Bill Ayers On Hardball: Calls Accusations "Profoundly Dishonest" (VIDEO)

"I don't tend to watch television news...I have three grown sons who kind of filter those things and they sent it to me."

That's Bill Ayers, making an appearance this evening on Hardball, with Chris Matthews. Once of the Weather Underground, Ayers was more recently a central figure in the vast booga-foo nightmare that the GOP tried to paralyze the nation with to prevent the election of Barack Obama, because they didn't have any ideas or policies they wanted to talk about instead. I guess. I mean, such things could have been useful to a presidential campaign or something! Anyway, instead, we had loud braying about how Obama and Ayers might have met at some point, and Obama's failure to strike Ayers down in cold blood for his crimes was proof that they were in cahoots with one another. Or, in the parlance of Alaska Secessionists, "pallin' around."

Asked about his reaction to Palin's "palling around with terrorists remark, Ayers said: "I thought it was outrageous and profoundly dishonest, and I chose not to react to it at the time."

Ayers added, "I was on a board with President-Elect Obama, we did live in the same neighborhood, but the dishonesty of the narrative is that if you can place two people in the same room or prove that they took a bus downtown together, that they're somehow responsible for one anothers politics, policies, outlook, and behavior, and that seems to me to be patently absurd."

Matthews, along the way, talks about supposed Weather Underground targets like the Pentagon and the Capitol building having special "resonance" because they were hit on 9/11. I know, I know...unlike the Weather Underground, al Qaeda did not furnish evacuation warnings in advance of their attacks. Also, despite what Chris Matthews thinks, the Capitol Building was actually NOT ATTACKED ON 9/11.

Of those bombings, Ayers says, "I don't defend those actions...what I try to do in Fugitive Days is try to understand how this young man...in that context could find himself in these extreme positions." Lots of passive voice in the description, huh? "I think we made enormous mistakes," Ayers says, adding, "I think there were terrible things done." Ayers goes on to say he favors a sort of "truth and reconciliation" moment where everyone comes clean about what they did during the Vietnam War. Somehow I think Robert McNamara isn't going to see eye to eye with this concept.

"I don't want to defend what we did, nor do I think it was completely insane," Ayers says. Matthews remembers some demonstrations and some activism from the period, that he felt was more effective than bombing. What is it that distinguishes a protesting assemblage from a cabal of bombers? Desperation borne of solitude, perhaps. I'm tempted to say: the sort of narcissism that inspires a man to make sure the first thing he says to a TV newsman is that he doesn't watch television news.

For what it's worth, Chris Matthews' judgment was that Bill Ayers was a changed man. Make of that what you will.

[WATCH.]

Comments

[GeorgeKaplan]

Censorship is a sin.

[rock2casbah]

Looks like you Jason are making a lot of judgements for us.

[argent1]

If I had to choose who to hang first - Ayers or G. Gordon Liddy I would be afraid to choose Liddy because he would get a presidential pardon. Then I wouldn't hang Ayers at all, because my recollection of the times of yore are very vivid with the state sponsored tyranny/terror of the Nixon administration.

[klandish]

It's amazing how unaware most of these posters are. You nailed it.

[iranter]

with the logic of the above if we leave osama alone for a years then he will be a changed man for the good. so let's leave him alone and check in on him in 22.5 years.

[eden4barack08]

You're effing kidding, right?? The man killed 3000+ in just ONE of his crimes! How can you make such a ludicrous equation? Have you no decency? No respect for human life? Shame on you!

[vippy]

I like Ayers from what I hear, he did protest against the war in Vietnam, 58,000 innocent people died on our side, and for what. I hail him! He had more guts than me.

[iranter]

13,000 people DIED last year from drinking and then driving.

In the time the Vietnam war raged that means 195,000 "innocent people died on our side". Who do you hail?

[argent1]

a cab -

[KrystynM]

yet there's no war on alcohol in this country now is there? Interesting....

[amantell]

Having been born in the early 1970s, I'm not in a position to judge the full fury of opposition to the Vietnam War. But I would say that Ayers' position is a moral cop-out. Planting bombs and jeopardizing the safety of others is addressing wrongs with more wrongs. Doing so is an act of ethical failure hidden in sanctimony to claim the greater good. Ayers should have used political means to protest the Vietnam War, not violent ones.

[californiadreamer]

Ayers seems to be trying to sell a book. Nothing wrong with that except this kind of crass commercialism seems incongruous with his stated positions. Back in the 60's many of us thought of the Weather Underground as immature romantics who saw revolution as so exciting thing to do. As has been posted already, it was about to get very real with pipe bombs full of nails being constructed. Believe me, had that plan been carried out, the government would have come down hard and homeland security would have been created way back when. Ayers was lucky not to be killed with his friends. Even the Brinks robbery a few years later had an element of hypocrisy--robbing money to support a cause, but I am sure that the money would have been spent in a capitalist manner. The father of the child raised by Ayers will never get out of jail, but you must be prepared for the consequences of your actions in support of your beliefs. I think the non-violent actions and protests did help to end the war because many Americans could join them. Those who acted violently because of romantic ideals should not be treated with respect or admiration. Ayers has blood on his hands, that of his friends who he conspired with to make bombs.

[argent1]

How many peaceful protesters got their heads cracked, tear gassed, shot?

[eden4barack08]

Yours is a very thoughtful comment, much appreciated.

IMHO what appears to be "respect and admiration" for Ayers, comes mostly from having to defend him, not necessarily specifically, but the entire Vietnam, 60's, radical era, against the unjust, uber-exaggerated criminalization by the right wing propaganda, especially during the campaign. If he hadn't been used so dishonestly to bring down O'bama, I doubt anybody would even remember him, much less "defend" him. The right should stop using this one man, to rehash an entire era, where the biggest crimes where actually perpetrated by them, and act like they were the angels of the time.

I have no doubt that Ayers is very aware and does not forget the blood of his friends, I condemn those acts, but I do commend him for picking up his life, after being a fugitive, raising a family, becoming a contributing member of society, and generally living a peaceful life.

[hoham]

Does Ayers remember the blood of the three Brinks Truck guards who died in a Weatherman attack in the 1980's?

[californiadreamer]

The Sixties were tough times for young men who faced the draft but who opposed the war. I spent many years in exile and friends of mine went to jail. In Paris in 1969 I was invited to a fundraiser for the Vietnamese National Liberation Front. The young men and women who performed a patriotic song about going to fight in the South showed me their courage and determination. They were willing to die for their country. There are jyoung men and women in Afganistan today who are willing to put on an explosive vest. Obama should learn the lesson of history and make smart decisions. Going after terrorists is one thing; occupying another country is a recipe for disaster.

[drvck70]

I'm not very pleased with our standing in the world, nor the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan, but it has not one time dawned on me to load up a pipe bomb with roofing nails and plant it at some dance hall attended by returning veterans of Iraq, or in an Attorney Generals office whom I don't agree with, or a police station because I'm ticked at one particular officer, I suggest some of you pick your idols more carefully.

[hoham]

Cathleen -- Try holding two opposing thoughts in your mind at the same time. The Vietnam War was despicable. The Weather Underground was despicable. Many historians believe the radical wing of the protest movement PROLONGED the war. You can be ultraliberal (as I am) and still despise William Ayers. And to other commentator, he didn't go to jail because of legal mishaps on the part of the prosecution. Also, his family is a very well-to-do part of the Chicago establishment.

[klandish]

I do not believe the radicle wing of the protest movement prolonged the war. If they did it just shows how intrenched in reactive/defensive mode the leaders really are. Leaders are elected to make good decisions independent of their ego's not because of them. To blame even radicle protesters is to forget how they became that way.

[hoham]

radical. entrenched. egos. It's your right to believe what you want about such horrible acts; still many historians would disagree.

[ricehq]

There were many of us that DID learn from the Vietnam experience. We didn't buy into the pre-emptive strike propaganda that the Bush administration used to mislead the rest of America. In 2003, there were millions of us who returned (from the 60's) to march in the streets to protest the Iraq war.

What is unfortunate is that it took an additional five years of the most inept, corrupt, leadership to convince the majority of Americans to reject the policies of the Bush administration.

[NYCIC]

"the sort of narcissism that inspires a man to make sure the first thing he says to a TV newsman is that he doesn't watch television news."

Ayers doesn't watch the idiot box, Q'l'Horreur! What's your problem with that, Linkins?

[hoham]

Why didn't Mathews ask Ayers about the pipe bomb his girlfriend and Weather Underground pals were building in that NYC townhouse? That bomb was going to be planted in a room full of army officers. It was designed to do a great deal of physical damage. Also what about the Brinks Truck robbery? Three men were killed. Did Ayers ever wonder what happened to those men's families? Ayers is a smug narcissist.

[cathleen]

Come on Ayers was trying to put a stop to a bloody "cheney'd" war that the U.S. was conducting in Vietnam. Millions of innocent people were massacred. While his methods were questionable let's be real here...his actions caused far far less harm than what our country did to the country and people of Vietnam. Far Far less

Oh I know your answer the U.S. is the best "we're number one" we can do no harm the U.s. only wants to help... Your a Christian or some other hogwash.

Millions of innocent Vietnamese people were slaughtered by U.S. forces in that illegal and immoral war....Ayers was trying to stop it

[04trojan]

LOL, is this Sean Penn? Gotta love the whole "person A isn't really bad because person B is worse" argument. Of course Ayers isn't bad because he was trying to stop a war by trying to hurt, maim and kill others. Right?

"His methods were questionable." Yes, lets be real here, you really need help if you think bombing, killing and destroying is simply questionable. But hey, he only did a lil of that compared to the US. Of course, his amount of damage compared to say, myself, is 100% more. So I guess, he is super evil compared to me then.

It is one thing to talk about protesting wars and government actions, but it is a separate and different evil when you take it to a place where you actually kill innocent people in protest. And it cannot be explained away by saying that someone else doing worse. You have to answer for your own actions.

[LeBeau59741]

Ayers and his wife had turned themselves in before that Brinks heist- they had no role at all in that shameful act, though they did take in and raise the child of two of those who were imprisoned for that crime.
The child went on to become a Rhodes Scholar.

[dashboard]

Clearly the largest non-story of the year. YAWN

[Peachie49]

Why not round up the National Guardsmen that shot down and murdered the student protestors at Kent State? How about the Police who murdered student protestors at SC State? Why not have them appear on television and tell why they murdered these students? Wonder who these persons "pal" around with now? Why no interest in exposing them?

[BubbaC33]

What others did has no bearing on actions taken by Ayers. When one stands before G*d to explain their life saying I was better than someone else will not work. Individual responsibility is much more important, trying to justify actions by comparing them to others is dishonest.

[chaos4700]

If that's true, then /you/ have no place criticizing Ayers. Judgment is supposed to be God's job. According to you.

[mathme]

YES IT DOES! That's why he and the weathermen felt it was necessary to take violent action against the government. You can't look at what went on at those times as isolated cells of activity. Actions, on both sides, have consequences.

[eden4barack08]

It helps to frame the kind of violent era the young were growing up in.

[InLosAngeles]

It is always interesting when a posting is a about someone like Ayers or Blago. You really find out a lot about your fellow travellers in the Huffpo community.

[klandish]

And?