Obama's remarks gives Clinton an opening

[no name 1]

By JIM KUHNHENN and CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writers

MISHAWAKA, Ind. - A political tempest over Barack Obama's comments about bitter voters in small towns has given rival Hillary Rodham Clinton a new opening to court working class Democrats 10 days before Pennsylvanians hold a primary that she must win to keep her presidential campaign alive.

Obama tried to quell the furor Saturday, explaining his remarks while also conceding he had chosen his words poorly.

"If I worded things in a way that made people offended, I deeply regret that," Obama said in an interview with the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal.

But the Clinton campaign fueled the controversy in every place and every way it could, hoping charges that Obama is elitist and arrogant will resonate with the swing voters the candidates are vying for not only in Pennsylvania, but in upcoming primaries in Indiana and North Carolina as well.

Political insiders differed on whether Obama's comments, which came to light Friday, would become a full-blown political disaster that could prompt party leaders to try to steer the nomination to Clinton even though Obama has more pledged delegates. Clinton supporters were eagerly hoping so.

They handed out "I'm not bitter" stickers in North Carolina, and held a conference call of Pennsylvania mayors to denounce the Illinois senator. In Indiana, Clinton did the work herself, telling plant workers in Indianapolis that Obama's comments were "elitist and out of touch."

At issue are comments he made privately at a fundraiser in San Francisco last Sunday. He was trying to explain his troubles winning over some working-class voters, saying they have become frustrated with economic conditions:

"It's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

The comments, posted Friday on The Huffington Post Web site, set off a blast of criticism from Clinton, Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain and other GOP officials, and drew attention to a potential Obama weakness — the image some have that the Harvard-trained lawyer is arrogant and aloof.

His campaign scrambled to defuse possible damage.

There has been a small "political flare-up because I said something that everybody knows is true, which is that there are a whole bunch of folks in small towns in Pennsylvania, in towns right here in Indiana, in my hometown in Illinois, who are bitter," Obama said Saturday morning at a town hall-style meeting at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. "They are angry. They feel like they have been left behind. They feel like nobody is paying attention to what they're going through.

"So I said, well you know, when you're bitter you turn to what you can count on. So people, they vote about guns, or they take comfort from their faith and their family and their community. And they get mad about illegal immigrants who are coming over to this country."

After acknowledging his previous remarks in California could have been better phrased, he added:

"The truth is that these traditions that are passed on from generation to generation, those are important. That's what sustains us. But what is absolutely true is that people don't feel like they are being listened to."

Clinton attacked Obama's remarks much more harshly Saturday than she had the night before, calling them "demeaning." Her aides feel Obama has given them a big opening, pulling the spotlight away from troublesome stories such as former President Clinton's recent revisiting of his wife's misstatements about an airport landing in Bosnia 10 years ago.

Obama is trying to focus attention narrowly on his remarks, arguing there's no question that some working-class families are anxious and bitter. The Clinton campaign is parsing every word, focusing on what Obama said about religion, guns, immigration and trade.

Clinton hit all those themes in lengthy comments to manufacturing workers in Indianapolis.

"The people of faith I know don't 'cling' to religion because they're bitter. People embrace faith not because they are materially poor, but because they are spiritually rich," she said.

"I also disagree with Senator Obama's assertion that people in this country 'cling to guns' and have certain attitudes about immigration or trade simply out of frustration," Clinton added.

"People don't need a president who looks down on them," she said. "They need a president who stands up for them."

Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan responded, "We won't be lectured on being out of touch by Senator Clinton, who believes lobbyists represent real people and is awash in their money and who can't tell a straight story about her lengthy record of supporting trade deals like NAFTA and China that have devastated communities in Pennsylvania and Indiana."

McCain's campaign piled on Obama, releasing a statement that also accused him of elitism.

One of Clinton's staunchest supporters, Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., acknowledged there was some truth in Obama's remarks. But he said Republicans would use them against him anyway.

At a campaign rally in Wilson, N.C., former state Democratic Party chairman and current Clinton adviser Tom Hendrickson said rural voters don't need "liberal elites" telling them what to believe.

Bill Clinton was the featured speaker of the rally but avoided commenting on Obama's remarks. When asked about it afterward, he said simply, "I agree with what Hillary said."

link

Edited April 12, 2008 by illumine

[no name 1]

Update with statement from McCain spokesperson Tucker Bounds:

“Voters will reject his so-called truths that he still stands by. His remarks were false. The importance of our Second Amendment and our country’s longstanding history with faith and spirituality are born in history, not bitterness and frustration. His view is absolutely restricted by elitism.”

link

[no name 1]

Even the O-loving sites are condemning Obama.....ah, sweet karma.

12 reasons 'bitter' is bad for Obama

By MIKE ALLEN | 4/12/08 5:04 PM EST

The remarks play into the hands of Republicans eager to portray him as a snob out of touch with working Americans.

A Clinton comeback was looking far-fetched. But operatives in both parties were buzzing about that possibility Saturday following the revelation that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) told wealthy San Franciscans that small-town Pennsylvanians and Midwesterners “cling to guns or religion” because they are “bitter” about their economic status.

Obama at first dug in on that contention Friday after audio of the private fundraiser was posted by The Huffington Post. Altering course, on Saturday in Muncie, Ind., he conceded that he “didn’t say it as well as I should have.” And he told the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal that “obviously, if I worded things in a way that made people offended, I deeply regret that. ... The underlying truth of what I said remains, which is simply that people who have seen their way of life upended because of economic distress are frustrated and rightfully so."

Here is what he said April 6, referring to people living in areas hit by job losses: “t’s not surprising, then, that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

The Obama campaign contends that coverage of the San Francisco remarks is overheated and distorted. One aide said that “any logical analysis” would make it obvious that the brouhaha will not “change the pledged delegate count” — the key to the Democratic presidential nomination.

In fact, this is a potential turning point for Obama’s campaign — an episode that could be even more damaging than the attention to remarks by his minister, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, since this time the controversial words came out of his own mouth.

Here are a dozen reasons why:

1. It lets Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) off the mat at a time when even some of her top supporters had begun to despair about her prospects. Clinton hit back hard on the campaign trail Saturday. And her campaign held a conference call where former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, a Pittsburgh native, described Obama’s remarks as “condescending and disappointing” and “undercutting his message of hope.”

2. If you are going to say something that makes you sound like a clueless liberal, don’t say it in San Francisco. Obama’s views might have been received very differently if he had expressed them in public to Pennsylvania voters, saying he understood and could alleviate their frustrations.

3. Some people actually use guns to hunt — not to compensate for a salary that’s less than a U.S. senator’s.

4. Some people cling to religion not because they are bitter but because they believe it, and because faith in God gives them purpose and comfort.

5. Some hard-working Americans find it insulting when rich elites explain away things dear to their hearts as desperation. It would be like a white politician telling blacks they cling to charismatic churches to compensate for their plight. And it vindicates centrist Democrats who have been arguing for a decade that their party has allowed itself to look culturally out of touch with the American mainstream.

6. It provides a handy excuse for people who were looking for a reason not to vote for Obama but don’t want to think of themselves as bigoted. It hurts Obama especially with the former Reagan Democrats, the culturally conservative, blue-collar workers who could be a promising voter group for him. It also antagonizes people who were concerned about his minister but might have given him the benefit of the doubt after his eloquent speech on race.

7. It gives the Clinton campaign new arguments for trying to recruit superdelegates, the Democratic elected officials and other insiders who get a vote on the nomination. A moderate politician from a swing district, for example, might not want to have to explain support for a candidate who is being hammered as a liberal. And Clinton’s agents can claim that for all the talk of her being divisive, Obama has provided plenty of fodder to energize Republicans.

8. It helps Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) frame a potential race against Obama, even though both of them have found support among independents. Now Republicans have a simple, easily repeated line of attack to use against Obama as an out-of-touch snob, as they had with Sen. John F. Kerry after he blundered by commenting about military funding, “I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it.”

9. The comments play directly into an already-established narrative about his candidacy. Clinton supporters have been arguing that Obama has limited appeal beyond upscale Democrats — the so-called latte liberals. You can’t win red states if people there don’t like you. “Elites need to understand that middle-class Americans view values and culture as more important than mere trickery,” said Paul Begala, a Clinton backer. “Democrats have to respect their values and reflect their values, not condescend to them as if they were children who’ve been bamboozled.”

10. The timing is terrible. With the Pennsylvania primary nine days off, late-deciding voters are starting to tune in. Obama and Clinton are scheduled to appear separately on CNN on Sunday for a forum on, of all topics, faith and values. And ABC News is staging a Clinton-Obama debate in Philadelphia on Wednesday. So Clinton has the maximum opportunity to keep a spotlight on the issue. Besides sex, little drives the news and opinion industry more than race, religion, culture and class. So as far as chances the chattering-class will perpetuate the issue, Obama has hit the jackpot.

11. The story did not have its roots in right-wing or conservative circles. It was published — and aggressively promoted — by The Huffington Post, a liberally oriented organization that was Obama’s outlet of choice when he wanted to release a personal statement distancing himself from some comments by the Rev. Wright.

12. It undermines Democratic congressional candidates who had thought that Obama would make a stronger top for the ticket than Clinton. Already, Republican House candidates are challenging their Democratic opponents to renounce or embrace Obama’s remarks. Ken Spain, press secretary for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said: “There is a myth being perpetuated by Democrats and even some in the media that an Obama candidacy would somehow be better for their chances down ballot. But we don’t believe that is the case.”

link

[cieloazul 0]

By JIM KUHNHENN and CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writers

MISHAWAKA, Ind. - A political tempest over Barack Obama's comments about bitter voters in small towns has given rival Hillary Rodham Clinton a new opening to court working class Democrats 10 days before Pennsylvanians hold a primary that she must win to keep her presidential campaign alive.

Obama tried to quell the furor Saturday, explaining his remarks while also conceding he had chosen his words poorly.

"If I worded things in a way that made people offended, I deeply regret that," Obama said in an interview with the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal.

But the Clinton campaign fueled the controversy in every place and every way it could, hoping charges that Obama is elitist and arrogant will resonate with the swing voters the candidates are vying for not only in Pennsylvania, but in upcoming primaries in Indiana and North Carolina as well.

Political insiders differed on whether Obama's comments, which came to light Friday, would become a full-blown political disaster that could prompt party leaders to try to steer the nomination to Clinton even though Obama has more pledged delegates. Clinton supporters were eagerly hoping so.

They handed out "I'm not bitter" stickers in North Carolina, and held a conference call of Pennsylvania mayors to denounce the Illinois senator. In Indiana, Clinton did the work herself, telling plant workers in Indianapolis that Obama's comments were "elitist and out of touch."

At issue are comments he made privately at a fundraiser in San Francisco last Sunday. He was trying to explain his troubles winning over some working-class voters, saying they have become frustrated with economic conditions:

"It's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

The comments, posted Friday on The Huffington Post Web site, set off a blast of criticism from Clinton, Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain and other GOP officials, and drew attention to a potential Obama weakness — the image some have that the Harvard-trained lawyer is arrogant and aloof.

His campaign scrambled to defuse possible damage.

There has been a small "political flare-up because I said something that everybody knows is true, which is that there are a whole bunch of folks in small towns in Pennsylvania, in towns right here in Indiana, in my hometown in Illinois, who are bitter," Obama said Saturday morning at a town hall-style meeting at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. "They are angry. They feel like they have been left behind. They feel like nobody is paying attention to what they're going through.

"So I said, well you know, when you're bitter you turn to what you can count on. So people, they vote about guns, or they take comfort from their faith and their family and their community. And they get mad about illegal immigrants who are coming over to this country."

After acknowledging his previous remarks in California could have been better phrased, he added:

"The truth is that these traditions that are passed on from generation to generation, those are important. That's what sustains us. But what is absolutely true is that people don't feel like they are being listened to."

Clinton attacked Obama's remarks much more harshly Saturday than she had the night before, calling them "demeaning." Her aides feel Obama has given them a big opening, pulling the spotlight away from troublesome stories such as former President Clinton's recent revisiting of his wife's misstatements about an airport landing in Bosnia 10 years ago.

Obama is trying to focus attention narrowly on his remarks, arguing there's no question that some working-class families are anxious and bitter. The Clinton campaign is parsing every word, focusing on what Obama said about religion, guns, immigration and trade.

Clinton hit all those themes in lengthy comments to manufacturing workers in Indianapolis.

"The people of faith I know don't 'cling' to religion because they're bitter. People embrace faith not because they are materially poor, but because they are spiritually rich," she said.

"I also disagree with Senator Obama's assertion that people in this country 'cling to guns' and have certain attitudes about immigration or trade simply out of frustration," Clinton added.

"People don't need a president who looks down on them," she said. "They need a president who stands up for them."

Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan responded, "We won't be lectured on being out of touch by Senator Clinton, who believes lobbyists represent real people and is awash in their money and who can't tell a straight story about her lengthy record of supporting trade deals like NAFTA and China that have devastated communities in Pennsylvania and Indiana."

McCain's campaign piled on Obama, releasing a statement that also accused him of elitism.

One of Clinton's staunchest supporters, Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., acknowledged there was some truth in Obama's remarks. But he said Republicans would use them against him anyway.

At a campaign rally in Wilson, N.C., former state Democratic Party chairman and current Clinton adviser Tom Hendrickson said rural voters don't need "liberal elites" telling them what to believe.

Bill Clinton was the featured speaker of the rally but avoided commenting on Obama's remarks. When asked about it afterward, he said simply, "I agree with what Hillary said."

link

Maybe if Mr. Obama had been a little more specific in his remarks a few months ago and if she could have managed to keep Mr. Clinton quiet, Mrs. Clinton might have had a chance. She is done,,,the election is over and she is just passing the collection plate to pay all the campaign debt at this point. I do like the fundamental message of your tee-shirt.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

He's right that people are fed up with the way this country's wealth is being re-distributed from the bottom to the top. People are fed up with the loss of decent jobs, out-of-reach health care, stagnating and decreasing real wages vis-a-vis ballooning executive packages and corporate profits, golden - what am I saying? - fcuking platinum parachutes and all #######. I know I am fed up with it. He's sure in touch with me and the folks I speak to.

But you hold on to whatever straw you think you see, dev. Hold on to them straws. It's all you got these days.

[kaydee457 13]

He's right that people are fed up with the way this country's wealth is being re-distributed from the bottom to the top. People are fed up with the loss of decent jobs, out-of-reach health care, stagnating and decreasing real wages vis-a-vis ballooning executive packages and corporate profits, golden - what am I saying? - fcuking platinum parachutes and all #######. I know I am fed up with it. He's sure in touch with me and the folks I speak to.

But you hold on to whatever straw you think you see, dev. Hold on to them straws. It's all you got these days.

Sorry Mr. His comments were derogatory and condescending. He said what he said to connect with his immediate audience, a room filled with SF liberals, however what he said was that country bumpkins don't know what they're doing, and are single issue folks in elections, because they're pissed off.

He said that these country bumpkins have no idea what they do for they're too dumb to know otherwise.....

Let me see, 'they vote for guns' and they 'they're anti-immigration', they're 'religious' and 'bigoted' and I, Barack Obama, recognizes these corrupt and lowly behaviors as symptomatic of 'bitterness' they harbor. Oh, those poor dumba$$es, why don't they acquiesces to the democrats and liberals such as he for he will cure them of their anti-liberal beliefs........

Elitist......as most liberals are......

This is Obama's end I'm afraid. No need for any swiftboating this time around.....

Edited April 12, 2008 by kaydee457

[Heracles 417]

yeah those country folk are dumb unlike this intelligent NE guy..

[metta 0]

He's right that people are fed up with the way this country's wealth is being re-distributed from the bottom to the top. People are fed up with the loss of decent jobs, out-of-reach health care, stagnating and decreasing real wages vis-a-vis ballooning executive packages and corporate profits, golden - what am I saying? - fcuking platinum parachutes and all #######. I know I am fed up with it. He's sure in touch with me and the folks I speak to.

But you hold on to whatever straw you think you see, dev. Hold on to them straws. It's all you got these days.

Ahhh, the proud volunteer member of the Shovel Brigade

This one's gonna take a lot of shovelling...

'cause it sure is a big dump

[Corey-Mariya 14]

I am from Pennsylvannia! And I can tell you I am pretty sure Barak Obama will win the state anyway! I cannot stand Hilliary Clinton! Most of my friends are going out to vote for Barak obama because they dislike clinton so much! GO OBAMA

[no name 1]

Ahhh, the proud volunteer member of the Shovel Brigade

This one's gonna take a lot of shovelling...

'cause it sure is a big dump

Sure is. Obama has just done a giant #### up & he knows it. They are both on CNN tmrow night, speaking on faith and politics - I can't wait!

[metta 0]

<H3 class=storytitle id=post-719>Obama: You Only Need to Count on Your Family and Your God if Your Government Doesn’t Make You Rich or at Least Richer</H3>Filed under:Language Barrier, Jerks, Politics — posted by Anwyn on April 12, 2008 @ 1:07 pmKeep digging, Barack. Dig yourself all the way to China, where they already have communism, and see how you like it, jackass.

Original remarks:

You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them…And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not.

And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment

as a way to explain their frustrations.

Got that? You can’t be frustrated about illegal immigration or anything else that matters to your ideas about how this country should operate or who should have to obey the law, really, you know you can’t. You’re just pissed that a factory shut down and took your job away so you have to have some outlet for that anger. Whereas (presumably) if you vote for Barry he’ll have your factory job back in a heartbeat so that you never have to consider moving, consider going where times are more prosperous, consider how you might alter your life to adapt to changing circumstances, changes that might actually end up being for the better.

Spin in Indiana Friday night, insulting the intelligence of my fellow Hoosiers, though judging by the applause, those present were begging to have it insulted:

They don’t vote on economic issues because they don’t expect anybody’s gonna help them. So people end up, you know, voting on issues like guns … issues like gay marriage … take refuge in their faith and their community and families, things they can count on … so here’s what’s rich. Senator Clinton says, “Well, I don’t think people are bitter in Pennsylvania …” John McCain says, “Oh, how can he say that? How can he say people are bitter?”

No, jackass, “bitter” was not the damning epithet. I’m pretty disgusted and bitter my own self at having to choose between an open-borders guy and a couple of socialists, one with racism thrown in for good measure. Saying people only care about religion, the right to bear arms, their families and communities (code, by the way, for they embrace only their own and despise, perhaps even violently, all other comers, out of this same bitterness), that was the damning bit. And sensible people in Indiana and elsewhere are hearing it, reading it, and knowing it. Keep digging.

Spin in Indiana Saturday morning:

I said somethin’ that everybody knows is true … people don’t feel like they’re being listened to. So they pray, and they count on each other, and they count on their families … you know this in your own life. And what we need is a government that is actually paying attention … fighting for workin’ people, [blah blah blah blah socialist code words up to and including American Dream].”

Once again, you’re not supposed to count on your family or your faith, you’re supposed to count on your government. He simply cannot fathom the concept that people do not believe this is the proper role of government, that nobody in their right mind wants to count on government for their needs and wants. So he says “I could have said it better,” but then goes on to say the same damn thing in the same damn way because he simply cannot believe it couldn’t be the truth.

This is the real Barack Obama, believe it. People counting on their families and God is not appropriate; these things are merely the refuge of the bitter. This is why his chosen church and his mentor/married-him/baptized-his-kids pastor are not about God but about race and class–because that’s all he believes in. People don’t vote their class identity not because they don’t believe this is an appropriate basis for choosing a government, because they believe individual rights are a better foundation, but merely because they’re embittered and don’t believe voting on class would change the class structure. There is nothing in his world but class structure and how he can alter it so that we’re all supposedly on the same basis, which in his mind means lack of inequity but in reality will result in nothing but lack of opportunity, lack of will, lack of ambition, lack of work, lack of achievement.

Keep digging, Barry. Hey, maybe there’s a silver lining: If you need to count on God and your family if your government doesn’t make your life turn out the way you want it to, then perhaps we’ll have a lot of converts to Christianity and family trust after you pull down the life edifaces of America’s wealthy.

And PS–if all the people you talk to are “bitter,” did it ever occur to you that these might be the only ones (not all of the populace or, it is to be hoped, even a majority) who want the government to put a bandaid on them and make it better, who might think it’s a swell idea to whine to a politician about how bad they have it (really, often, not that bad at all)? Seek out some ordinary folks without an axe to grind and then see how well your vision holds up.

<H2 id=comments>10 comments » </H2>

1. It’s ok for “Rev” Wright’s people to rely on religion and guns, but not for rednecks, huh?

   Comment by joe from Chi — April 12, 2008 @ 1:57 pm

2. In addition to his children, Barack Obama was also baptized at Rev. Wright´s Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago:

   “Obama, 46, eventually joined Trinity and was baptized there.”

   http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23935852/

   Comment by Sally Frank — April 12, 2008 @ 2:50 pm

3. This shows his hate or at least outright disrespect for two of our birthrights … choice of religion and actually having it as part of our lives, and guns … as in exercising the second amendment in owning firearms.

   People do not flock to our places of worship or own firearms because we are bitter. We exercise these birthrights because we have the right to … they are a part of the fabric of what it is to be American. They represent freedom Barry. Freedom.

   We do not need the Obamessiah and his gospel to save us, from our God or the protections that privately owned weapons afford us, with his brand of government which apparently seeks to weaken or nullify them. At the least, he does not understand the very basic principles of freedom.

   Comment by Benjamin9 — April 12, 2008 @ 2:53 pm

4. I live in a small town in Pennsylvania. I love God, guns and small towns, so maybe I’m just bitter about industrial decline. The only problem with that analysis is that I got my PhD from Harvard three years after Barack Obama got his J.D. I make a comfortable living.

   Maybe I’m not smarter than Barack Obama, but he’s not smarter than me, either.

   Comment by bouncer — April 12, 2008 @ 3:08 pm

5. This guy is a jackass.edwardo

   Comment by eddiejoyal — April 12, 2008 @ 3:24 pm

6. Great post. You said what I was thinking better than I could.

   Being from Texas, I’m quite familiar with stereotypes about rural areas (even though I am actually from a large city). I’ve seen the sneer that appears on a liberal’s face when they hear my accent often enough that I know exactly what they think about me.

   Well, I’m a’fixin’ to head out. There’s a turkey shoot goin’ on down to the feed store, and my pappy wants me to clean his ol’ 12-gauge for him.

   Comment by Mrs. Peel — April 12, 2008 @ 4:38 pm

7. Now Mrs Peel, don’t forget to take your bible. Hussein is watching you.

   Comment by Scrapiron — April 12, 2008 @ 4:55 pm

8. Obama and his kin is finished in this here election. I bin to the field to do my shootin practice.

   Comment by Sandy C. — April 12, 2008 @ 4:57 pm

9. Aside from Jeremiah Wright, there is another associate of Barack Obama that the candidate needs to explain if he hopes to become president. His name is William Ayers, and he is a Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His wife is Bernadine Dohrn, who teaches at Northwestern University. Both have been rather closely associated with Obama in recent years. Why should this be of concern? Both Ayers and Dohrn were members of the infamous Weather Underground (America’s first home-grown terrorist association) during the 1960s and 1980s.

   The Weather Underground was more than just a dissident group during the Viet Nam era. They participated in a wave of violence and bombings during that era. In March of 1970, Ayres, a member of the group, went underground after a bomb accidentally exploded in Greenwich Village (3-6-70), killing three Weather Underground members, including Ayer’s then-girlfriend. Ayers spent his years underground carrying out bombings of various locations including the Capitol Building, the Pentagon and the New York PD Hqs. As a fugitive, he had two children with Dohrn, who later became his wife. In 1981, they turned themselves in. Charges against Ayers were dropped due to prosecutorial misconduct during the years-long search for the fugitive.

   What is illuminating-and needs to be remembered-is that in September 2001, Ayres told the New York Times, “I don’t regret setting bombs. I feel we didn’t do enough”.

   So Ayres and Dohrn went on to careers in academia. They also developed a relationship with Barack Obama as they continued their left-wing activism-albeit within the legal system. Obama reportedly first met Ayres and Dohrn in 1995, when he was taken to their home to seek their support for his first run for political office in the state senate.

   Ayers has been since 1999 a board member of the Woods Fund of Chicago, a left-wing foundation that sponsors activist community organizing in Chicago. Barack Obama also served on that board from 1999-2002. It should be noted that in 2001, the Woods Fund gave a $40,000 grant to the Arab-American Action Network, followed by a $35,000 grant in 2002. This organization is headed by Mona Khalidi, the wife of Columbia University Professor, Rashid Khalidi. This man is an activist who supports terror against Israel and has worked for the PLO-including during the years when that organization was killing Americans. In 2005, Obama, Ayers and Dohrn gave testimonials at a farewell dinner for Khalidi.

   In addition, Obama and Ayres have served on panels together over the years including an activist conference in Chicago April 19-20 of 2002.

   This is not to suggest that Ayres and Dohrn are still involved in illegal activities, though it may be assumed that Ayres is unrepentent for his past. It might also be argued that one questionable association with someone who was involved in terroristic activity decades ago could be disregarded. The problem is that these questionable associations are starting to pile up. First Jeremiah Wright, then Ayers and Khalidi. Guilt by association? Yes, but it is cause for genuine concern.

   As usual, the mainstream media is ignoring this story. But don’t the American people have the right to at least be aware and consider this when they vote?

   gary fouse

   fousesquawk

   Comment by fouse, gary c — April 12, 2008 @ 4:58 pm

10. I grew up in small town Colorado. My mother was an FDR democrat all of her life, as were her 4 sisters. Her brother, a rancher, loved guns and listened to Rush all day long. He taught B17 machine gunners in WW2. I, his nephew, carried a gun on the prairie when I was 10. My uncle died alone and dead broke, surrounded by his dogs. He never voted for a Democrat after Kennedy. My mother voted Republican only once, when her son(my brother), Harvard, Harvard Law, Cambridge U in England, went to work for a Republican administration in the OMB. What is the point? Obama is a liberal who sees people like they are automatons, following some Marxist DNA. Actually they are more complicated. I hope Mr Obama loses big time in November.

    Comment by mytralman — April 12, 2008 @ 5:12 pm

[Amby 490]

I'm in Indiana and I'm voting for Charles

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Ahhh, the proud volunteer member of the Shovel Brigade

This one's gonna take a lot of shovelling...

'cause it sure is a big dump

Sure is. Obama has just done a giant #### up & he knows it. They are both on CNN tmrow night, speaking on faith and politics - I can't wait!

Well, I'll start worrying when he makes up stories of courage - like corkscrew landings under sniper fire - and then excuses that with end-of-day fatigue while claiming to be ready to answer 3:00 am phone calls on day one. Want to talk about fcuking shite up? I surrender. Your gal beats him by leaps and bounds in the ** up department.

[Ban Hammer 12,839]

I'm in Indiana and I'm voting for Charles

:dance: :dance: