Over Two Dozen Lies Refuted About Ayers And Obama

The gutter politics of the McCain campaign is reaching down once again to denounce Obama for his distant past links to Bill Ayers in an unprecedented guilt-by-association attack for a presidential campaign.

Sarah Palin declared, "This is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country."

The New York Times article, which prompted Palin's remarks, actually concluded that "the two men do not appear to have been close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers."

CNN Political Ticker evaluated Palin's "palling" charges and concluded, "False. There is no indication that Ayers and Obama are now palling around, or that they have had an ongoing relationship in the past three years. Also, there is nothing to suggest that Ayers is now involved in terrorist activity or that other Obama associates are....CNN's review of project records found nothing to suggest anything inappropriate in the volunteer projects in which the two men were involved."

Back in February, the Washington Post reported in a fact check, But the Obama-Ayers link is a tenuous one.(Washington Post, 2/18/08)

As part of a larger project where I'm compiling a long list of all the lies and smears spread about Obama, here are over two dozen lies about Ayers and Obama.

Tonight's Hannity's America featured more of these absurd lies about Obama and Ayers in Hannity's infomercial for idiocy, including an amazing interview with legendary anti-Semitic crackpot Andy Martin:

LIE: "My view is that the community organizer was really a sham event. Bill Ayers was testing him."(Andy Martin, Hannity's America, October 5, 2008, "Obama and His Friends: History of Radicalism")
TRUTH: Bill Ayers had nothing to do with Obama's community organizing job. It's pure lunacy to imagine that Ayers was "testing" Obama.

LIE: Obama's "community organizing is a grand scheme perpetuated by none other than William Ayers."(Sean Hannity, Hannity's America, October 5, 2008, "Obama and His Friends: History of Radicalism")
TRUTH: Obama's community organizing was not a vast conspiracy for revolution devised by Bill Ayers.

LIE: "They live half a mile from William Ayers, the unrepentant terrorist" and "Just a half a mile from those homes is Louis Farrakhan."(Hannity's America, October 5, 2008, "Obama and His Friends: History of Radicalism")
TRUTH: It's true, of course, that Obama lives in this same neighborhood, as do tens of thousands of other people who presumably are also guilty by geographical association. The logic of this argument would be, if you live half a mile from a sex offender, then you agree with child molesters.

LIE: Obama and Ayers "appeared together at various public engagements...it would seem that they are more than just a little bit friendly."(Sean Hannity, Hannity's America, October 5, 2008, "Obama and His Friends: History of Radicalism")
TRUTH: Appearing on a speaking panel is not a sign of friendship. There is no evidence that Obama had any role in ever inviting Ayers to speak.

LIE: In 1995, Ayers and Dohrn "hosted a political coming out party for a young Barack Obama."(Sean Hannity, Hannity's America, October 5, 2008, "Obama and His Friends: History of Radicalism")
TRUTH: This was an event for Alice Palmer, not a "coming-out party" for Obama. Obama was invited by Palmer to the event.

But long before tonight's Hannity, the right-wing has been spreading a series of lies about Obama and Ayers.

LIE: "Bill Ayers is an unrepentant terrorist."
TRUTH: Bill Ayers is not, and apparently never was, a terrorist. The conventional definition of a terrorist is someone who tries to kill innocent people for political purposes. As Factcheck.org noted, In fact, nobody died as a result of bombings in which Ayers said he participated as part of the Weather Underground. (Factcheck.org)

LIE: "I'm sure he's very patriotic, but his relationship with Mr. Ayers is open to question....Because, if you're going to associate and have as a friend and serve on a board and have a guy kick off your campaign that says he's unrepentant, that he wished he'd bombed more. And then, the worst thing of all, that I think really indicates Senator Obama's attitude, is he had the incredible statement that he compared Mr. Ayers, an unrepentant terrorist -- an unrepentant terrorist, with Senator Tom Coburn. Senator Coburn, a physician who goes to Oklahoma on the weekends and brings babies into life.' (John McCain, April 20, 2008, ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos)
TRUTH: Obama was not friends with Ayers. Ayers did not kick off Obama's campaign. And Obama was not comparing Ayers' actions with Coburn. Obama was pointing out that he works with people even when he disagrees with them.

LIE: "Obama's oldest friend in politics is a murderer and unrepentant terrorist. Why are they friends?"(ExposeObama.com email, Sept. 7, 2008)
TRUTH: Ayers isn't Obama's oldest friend in politics.

LIE: Ayers was "Obama's boss."(Jerome Corsi, p. 147)
TRUTH: The chair of a foundation board is not the boss of the members.

LIE: Jerome Corsi claimed Alice "Palmer would never have introduced Obama to the Hyde Park political community at the Ayres-Dohrn home unless she saw an affinity between Ayers and Dohrn's radical leftist history, her own history of far-leftist politics, and the politics of Barack Obama."(p. 137)
TRUTH: The event wasn't held primarily for Obama. It was Palmer's own announcement that she would run for Congress. Obama was there as Palmer's endorsed successor for her Senate seat, but there's no evidence that he had any role in deciding to hold it at Ayers' home.

LIE: Jerome Corsi claims about Obama: "either he did not know Ayers and Dohrn are still radical leftists--in which case he is implausibly naive--or Obama did know, which would confirm he joined with Ayers and Dohrn because Obama too continues to believe, albeit silently and secretly, in the Far Left's radical agenda."(p. 140)
TRUTH: Obama probably knew Ayers was a leftist, but he didn't care. Obama believes in the notion of a free society, where you work with people you disagree with.

LIE: "Even today, Ayers appears to hold the same radical political beliefs he did in the Weather Underground, and Obama had to know that was also the case when he first met Ayers in 1995."(Jerome Corsi, p. 147)
TRUTH: Corsi doesn't explain how Obama "had to know" Ayers' views on politics when he first met him. Telepathy? Mind-reading?

LIE: David Freddoso calls Obama's distant connection with Bill Ayers "a remarkable relationship for a presidential nominee to have."(p. 122)
TRUTH: It reality, it's not remarkable at all. The notion that people should resign from foundations and refuse to speak in public in order to avoid any connection to a former radical never convicted of a crime is absurd.

LIE: "The major media simply have not reported on Obama's two years at New York's Columbia University, where, among other things, he lived a mere quarter-mile from former terrorist Bill Ayers."(Tony Blankley, September 24, 2008)
TRUTH: Thousands upon thousands of people lived near Bill Ayers in Manhattan. Obama didn't know Ayers.

LIE: Mr. Ayers founded CAC and was its guiding spirit. No one would have been appointed the CAC chairman without his approval. (Stanley Kurtz, Wall Street Journal)
TRUTH: Kurtz has no evidence to support his claim. Ayers was one of several people involved in starting the group, and was not its guiding spirit. According to the New York Times reporting, Obama was recruited by other CAC leaders who knew him through the Joyce Foundation.

LIE: Mr. Obama and Mr. Ayers worked as a team to advance the CAC agenda. (Stanley Kurtz, Wall Street Journal)
TRUTH: Kurtz has no evidence that Obama and Ayers worked as a team. Ayers attended six meetings of the group along with Obama.

LIE: "Obama is hanging around with Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright. By the way, Bill Ayers advertised himself as being a communist with a small c just when he was beginning to
partner with Obama on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. (Stanley Kurtz, Hudson Institute, Washington DC, October 1, 2008)
TRUTH: Contrary to this McCarthyist attack, there's no evidence that Obama ever knew that Ayers supposedly called himself a communist, nor is that a good reason for Obama to end his work on school reform and charitable activities.

LIE: "who provided Obama with the only executive experience he has ever had in his young life? Bill Ayers, unrepentant domestic terrorist, communist revolutionary... (Joseph Farah, World Net Daily, October 2, 2008)
TRUTH: Ayers did not provide Obama with the Chicago Annenberg Challenge job. And Obama has also had executive experience in community organizing, running a voter registration drive, as well as running his campaigns. The New York Times reported, "In fact, according to several people involved, Mr. Ayers played no role in Mr. Obama's appointment. Instead, it was suggested by Deborah Leff, then president of the Joyce Foundation, a Chicago-based group whose board Mr. Obama, a young lawyer, had joined the previous year."(Scott Shane, New York Times, October 4, 2008)

LIE: "Barack Obama is friends with Ayers, defending him as quote 'respectable and mainstream.'"(American Issues Project ad, August 2008)
TRUTH: David Axelrod described them as "friendly," not friends. Obama didn't call Ayers respectable and mainstream (although Ayers now is); Obama's campaign on his website posted an op-ed in the press that described Ayers that way.

LIE: "I can't understand why somebody who wants to be president of the United States, I'll be perfectly honest with you, would want to associate or not condemn the actions of people in the past."(Paul Ragonese, April 27, 2008, Fox News' Hannity's America)
TRUTH: Obama has condemned the past actions of Bill Ayers and called him somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago. (April 16, 2008 debate)

LIE: About Bill Ayers, "Barack Obama really couldn't bring himself to say 'you know, I really don't like that guy.' That was too much for him to say. He had to talk about what a decent guy he is and what a good professor."(Jim Geraghty, "Hype: The Obama Effect")
TRUTH: There is no record of Obama during the campaign calling Ayers "decent" and "a good professor." In fact, Obama really did bring himself to criticize Ayers, denouncing him during a Democratic debate as "somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago."

LIE: "Obama was feted at a fundraising event" at Ayers' home.("Hype: The Obama Effect")
TRUTH: Obama never had a fundraising event at Ayers' home.

LIE: Barack Obama and Bill Ayers had a close working relationship...the two of them were running the foundation together. (Stanley Kurtz, Fox News Channel's Fox and Friends, September 29, 2008)
TRUTH: Kurtz has no evidence of a "close working relationship" beyond attending a few meetings together. The notion that Obama and Ayers were the only ones running the Chicago Annenberg Challenge is absolutely false.

LIE: "The most important smoking gun is that Barack Obama was funding Bill Ayers' radical educational projects."(Stanley Kurtz, Fox News Channel's Fox and Friends, September 29, 2008)
TRUTH: This is false. Obama was the president of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, not its dictator. There's no evidence that Obama made any funding decisions. Moreover, it would have been completely unprofessional for anyone, including Obama, to ban Bill Ayers from receiving funding for educational projects because of alleged radical activities decades earlier which Ayers was never convicted of. Kurtz has no evidence that projects were judged based on anything other than their merits. This is a pure smear by association.

LIE: Emails "give us strong evidence that there may have been a cover-up in Bill Ayers' role choosing Barack Obama."(Stanley Kurtz, Fox News Channel's Fox and Friends, September 29, 2008)
TRUTH: This is a fabrication. The email Kurtz is referring to shows absolutely no kind of cover up. In fact, it shows exactly the opposite. In his blog, Kurtz quotes the entire email Ken Rolling wrote to CAC founders Warren Chapman and Anne Hallett and notes that Sam Dillon, Education Reporter for the New York Times, was working on an article. Rolling wrote about Dillon, He is trying to understand how Barack got 'picked' for the CAC board, by whom, why, etc. - I have avoided that question head-on though I believe Barack was Debbie Leff's/Joyce nomination." This email reveals no kind of cover-up, and the New York Times article found several sources that said Obama was not picked by Ayers.

LIE: "There is a secret group in the Obama-Biden campaign tasked with shutting off any leaks from the record that links Barack Obama to his longtime adviser and mentor Bill Ayers, professor of education at the University of Illinois and unrepentant Weatherman terrorist and fugitive from the 1970s....There is a substantial independent report from a major Democratic source that confirms Diamond's suspicions. The source confirms the unit is led by Bill Ayers himself and likely includes Tom Hayden and other members of 'Progressives for Obama.' Most critically, the Democratic source says this unit has direct access to media adviser David Axelrod of the Obama-Biden campaign."(John Batchelor, Human Events, September 12, 2008)
TRUTH: There is no "secret group." Hayden reports, "I am not part of any effort, personal or organized, trying to protect Obama against any leaks." The notion that Ayers is leading the "unit" is laughable. According to the University of Illinois library, "all papers have been available since August 26" about the school reform group that Ayers and Obama worked on. Diamond, the source cited for the existence of the "unit," declares, "I have no evidence of such a unit." Diamond added, "I told Batchelor that I would not speak to Human Events yet he made up a quote from me and placed it in his article."

Crossposted at ObamaPolitics.

Comments

[nortonbay]

Explain the photograph where Ayers is stepping on the flag of the United States of America, and Obama the only one who wouldn't put his hand over his heart when singing the National Athem?

[horsin]

Do you put your hand over your heart for the National Anthem? I don't and I don't know anyone that does.

[cypan]

Alright. Let us agree for a second with what the McCain-Palin campaign is spewing out. Let's agree that Bill Ayers was a mean terrorist and Barack Obama was indeed "palling around" with Ayers. Let's also agree that that shows really poor judgment on Obama's part and he will be too risky a leader for America, especially this time of grave financial crises.

The question that emerges, then is: If John McCain puts country first and if Barack Obama is so risky for the country, why did he not raise the issue during Tuesday's debate? Not once?

By his own admission, then, it's questionable if McCain puts country first. If the Ayers connection is such an important issue, anybody that puts country first should have readily highlighted it at a widely watched event.

[crobes2]

Educators & friends of Ayers speak out:
www.supportbillayers.org

[Old-Surveyor]

How about this lie. People takeing protection under bankruptcy can't keep their house if they have only one, but those having six or seven can.; Yes Obama said that and it is a bald faced lie. I know because I did foolish spending and I had to go that way. There was no problem afirming my home loan. Most people taking bankruptcy do not want to keep the house or any bad deals they are in. You say ne clear and I say nec(long southern c)culear . Does that make you liberials more correct. I think not. I say potato and you say pa tat o! I say tomato and you say to mat o! You bunch of egocentrinc liberial socialist stuffed shirts!

[jpghayes]

In the context of McCain/McSame attacks on Obama/Biden based on his associations with Bill Ayres and Tony Rezko, why hasn't the DNC asked Mr McCain about his and Rick Davis' partying with Italian Con Man Raffaelo Folieri? There are splendid photos of McCain walking up the gangway to Folieri's yacht with Davis in Montenegro, e.g. The people deserve to know how much support the McCain Palin Campaign accepted from this conman, and what they promised to do for him.

Obama evidently didn't partiipate in Rezko's wrongdoing, and he truly was only eight years old when Bill Ayers was involved in the Weathermen. Ayers paid his dues, the Feds were satisfied.

McCain should proudly own up to his long association with Charles Keating, and his record setting nearly twenty year John McCain Financial Deregulation Roadshow and Bandwagon, featuring Chas Keating, Phil and Wendy Gramm, Grover Norquist, and the late Ken Lay! We the People have received such comfort and joy from John's diligent and arduous work on behalf of the all-knowing market! His handiwork should receive the praise it deserves.

There are hundreds of sound and video bites of McSame touting deregulation, with accompanists such as the above, which would be a great fractured video collage set to the tune of Buddy Can You Spare a Dime, along with clips of his seven, eight, or is it nine homes? Including the one that is in tax sale in California. Hey video bloggers, anyone up to the challenge?

[thinkinggrandma]

very good article. thank you. this thinking grandma has been investigated for belonging to a subersive organization. She along with thinking grandpa and the rest of the members of the Peace with Justice group at their United Methodist Church are still wondering why!! We did speak out against this unjust war when it was being planned, were in favor of raising the minimum wage in our state. We did speak against a few other injustices and this may have scared the present administration; we are not sure.

[ladydriver]

Okay. I'll try one more time with this one....

Noone would consider McCain a communist just because he "lived" with them for five years, but this is the exact guilt-by-association reasoning that FOX, etc., are using to link Obama to Ayers.

Moderators: Am I allowed to say that? :)

[ladydriver]

Guilt by association? McCain "lived" for five years with communist who tortured other people. He was subjected to "brainwashing" techniques. Following the logic of FOX/RNC/Hannity/Palin/McCain, would this then mean that McCain is a communist who condones torture?

This train of logic would also make one wonder if we may also consider Palin to be a moose or a hockey puck.

Hhhhhmmmmm.

[lareneg72]

bill ayers is a terrorist & he got off on a technicallity. when he got off he said & I quote "its great to be an american because you can commit violent acts and be let off"

the fact that obama will not reject bill ayers after ayers in 2001 said he didn't do enough bombing ought to tell you that obama thinks bill ayers is a good guy.

bill ayers is a disgusting coward & if he or you don't like me saying that then maybe we can meet man to man & have a discussion.

[ladydriver]

BREAKING NEWS! John McCain spent five years living with communists! He kept company with people who practiced torture on other human beings! Following the Fox/Hannity/Kurtz/McCain/RNC logic...McCain is a communist and believes in torturing people!

Guilt by association theory in operation would also make Palin a moose and a hockey puck!

[Cymbeline]

Bush and the Republicans have done much more than "pall around" with terrorists. Bush has armed, financed, and recruited untold millions to the terrorist cause. He allowed terrorists to loot hundreds of thousands of tons of weapons which they have since been using to kill American troops. His Republican Administration has allowed terrorists safe-haven in Afghanistan in areas where they have access to billions of dollars in drug money.
You'd think a Commander-in-Chief who has fought that mighty military power the Taliban only to a draw (and that's being generous) after 7 years must be secretly working for a terrorist victory. No one, not even Bush, could be that monumentally incompetent, could they?

[pandag]

Say, what about 9/11 and the administration allowing the Bin Laden family to fly out of the United States after the attack - ah, what does one call that?! And I love the video with Palin in a church with the "laying on of hands" by a preacher/con artist. And what about her hubby's membership in that outfit that wants to succeed from the U.S. headed by that nutcase, hmmm.... What really horrifies is that McCain/Palin have incited and encouraged violent and hate-filled responses from their audiences AND where is the Secret Service when some idiot yells out "kill him"!?!?! That is beyond belief that it was allowed to happen. McCain should be hanging his head in shame at what he's become. Palin is just plain terrifying on all levels. The message should be "Save our Country, Vote for Obama!"

[tony171717]

I agree with your assessment. Well said! And I hope for all our sakes that this isn't headed for what Naomi Wolf's thoughts dictate. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjALf12PAWc

[realistic2008]

Guilty by asociation? what about Chenney exchanging all kind of plesantries and arms with Saddam Hussein, what about Nixon embrasing Mao Tseung, Reagan de Russians, GW palling with Putin his soul mate, McCain with Keating, the economic terrorist, and on and on.
Parents make sure your kids never protest an insane war, never say anything when they see corruption, nor when the US Constituion is being violated or when their friends are being torture, descriminated and left behind.

[tchristin]

This is an attempt to "swift-boat" Obama. McCain, who was a victim of these kinds of attacks himself, should be ashamed.

[whisperswen]

its the only way to egt these questions answered

[JustMyWords]

The questions have been answered ad nauseum. And saying that Obama is "palling around with domestic terrorists" cannot possibly be called anything other than an attempt to smear.

[Taurus]

You left out a major refutation: Ayers actually meant by "we didn't do enough" that Americans had not protested the Vietnam War as much as they should have, nor had they tried hard enough to stop it.

[realistic2008]

Great comment/observation. I would also add that the Vietnam war was another blunder of the US one which shamed this nation not only because we had to run but because of all the atrocities committed in this war particulalrly the consequences suffered by our soldiers.

[meshach]

The McBush/Palin campaign has already abandoned the people even before taking office. The destitute economy is no longer the issue because in fact, they have no concrete solutions to offer us. Therefore, their agenda is to work overtime to smear Obama in order to win the election -- is this a great strategy or what? There are a couple things we should be aware of:

First, it was Rev. Wright -- it was (and to some degree, still is) typical of ministers in predominantly black churches to speak racial politics from the pulpit addressing the day-to-day concerns of race in the black community -- this is not a doctrine of hate -- this is a doctrine of frustration.

Now Ayers -- Obama pointed out he was 8 years old during Ayers' terrorism days of the '60s (remember the '60s?). Today, the esteemed Professor Ayers is so trusted that University faculty and students do not appear to be threatened by his past terrorist activities.

I am sure that all of us to some degree wish they had more control of their lives -- the real terrorists bordering communism are the ones stealing our money without guns -- stealing from the poor to give to the rich - and powerless, there is nothing we can say to our current reps that will make a difference.

[Bai]

Independents do not like dirty politics. Just ask anyone of us.

[egal]

Yes, but he's BLACK, and that means he just can't be trusted.

All the proof in the world that these spurious claim are groundless will fail simply because the ignorant, usually self-denying bigots who believe this stuff, or even just let doubts be raised by it rather than fact-checking, won't give up these excuses--however flagrantly untrue--for that racism and hatred of others.

In fact, the more we disprove these claims, the more entrenched they become in the target audience because these are the same people moronic enough to believe that a clearly Republican-leaning media is a liberal smear machine and that the problems so obviously caused by Republican policies are the Democrats' fault for not being able to sway enough of their counterparts to abandon the core of their misbegotten, selfish and corrupt ideals.

[woodchips]

Which explains why there are still many who think Obama is a Muslim.