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“Obama’s Willie Horton” [UPDATED]

By SusanUnPC on February 22, 2008 at 7:17 PM in Barack Obama, Chicago politics

UPDATE: The Opinionator, a NYT blog, picks up Larry Johnson’s drumbeat on the Ayers story — “The Company They Keep” — and poses a provocative series of questions via Podhoretz:

John Podhoretz at Commentary responds [to Larry Johnson]: “Barack Obama is in no way responsible for anything William Ayers might have said or done, and anyone who suggests otherwise is guilty of demagougery [sic].

“But here’s a thought experiment. What if John McCain had visited the Unabomber’s cabin? Or had been photographed with Terry Nichols? Or had stopped off at David Duke’s house at some point because he was gathering support and donors?” (Read all.)

UPDATE x2 / More “legs”: “Leftist With Obama Ties Speaks at SUNY,” NY Sun; “Oh-eight (D): Show me the money,” MSNBC; “Clinton, Obama Spar on Ties to Radicals,” ABC News; and more

Taylor Marsh has written a brilliant investigative piece — “Obama’s Willie Horton” — on the importance of William Ayers’ long association with Barack Obama — which Larry Johnson has been introducing us to now for a couple weeks. (Taylor quotes Larry in her story.) Let there be no mistake: These people were INTO violence, INTO terrorism, INTO highly constricted savage political views borrowed heavily from Stalin and Mao. Besides destroying the peaceful antiwar movement, splitting it asunder, they also terrorized Americans from coast to coast, including every ROTC facility in the nation. You can complain about Cointelpro all you want — but the FACT remains that these young terrorists voluntarily set off bombs, murdered people, committed armed robberies, and far more. Taylor writes:

The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth won’t have to make stuff up about Obama. His relationship with Ayers is a fact, as they also were both seated on a nine-member board of the Woods Fund in 1999, for three years. In lieu of that connection, even in the face of a measly $200 contribution from Ayers to Obama, as well as the Obama campaign’s statement decrying Ayers’ actions when he was with the terrorist group The Weather Underground, quotes like the one below from Ayers are a general election gift to your opponent, especially considering Obama has no problem sitting on a board with this thug, or taking a meeting with him when launching your political career:

Taylor adds this quote that the Republicans will love:

Mr. Ayers wrote a memoir, “Fugitive Days,” published in 2001, and on the day of the September 11 terrorist attacks, he was quoted by the New York Times as saying: “I don’t regret setting bombs. I feel we didn’t do enough.”

Here’s more from Taylor — who also has many photographs and more evidence on this unrepentant violent group and one of its principal leaders, William Ayers:

I held out from writing about the Obama – Ayers connection in the hope that someone would finally go on the record to advance the story in a serious way.

Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen at this point. I simply could not get Alice Palmer or others in Illinois on the record, try as I might through many angles. Peter Hitchens was the first to do a more recent article on the Ayers and Obama connection. No doubt he won’t be the last, because the Republicans are going to love this angle if Obama gets to the general election. Larry Johnson has also sent a warning shot on Obama’s connection to radical domestic terrorist William Ayers, though no one is listening.

Tell me how an Obama general election campaign can answer to Obama consorting with a home-grown terrorist who still wishes he’d done more bombing?

READ ALL of Taylor’s fine work, and don’t miss checking out those photographs, and more in her story.

  • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

    The news media is slowly beginning to pick up the story — see Google News search results.

    • http://cujo359.blogspot.com Cujo359

      Yes, it looks like the wave is starting. The Google list so far is about half what you’d see if Britney Speers goes out in public, but the wingnuts are starting to pick it up and run with it.

  • Cee

    Unreal.

    I have to you folks credit. You go down fighting. Unfortunatly you’ll take the Democratic party down with you and your candidate.

    I hope someone asks Hillary about these tactics and charges in the next debate.

    • John Witherspoon

      somehow democrats always manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Here’s but our next attempt. We have met the enemy, and they are ours.

      • Simon

        somehow democrats always manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory

        Yes, they do, don’t they?

        Particularly by supporting Obama.

        Even after this current disaster, the republicans will put the next president in the White House, too, given Clinton doesn’t run.

        Remember after Bush’s first term, everyone thought, “well, no WAY Kerry will lose.”

        And Rove outplayed the democrats, the SAME WAY he is now, and the stupid democratic leaders can’t catch a clue.

        The republicans would have a harder time beating Clinton, no matter what, nothing will trump Obama’s corruption, and terrorist ties.

    • http://cujo359.blogspot.com Cujo359

      You think that folks on the left are the only ones who are smart enough to find this out? I have news for you – this was going to happen anyway.

      Better now than after we’re stuck with Obama.

      What’s more, even if we are stuck with Obama, he can make this go away by talking about why he did this. Instead, they seem to be keeping quiet. If there’s one thing the Swiftboat thing should have taught Democratic politicians, it’s that saying nothing is always a bad idea.

      • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

        Thank you. It’s the silliest argument in the world to worry about the Democrats harming each other — we have to VET OUR CANDIDATES with all the vigor and, dare I mention, objectivity that the opposition will exploit in the general election. We can “kumbayah” if somehow we win — and that’s not a good prospect with Obama as nominee.

        • John Witherspoon

          actually, to anyone who knows anything about politics, a vicious primary that lasts a long time is very damaging to the party in question, especially if the other team has already picked their nominee. There are so many examples i wont even cite one…

          • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

            Boo hoo.

            You’re only interested in handing the nomination to your candidate. You could give a shit about the Democratic party.

            And you’ll really be a PUDDLE OF TEARS if he is the nominee, and the Republicans go after him.

            • John Witherspoon

              A) hes not my candidate.
              B) I clearly care more about the party than you. I’m not out, every single day, attacking one of our prominent members for personal reasons, but you are.
              C) I’m not a cry baby, like you or hillary clinton. I don’t devote whole posts on a blog to garnering personal sympathy for my illnesses, like you do. I don’t cry for political expediency like your candidate does. Legitimate criticism of Obama is fine by me, in fact, I argued that he was an empty suit when he ran for the senate, something I doubt you were saying then. You’ll be a puddle of tears when your candidate loses by next week! then you’ll vote for McCain, like the republican you are!

              • Star

                Withers –

                So you’ll be voting for Hillary Rodham Clinton too!

                That should cheer Susan who has demonstrated a superhuman drive and determination to serve her country since November.

                I have no idea how she has been able to keep up her efforts with her physical ailments.

                A lesser person would have been completely incapacitated.

                And Hillary Rodham Clinton has more courage than you can begin to imagine.

                Finally Withers, we certainly are in agreement that Barack Hussein Obama is an empty suit.

          • Simon

            a vicious primary that lasts a long time is very damaging to the party in question,

            And a man with ties to terrorists, who also manifests fiduciary corruption, shakedowns, from Rezko, and such, is a disaster, a danger to America.

            Guess which wins out?

            Loyalty to America.

          • http://cujo359.blogspot.com Cujo359

            As someone who’s watched politics for a long time, I have no reason to think that’s true. When you’re actuallly deigning to defend this hypothesis, how do you determine whether the viciousness of a primary fight has something to do with the underlying reasons for the viciousness, as opposed to the viciousness itself. In the case of the Democrats, at least there have been underlying problems in each of the years when the primaries were hotly contested and then the general lost. In 1988, they’d had their butts handed to them twice in a row, in 1980 there was the fact that Carter’s handling of the Presidency wasn’t too popular, and in 1968 there was that little war thing (not to mention that George Wallace left the party and took one third of its support with him).

            So just how do you control all those variables, particularly given the small number of samples?

            Yes, I know you’re just expresing the prejudices you’ve formed without ever examining the underlying assumptions, but this particular one seems to have no more evidence to support it than the hypothesis that the moon is made of green cheese. To me, there’s just as much reason to believe that the Darwinian model is the right one – if you want to find someone who’s likely to win an election, hold an election of your own that closely resembles the real thing, and then see who wins.

            • http://cujo359.blogspot.com Cujo359

              Correction: the sentence should read: how do you determine whether the viciousnessruinousness of a primary fight

              At least, that’s the best word I can think of at the moment.

            • John Witherspoon

              mondale comes to mind….

              • http://cujo359.blogspot.com Cujo359

                I don’t remember that primary as being particularly vicious – just well contested. Let’s assume for a moment that it was – Mondale was trounced. The popular vote was not quite a 60-40 split. How in the world was the primary responsible for that defeat? The Democratic party couldn’t appeal to Reagan Democrats, hence the name.

                It was a second term election for a President who was, however inexlicably, quite popular at the time. I’m just not seeing how this is the fault of the primary.

    • Mike Howell

      Gee Cee –

      All of the crap you spout non-stop about Hillary Rodham Clinton and I’m going to believe your bullshit about pulling together for the sake of the party?

      NO WAY!

      Barack Hussein Obama – NO WAY!

    • TeakWoodKite

      Cee, Its already been happening for at least 2 years now; the dems’ were going down….these currents have been in the works for a while…the paralysis of the Dem’s will continue even if Obama gets elected.

      So while some will “party down with you and your candidate” others will look at how the break turned out and work the table with the balls as they are.

      Just remember one thing…you don’t get to scratch and put the queue ball where you want it.

      The sad fact is, if as Sen. Obama believes, “Washington DC is place where good ideas go to die” then his going will not produce anything positive. You may think Obama will bring the troops home, or keep his promises but mark my words it will not come to pass, however much I wish it were so.

      • Cee

        Teak,

        I’ve never said that I believed he would bring the troops home.
        Neither will Hillary.

        My point has always been that we shouldn’t be doing the dirty work of the GOP.
        How many times do I need to repeat this?
        People on this blog have attacked Obama the same way the Arkansas Project architects went after Hillary and Bill.
        I didn’t like it then. I don’t like it now.

  • postidt

    I heard Tucker Carlson question someone on his show about the Ayers connection, an obvious Obama supporter and she was dumbfounded and knew no way to counteract it, actually said that she didn’t know what to say. I think that when the right wing runs ads contrasting Saint John’s Vietnam war record and what appears to be an Obama connection to Ayers, including Ayers adoption of David Gilbert and Kathy Boudin’s son Chesa, I see bad things coming way, like St. John in the WH. David Gilbert and Kathy Boudin actually were involved in an armed car incident and involved with the BLA after the WU disabanded. The whole thing saddens me immensely. I believe in change but not by injuring innocent parties and certainly not by violent means. I’m not referring to the “change” of someone like Obama though, nothing I have seen as yet leads me to believe that he is actually an agent of reall societal change though he apparently has the ability to put on a good show.

    The meme with the Che poster in the Texas office is going to continue and Obama will be painted as a BLA, Panther, WU commie and while this may not resonate with the youthful, a lot of older folk are not going to like this at all.

    I can see where all this is going to go and it means a Republican is definitely going to be in the WH. I would much prefer Hillary in the WH, and though I’m not sure I could actually vote for Obama, I’d still like to not see a Repub in the WH.

    • norrismorris

      Obama’s ties to Reverend Jeremiah Wright an avowed admirer of Louis Farrakhan, and Obama’s pastor, friend and mentor have never been defended. Obama has attempted to distance himself somewhat from Wright, but Rev Wright’s church is where he worships. Farrakhan has said Judaism was a “gutter religion”, and Jews were, “bloodsuckers”.

      This unvetted wonder has much to answer for, but Press has scrubbed him up and given him a pass. Current Bio in Vanity Fair magazine is an absurd
      puff piece ans deletes many years of Obama’s past performances in Illinois and ties to patron and fundraiser, felon Tony Rezko who comes to trial 2/25 for kickbacks,fraus,moneylaundering,

      Rezko helped Obama enrich himself through sweetheart deal, and really there is so much out there that needs vetting ASAP.

      His ties to Ayers need explaining, and Black panther ties do as well.

      • susanunpc

        Oh yeah. That minister is highly questionable, and SO IS HIS CHURCH. It’s linked at Wikipedia’s bio of Obama — Wikipedia has the story on that church and that minister.

        • Simon

          think that when the right wing runs ads contrasting Saint John’s Vietnam war record and what appears to be an Obama connection to Ayers, including Ayers adoption of David Gilbert and Kathy Boudin’s son Chesa,

          I can see the ads already, hero John McCain in a Vietnamese POW camp, and old grainy footage of Ayers blowing up American law enforcement, interspersed with footage of the OK City bombing, and 9.11, again, emphasizing the terrorist meme.

          And this time, Rove didn’t even have to go to the Middle East, he can just use Rezko.

          And the stupid democratic leaders are in complete denial this was always the strategy.

      • John Witherspoon

        what is this, guilt by 6 degrees of kevin bacon?

  • DaleA

    This is all so tenuous. Which is all the right wing needs. There is a current thread on this

    http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/2/22/144315/700/681/462064

    which blames Hillary for this coming up. Argggg! This and who knows what else is waiting to be learned.

    • Ga6thDem

      It’s surprising to me that the Obama supporters are in a horrible mood since last night. I don’t know what’s going on but they’re in some kind of meltdown stage. Are they all bipolar where they are either triumphant or depressed?

      • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

        Isn’t that fascinating? You should have seen them at DailyObama last night. … they were in SUCH a pissy mood after the debate.

        I had to wonder why. Larry hit on it in his comment here about Josh Marshall … which I’ll be posting soon. (Get your oppo ready, Cee and Witherspoon. Snort.)

        • John Witherspoon

          clearly you didnt watch the CNN people meter, where popularity went drastically down when Hill made the xerox comment (add to that the entire crowd was booing her for taking the debate so negative).

          • TeakWoodKite

            emo-meters? Happy Talk?

            Bloody Mary:
            Happy talk, keep talkin’ happy talk,
            Talk about things you’d like to do.
            You got to have a dream,
            If you don’t have a dream,
            How you gonna have a dream come true?

            Bali Hai is calling.

            • John Witherspoon

              There once was a girl named TeakWoodKite
              Who was a hillary neophyte
              She made fun of Obama
              But didn’t know she was gonna
              Be wrong all along at the end of the fight.

        • Cee

          (Get your oppo ready, Cee and Witherspoon. Snort.)

          Susan,

          Negativity isn’t good for your health.

    • Mike Howell

      DaleA –

      For 2 weeks people were blaming me for using Barack Hussein Obama’s full name, so I’d say they’re a little unbalanced.

      The national secret that is Obama!

    • AF

      In another thread someone asked how psychologists approach people in denial? Like – if you’re the one to tell a friend that their spouse is cheating, the anger will stick to you, not the cheating spouse.

      The right wing has to expose this guy.

      • Simon

        The right wing has to expose this guy.

        Well, no, angry or not, it’s not OK to support terrorism, innocent civilians DIE, governments are destabilized because of the fucked up little heads of fucked up little men.

        It’s not ok, break the denial.

        • AF

          But the denial won’t break as long as they can say it’s coming from Hillary.

          But this whole change, and the hysteria of his rallies in which his presence is preceeded by a full hour of chanting according to one Houston student, coupled with relations with a domestic terrorist unrepentant as recently as 2001 could do something. The trouble is it takes time to sink into voters heads.

        • John Witherspoon

          you support terrorism all the time! where do you think half of your tax dollars go?

  • Gloria

    Looks like AUCHI’s name has hit the UK press (Murdoch’s Times)….when will it be picked up here??? (Silly question…not until the general election…)

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article3433485.ece

    A British-Iraqi billionaire lent millions of dollars to Barack Obama’s fundraiser just weeks before an imprudent land deal that has returned to haunt the presidential contender, an investigation by The Times discloses.

    The money transfer raises the question of whether funds from Nadhmi Auchi, one of Britain’s wealthiest men, helped Mr Obama buy his mock Georgian mansion in Chicago.

    A company related to Mr Auchi, who has a conviction for corruption in France, registered the loan to Mr Obama’s bagman Antoin “Tony” Rezko on May 23 2005. Mr Auchi says the loan, through the Panamanian company Fintrade Services SA, was for $3.5 million.

    MORE

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