My Friend Bill Ayers - WSJ, a good piece by a real friend of Ayers

[steve2470]

By THOMAS FRANK

For days on end, the Republican presidential campaign has put nearly all of its remaining political capital on emphasizing Mr. Obama's time on various foundation boards with Bill Ayers, a former member of the Weathermen, which planted bombs and issued preposterous statements in the Vietnam era. Some on the right seem to believe Mr. Ayers is Mr. Obama's puppet-master, while others are content merely to insist that the association proves Mr. Obama to be soft on terrorism. Maybe he's soft on anarchy and repudiation, too.

I can personally attest to the idiocy of it all because I am a friend of Mr. Ayers. In fact, I met him in the same way Mr. Obama says he did: 10 years ago, Mr. Ayers was a guy in my neighborhood in Chicago who knew something about fundraising. I knew nothing about it, I needed to learn, and a friend referred me to Bill.

Bill's got lots of friends, and that's because he is today a dedicated servant of those less fortunate than himself; because he is unfailingly generous to people who ask for his help; and because he is kind and affable and even humble. Moral qualities which, by the way, were celebrated boisterously on day one of the GOP convention in September.

Mr. Ayers is a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), where his work is esteemed by colleagues of different political viewpoints. Herbert Walberg, an advocate of school vouchers who is a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, told me he remembers Mr. Ayers as "a responsible colleague, in the professional sense of the word." Bill Schubert, who served as the chairman of UIC's Department of Curriculum and Instruction for many years, thinks so highly of Mr. Ayers that, in response to the current allegations, he compiled a lengthy résumé of the man's books, journal articles, guest lectures and keynote speeches. Mr. Ayers has been involved with countless foundation efforts and has received various awards. He volunteers for everything. He may once have been wanted by the FBI, but in the intervening years the man has become such a good citizen he ought to be an honorary Eagle Scout.

more at link below:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122402888900234543.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

[democracy1st]

1. nice post steve

[steve2470]

2. thanks ! nt

[Ian_rd]

3. Damn, it's about time some third parties stepped up to address Ayers. Good News.

It's far more effective than the Obama Campaign doing it by itself (or Ayers himself for that matter).

[bunnies]

4. k&r. Great piece. nt

[PA Democrat]

5. Redemption.

I guess people on the right do not believe in the concept of redemption, of atonement, of rehabilitation. Once a bad guy always a bad guy. Everything is black and white and people are incapable of change.

That's why the right thinks you have to fight terrorism with bombs. They talk about "winning hearts and minds" but based upon the actions of the Bush administration, the world knows that those are empty words.

I think that is a pathetic world view.

[steve2470]

6. unashamed kick nt