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

[breakingpoint]

I saw the documentary, Alliance Weather Underground was very interesting.
Worth watching.

[NoCorporatePersonhood]

I saw that movie way before Ayers name came up during the election and felt fortunate that I knew the real story and wasn't sucked into that propaganda. Good flick.

[breakingpoint]

Spread it around, very educational

[jonolennon]

I commend Bill Ayers for taking a stand. Groups like SDS and Ayers' Weathermen helped bring about the end to a horrific and unjust war in Viet Nam. This passion has seemed to fade and disappear from our present college campuses.

[VikingQuest]

Very sad . . .

[innerpeace]

They had nothing to do with ending the war.Protests ended several years before the war did.In fact,people like Ayers did great harm to anti war movement.

[Diogenes08]

The Weather bombings ended years before, but NOT the protests. If it weren't for feet on the ground, people in the streets, we'd still be in Viet Nam! It is true that VIOLENT protest hurt the cause, but Ghandian non-violence carried the day.

[Cinnamonape]

Hmm. That depends on when you mean the war ended, I guess. There were massive protests after the X'mas bombings and Cambodia incursions in '72, a long with the Major Moratorium in Fall '72. Nixon ended the draft in Spring '73. The drawdown had already begun.

And the Peace Accords were signed soon thereafter.

But I guess one could argue that the War continued until 1975 or 76...when the South fell. But except for a small US contingent protecting the embassy and a few "diplomatic" institutions the US was out by then.

[Cinnamonape]

The issue of whether a people can really accomplish political change without some involved shifting to violence is a contentious one. Even Ghandi knew that most people were not capable of the discipline of satyagraha, and he suspended his struggles several times, before acquiescing to a position that Satyagraha was the "True Way" but that the struggle should not be ended if either side engages in violence.

In fact, the first satyagraha was undertaken to protest the Rowlatt Acts~ Anti-Terrorism Acts of the British Raj.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowlatt_Acts

These were used to arrest anyone who was organizing a change in regime or British policies because it "might" result in violence.

[cathleen]

Ayers is intelligent articulate and right on. The methods he chose to use may have gone over the top but his intentions to stop the bloody, immoral genocide that was taking place in Vietnam was spot on. Thank you Bill Ayers for your dedication to stop the killing in Vietnam

[HumeSkeptic]

I agree. Even if it is argued that they didn't actually help end the war, they at least struggled. Their cause was just.
I would much rather have people who try but fail, than those who either don't try or side with the warmongers and oppressors.

[ahumbleopinion]

There would be plenty of passion today if we still had the draft.

[DaveC19]

I don't think this guy sounded like a monster. He did some bad things but all in all he sounded pretty sane.

You have to know how it was at the time. The big difference between now and then is that now there is no draft. Back then any male 18 YO could be plucked from their life and family and be sent to die in an illegitimate war. If the situation was the same today I think we would see similar acts.

[TheWanderer]

To hell with your narcissism remark. I don't own a TV and haven't watched it in at least ten years. I stay in touch with the world the old-fashioned way; I go out into it - walks, bike rides, movies, bookstores, walking the UC Campus - do I really even have to describe the richness of a life without that shrill blaring Walmart ad in the middle of the living room or at the foot of the bed? Is it narcissistic to have never (ever) seen "Friends" or "Hannity and Colmes?" Or watched every 6:00 pm or 11:00 pm to see GWB bumble his way through a presidency and the destruction of a country and an international reputation while reporters fix their hair? We live in a country where Newscasters are politicized monkeys and you get the real news from comedians. It's like living in a Philip Dick novel. I see enough - more than enough - of that crap on youtube and this website. I have some news for YOU. Television news is a lot of smoke and no fire, a waste of time. I've never heard of anyone remarking from their deathbed that they wish they had watched more of 60 Minutes, have you?

[wmholt]

I was in the draft lottery, where they pick out a ball with your birthdate on it and if you are in the low numbers, you were going to Vietnam. I used to have nightmares in high school about having to serve in Vietnam, and what combat would be like there.

My number ended up being 354 out of 365. A simple act of picking up a ball meant that I would never have to go to Vietnam, and my friends who had low numbers would have to go.

If there was a draft in place still, would there have been protests by young people about the Iraq war like with the Vietnam war? Would that have made a difference today, or would Bush have gone all Tiananmen Square on the protesters?

[Lorifromky]

Please, Chris Matthews, or some other media outlet, interview someone from the secessionist party that the Palins belonged to. Fair is fair. Let's see who is from the "real America" as Governor Palin like to frame her argument.

[Jenlv]

I agree!

[DLB]

Why? Wouldn't that just give validity to the Republican's issue of character? And guilt by association?

[drock973]

So guilt by association is OK if they're associated with Palin?

[KarenT]

Todd was an actual member of the AIP and Sarah spoke at their annual conference as recently as this past June...that's hardly guilt by association.

[EarthToZoey]

If this was a guy who b0mbed an abortion clinic, I'm sure the response would be different. I just don't understand how people can call him heroic or patriotic. Just because he shares a progressive ideology doesn't mean that acts of terr.orism should be given a pass.

I'm not one who thinks that he should be tied to Obama, but neither am I one to gloss over this man's past -- no matter how intelligent he may be. The guy trivializes his past actions and people are just eating it up without thinking critically about it.

If you think I'm way off base, go ahead and talk me down.

[Clare53]

You're not off base. Good post.

[judyc]

He doesn't trivialize them--he said they were horrendous.

[EarthToZoey]

And in the next breath he attempts to justify his actions.

[Clare53]

No he doesn't. He said it would have been horrendous if people got killed.

[LMKay66]

I agree his past actions were awful. I think he was an angry young man who desperately wanted to stop the war. But that was forty years ago. He came off as a pretty decent person tonight.

[EarthToZoey]

He came across as a decent person. I agree. I just have yet to hear him denounce fully his past actions without making excuses or equivocating. But I'm more disturbed by fellow progressives who seem to applaud what he did. It's that kind of delusional, warped view of "right" and "wrong" that perpetuates violence.

[cronkyvoddy]

Hero defined. "A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life."

The fact that you do not understand how some one can see him as a hero is your problem. Because you disagree with someone or can't understand them does not make them wrong.

And your snideness about peoples lack of critical thinking jumps to a conclusion you have no basis for.

The fact is that SDS, the Weatherman, the Black Panthers and many others did what they could, in their own way to stop a government that was at war in Viet Nam and at home. Do you remember Cambodia? Not interested in talking you down.

[Clare53]

Wrong and smug.

[EarthToZoey]

Okay, I grant you that I shouldn't have accused people of not thinking critically. That was uncalled for. I apologize.

"The fact that you do not understand how some one can see him as a hero is your problem." -- Yes, that's precisely my problem. I just haven't seen a compelling argument for how the Weathermen's b.ombings were "heroic". Do you really think that those risky, violent acts were so effective as to lead to the end of Vietnam? If someone had d.ied, would you still feel the same?

[EarthToZoey]

Okay, I grant you that I shouldn't have accused people of not thinking critically. That was uncalled for. I apologize.

"The fact that you do not understand how some one can see him as a hero is your problem." -- Yes, that's precisely my problem. I just haven't seen a compelling argument for how the Weather.men's b.ombings were "heroic". Do you really think that those risky, violent acts were so effective as to lead to the end of Viet nam? If someone had d.ied, would you still feel the same?

[Clare53]

My wrong and smug comment was for cronkywoody, not Zoey.

[Chbronze]

I guess then by your rational we should look at the 9/11 bombers as heros.

[seatech1]

What he did was really, really wrong. Just being part of the organization that was responsible for the bombings should be enough to put him in jail. However, that also does not make it right for Palin and McCain to associate him and Obama when there was no real association there. It's really two different discussions. We all should be apalled at Ayers' actions in the past. Even though he's been a pretty good guy in the recent past does not mean that he paid for his crimes in the past. It may mitigate the punishment, but not absolve a person.
But, again, it doesn't mean that Obama did anything wrong. Palin did, but not Obama.

[EarthToZoey]

You and I share the same assessment, precisely.

[LovingHope]

I respect Bill Ayers coming out to defend himself. What the republicans did to them was horrible. Using him to scare the people. I'm glad to see many intelligent people not condemning him. This man is a great example of a man turning his life around. He has shown us how brilliant and caring he really is by the way he has lived his life and yet they vilified him to scare us. Didn't this man pay his debt to society, then why should he be treated this way?

[NC1432]

what the republicans did to Ayers...........brilliant and caring...........I'm sure your right.........I just have a problem with him standing on my flag..........

[jhoughton1]

Amen. We could use more Americans this articulate and thoughtful about our place in the world.

[kareemachan]

I thought he handled himself very well during and after the election. It took a lot of maturity on his part to not respond to the vitriol directed at him. And when push comes to shove, considering he's been part of the Education Department at U of Chicago for quite a while now, who would you want to teach your kids: Ayers or Palin?

[MayaBeach]

Our government waged war illegally in Vietnam and Iraq. Tens of thousands of innocent civilians have died as a result. I'm sick and tired of those who would somehow try to legitimize those crimes. Yes they are crimes, and that makes those who lied our country into unjustified war, war criminals. The evidence for that is overwhelming. To deny it is a denial and abrogation of historical reality. Bill Ayers admitted "enormous mistakes" regarding protests which may have harmed innocent people. Can the same be said for George Bush who laid plans for war with Iraq even before 9/11 occurred? It's clear to most who have suffered under this administration who the REAL American terrorist is. Bush's latest attempts to create his legacy is nothing short of delusional.

[vtlt8]

"..murdered millions of people..."? Of course he doesn't mean the NVA or VC who were just politely trying to conquer a whole country. Shucks.

[jhoughton1]

Not. Our. Deal.

[psfurlong356]

for an unrepentant domestic terr-orist he's not a bad guy.

[Clare53]

Exactly.

[jhoughton1]

Unrepentant? Geez, to me he sounded like most of us who are older now, "If I'd known then what I know now..."

[psfurlong356]

for an unrepentant domestic terrorist he's not a bad guy.

[psfurlong356]

Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman

[kareemachan]

Is there an echo in here?

[LMKay66]

Seeing Ayers on Hardball tonight reaffirmed what I already knew: He isn't the monster McCain and Palin tried to make him out to be. This whole guilt by association garbage that the McCain campaign was spewing was absurd. Good move on Ayers' part not to come forward during the campaign. Better to let McCain and Palin continue making idiots of themselves--the country wasn't falling for it--and let them fall flat on their faces. Which they most certainly did.

[drock973]

I liked how Ayers described the b0mbings as "symbolic acts of vandalism."

[Clare53]

Right, kind of like tagging.

[drock973]

Yeah, they threw eggs at the Capitol and TP'ed the Pentagon.

[ErikW65]

Since no one was killed by his bombings, that's all they were in the end!

[drock973]

So if the Twin Towers were empty, 9/11 would have only been vandalism?

[separatingwheatfromchaff]

What Mr.Ayers said about not being sure which was more helpful to the anti-war movement was not quite right.I know he doesn't want to beat his own chest but it probably took all those methods to get our governments attention that this wouldn't go away and they would have to relent.The only way to win anything of value is to be relentless,Mr.Ayers was a true patriot,risking prison for what he believed in.To ask him tough questions about the possibility of someone getting hurt in a bombing is fair.Why aren't any reporters asking any tough questions of someone that IS RESPONSIBLE for a minimum of a hundred thousand dead and a broken economy,broken military and a scandalous national reputation?Why does everyone pay homage with softball questions when we need hard questions asked and answered?We can't fix anything if we stick our heads in the sand.

Maybe Ayers is right about us needing a truth and reconciliation council,because we're still pretty much in the same boat as far as the divisions between Americans goes.We need everyone to come clean and tell the truth,the truth has a certain ring to it and I'm sure we'll know it when we hear it.
Or we can just plod along in the dark like we have been for millenniums.

[EarthToZoey]

Hypothetically speaking.... *if* Ayers' b0mb had k.illed someone, would it still have been a worthwhile and patriotic tactic? John Wilkes Booth thought he was being patriotic and a defender of the Confederate when he ass.assinated Abraham Lincoln. Too extreme? At what point is violence unacceptable?

[instagladiator]

Ask your government.

[ohio4obama]

Booth premeditated murder. Bush premeditated and manipulated intelligence for war and murder. The Weathermen actions tried to prevent murder and never murdered anyone.

See the difference?

[jhoughton1]

And, to be hardboiled about it, if the death of one D.C. policeman had hastened the carnage in Vietnam, would that be such a bad thing? People were dying!

[PuddinPie]

I agree. If we talk about what really happened. The events leading to the war and the period afterwards, history will better reflect or more accurately reflect events, the mood of the country. Today, we rely on myth (ie the crazy vet, the hippie, the hight draftee). If citizens come forth and speak we are better able to understand, forgive and heal.

[Ramus]

Agree with this post. The Vietnam era protests were class warfare. The country was split between those who could afford to stay in college and get deferments and those working class kids who could not afford this. The kids in college were right to protest the unnecessary Vietnam war..they had the luxury of not having to fight in it and they wanted to keep it that way.The kids who ended up in that awful war and came back to protest it like Kerry and others I have known were most helpful and getting the war..ended. (McCain would say "lost") Ayers was trying to do what he thought was correct at the time. The dramatic protests, Abbie Hoffman and those guys, helped to end the war. Good for them.

[TheWanderer]

I seem to remember reading in my history books in grade school that a few guns went off in the American Revolution, too. Not apologi8zing for Ayers at all; I'm just trying to lean in the opposite objection of these Fox style reporters who call every sit in or war protest an act of terrorism.