever to attempt to inflict themselves upon the American people.

Mr Ayers proved that not only is he smarter than the mccain/palin team of liars, he was more of a REAL American than any of those who screeched incessantly about Mr Obama's "Associations". He did this by simply staying away from the limelight.

In doing this, Mr Ayers allowed the American people to see for themselves how ineffectual the lies about him were by just letting people like palin, hannity, limbaugh et al, drone on without substance, or logic in their un-American attempt at guilt by association. Just like Joe McCarthy did in the 1950s. It was un-American then, it was proven so again in 2008.

Thanks to the patriotism and good sense shown by Mr Ayers, our nation will have President Obama representing us all on January 20, 2009 and for 4 years following. He proved himself to be a better person than those who maligned him and who still slander his name.

[Ramirez]

On the other hand, Ayers did participate in the bombings of New York City Police Headquarters in 1970, the United States Capitol building in 1971, and The Pentagon in 1972, as he boasted in his 2001 book, "Fugitive Days".

[miamia]

What was the nature of the actual event?

You describe them as bombings, I thought they exploded a toilet in a bathroom.

[Tom Joad]

This article is not the bile-spitting rhetoric of an unrepentant terrorist. Another myth of The Republiban exploded.

[Ramirez]

THE BANNER OF CHE

The only path to the final defeat of imperialism and the building of socialism is revolutionary war.

Revolutionary war will be complicated and protracted. It includes mass struggle and clandestine struggle, peaceful and violent, political and economic, cultural and military, where all forms are developed in harmony with the armed struggle.

Without mass struggle there can be no revolution.

Without armed struggle there can be no victory.

*****
Excerpted from "Prairie Fire: The Politics of Revolutionary Anti-Imperialism", written and published in 1974 by William Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn and other members of the Weather Underground.

[Tom Joad]

"The oppressed should rebel, and they will continue to rebel and raise disturbance until their civil rights are fully restored to them and all partial distinctions, exclusions and incapacitations are removed."

"When patience has begotten false estimates of its motives, when wrongs are pressed because it is believed they will be borne, resistance becomes morality."

"Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God."

--Thomas Jefferson

[rockyb26]

Repubs h8 Ayers not just b/c of the his anti-war endeavors, but mostly because of he and his wife's support for the civil rights movement. They tried to launch investigations into suspicious de@ths of black panthers and other black leaders. they participated in sit-ins, and voting rights protests. seems hard to believe now, but even mlk was considered to be a c0m.munist agitator and was on the FBI watch list. now that it's 2008, it would be tacky to raise these issues, so they're running with the vietnam protests as if that was what really angered people about him and his wife. it definitely played a role, but the civil rights stuff was equally important.

[chappelforpres]

Notice how the over 3 MILLION Vietnamese dead are conveniently forgotten, when proponents of that hell hole assert America's inevitable need to preempt a Communist sweep of Indochina?

It also fails to account for the countless other Vietnamese lives lost wrestling control away from France, Japan, France (again) and even Communist China in the years leading up to, and following, our vain glorious attempt.

Ayer's misguided actions? "Much ado about nothing" in the tragic historical wake....

[BLinCincinnati]

Yeah, they never list the dead on the other side in the US media or even history books. Maybe a brief listing but never do they try to explain how big that number is.

3 Million dead in Vietnam at that time was 8.3% of their entire population at that time. To give that perspective... that would be equivalent to the combined population of Pennsylvania and Illiniois, or the entire population of Texas.

[rockyb26]

not sure about your numbers. there are 4 million people in the city of Houston alone.

[lovable]

the ayers drama was invented . true he was a home grown terrorist but he should never have been made the type of association as HANNITY INVENTED .

sarah palin ould never admitt that bombing an abortion clinic was terrorism also. the media never made her answer or mccain answer . they were to bust marveling at her cutness and 150 k in clothes.

[Digeeedad]

The ONE person who claimed sole ownership of "outing" Ayers and Obama's "association" with him was Sean Hannity. Over and over he pushed his "guilt by association" campaigns, always pointing out that HE was the one who brought these "associations" to light!

Hannity begged McCain/Palin in an interview with him to "start attacking Obama on these associations". They did so, using Hannity's exact talking point phrases and their populatity nosedived!

I often visit the Hannity website forum "Washington Politics" http://forums.hannity.com/ Hannity on his radio and TV programs encourages his audience to visit his website and forums. A visit to this forum is a shocking example of the conservative base that Hannity encourages with his hate-filled propaganda.

A recent topic had a poster encouraging other forum members to "chill out with the hate rhetoric and see how Obama does, while watching him like a hawk".

One of Hannity's Forum MODERATORs chimed in with this reply re: Obama...

"Sorry.... he is a Filthy Racist Marxist Pig.... I refuse to wish him well or wish him success. I continue to fight to protect America from enemies of this Republic and our Constitution. He is one of them."

Hannity who is sponsered by ABC, Disney and Fox is NOT a "Great American"!

[alieninvader]

Hannity is nothing but h@te. I am a defender of the first amendment, almost no matter what, but... No, I still defend the first amendment. But bring back the Fairness Doctrine!!!!!!

[MargaretO]

The Hannity groupies need to protect themselves from themselves. What a bunch.

[Ramirez]

You'd never read language like that here on HuffPo.

[mirage2008]

Obama/Ayers 2012!!!

[theMightyT]

i didn't really know anything about Ayers until i read this article (you can't count what you hear or read on Fox, because they're ridiculously amateur h8mongers)

Having said that, i must confess after reading his article i'm now a fan.

Well reasoned, articulate, compassionate and broad minded.

Sounds like a typical liberal to me.

[Bendersky]

The word "terrorist" was bandied about too much during the campaign and in people's comments here as well. It reminds me of when Reagan started calling the Contras--drug sellers and true terrorists in their own country--"heroes." It cheapened and distorted the word immensely, and suddenly we were calling people like Oiliver North and El Salvadorean death squad members heroes and "freedom fighters." For eight years Bush has been calling anyone that agrees with him a hero.

Since the Iraqi war began, Vietnam has been rehabilitated by the right, like it was suddenly a "just war" that we should have won. For the last 25-30 years it has been acknowledged to be our failure and our shame. Ayers saw it as a time for radical measures as the government seemed not to be listening. He was erroneous in his choice of expression, but the only reason we haven't seen that level of radicalism during Bush's illegal little war is because there has been no draft. If one were to add the draft to the mix, this country would have been up in arms years ago and anything Ayers did would have paled in comparison.

[alieninvader]

Excellent post!

[PrairieDog]

McCain & Gov. Mooseburger lied through their teeth when they refered to Ayers as a terrorist. But then the right wing has referred to teachers' unions and environmentalists as terrorists. The words mean nothing when it comes from their lips. The same lips who lied to Americans to terrorize them to sent their sons & daughters to war in Iraq for a pack of lies. The terrorists & the traitors have occupied the White House for the last 8 years. They are responsible for more American deaths than those who hijacked the planes on Sept. 11. And they deserve a traitor's justice.

[Enlightened22]

For me, he still comes short of redeeming himself. Violence never brought violence to an end. Extremism and self-righteousness never brought understanding to the world. This guy still tries to defend his actions, arguing that the war was even more terrible.
His reflections about Obama and guilt by associations are on the mark though.

[Brandyceebee]

That actually is not true. the Underground's tactics probably did help to end the war sooner, arther than later, which could have went into the 80s.

Also, the Zapatistas in Mexico arm themselves as protection from corporate land theft. Because of this, the WSF does not allow them to participate in their annual summits. A huge loss to us all.

[Zenfull]

The Weather Underground and other violent groups (like the totally irrelevant SLA and other violent anarchists) of the 70's were truly a splinter group not popularly supported by the anti-war movement. The aims of Nixon and J.Edgar Hoover were more easily accomplished as a result of the splitting of the anti-war movement into violent and non-violent sections by the Weather Underground and the FBI could easily use agent provacateurs to incite violence, drug use, and dissention within the US progressive movement. This, in my opinion, weakened the anti-war movement and prolonged the war, not the opposite.

[BSERIUS]

But you also "played a role in a despicable terrorist actions that cost people's lives and damaged property in your own perverted logic

[j0em0mma]

As a matter of fact, he said he did not participate in actions that injured or targeted people. Quote:

"We did carry out symbolic acts of extreme vandalism directed at monuments to war and racism, and the attacks on property, never on people, were meant to respect human life and convey outrage and determination to end the Vietnam war."

There is nothing linking him to actions against others that cost lives. Try and wrap your head around the fact that you the era of bald face ly.ing is coming to an end. Facts are a matter of record, not belief.

[Geranium]

BALD face lying?

BTW, when someone actively participates in bomb building and bomb throwing in public places, now matter what time of day, that person could never be absolutely certain that nobody would be hurt or killed. Kinda seems a little to risky.

[hardybear]

I have no issue with Ayers now, or earlier when he was employed as
a battering ram by the likes of Hannity. In fact I have a nostalgia for
sixties protesters that colors my opinion.

Being purely objective, however, the term "extreme vandalism"
doesn't seem terribly accurate.

[Shashi0224]

You should learn the facts before you write. Stop listening to FOX 'news' and Sean Insanity. They repeat lies until uninformed take it as truth. Don't fall for their crap.

[AdamAnt12]

The progressives CONTINUE to defend this guy. And then they try and spin it by saying things like Timothy McVey was a conservative or the a b o r t i o n c l i n i c b o m b e r was a republican. Untrue. However, even if these w a c k jobs WERE republican, I do not see any republicans d e f e n d i n g them!!! Or conservatives. The progressives are crawling over each other to d e f e n d Ayers, and that is one of the many travesties in this whole thing!!

Wake up, progressives, you look awfully foolish...choose your b a t t l e s better!!

[liberalrebuttal]

They are not progressives defending him. They are White Liberal Baby Boomers who have a unique perspective as they were there while the rest of us were not.

Get it right.

[StillIRise]

Some of us - who do not condone Ayer's destructive actions forty years ago but defend him today - are also BLACK baby boomers who were there, and who protested the atrocious war in Vietnam as actively and as fervently as many others of our generation.

[estreya]

Was it not Palin who refused to characterize a b o r t i o n c l i n i c b o m b e r s as terrorists?

[alieninvader]

I call someone who is pro-g un, anti-tax and anti-@b ortion a conservative. We aren't all defending "this guy", but there are much bigger fish to fry in the ter r orist scheme of things. Nine eleven has gone largely unpunished. I believe that Sarah P actually said that she wasn't sure that @b ortion clinic b om bers were terrorists. Isn't that defending them?

[Brandyceebee]

He killed no one. You should be angry at the fact that the Vietnamese are still suffering thanks to the US.

[theMightyT]

ah the irony... considering the damage Bush and his administration have done, Ayers looks like a choir boy by comparison.

your fake outrage is amusing...

[HumeSkeptic]

"Demonization, guilt by association, and the politics of fear did not triumph, not this time."
------------
And Bill Ayers helped us achieve that by his thoughtful approach of not throwing back the f!lth thrown at him by despicable caharacters such as Hannity.

We should all be grateful to Professor Ayers.
.

[Geranium]

Lets all bow our little heads in thanks to professor Ayers.

The coming generations of little children will grow up nicely indoctrinated, not educated.
Thank you for choosing Cuba and Venezuela as your educational role models, mr ayers.

[Wiserone]

No matter how much Hannity tried and is still trying to have Ayers respond in kind, (vicious attacks) it just never happened and never will. Now, when Hannity goes on and on about Ayers, he sounds more than just foolish. He sounds just like what he is, a "high school graduate" with very little historical depth.

[kjstjohn]

Grateful to someone who helped to demonize the peace movement and possibly to prolong the war? I share Ayers' own views about his errors in judgment. I am not hostile towards him and I wish him no harm but I am not grateful.

[AbstractImp]

Thank you, William Ayers.
Sometimes, the hero is the one who does not act.

[BSERIUS]

Ayers did act and acted despicably.. To call him a hero would be akin to calling an abortion clinic bomber a hero.