I have one thing to say about Ayers: I really respect and admire

[cali]

him for his work on early childhood education. Before all this stupid McCarthy type crap came up, Ayers was known in Chicago and elsewhere, at least as much for his work on early childhood education, as for his radical past as a member of the Weather Underground. That's why he served as an education advisor to Mayor Daley. Ayers isn't some wild eyed terrorist; he's the Distinguished Professor of Education at U of I and a respected member of the Chicago community. I'm not really talking about Obama here or the politics of Obama and Ayers having sat on the board of The Woods Foundation, a prominent anti-poverty non-profit. And yes, yes, Obama took a small political contribution from him years ago. I'm talking about Ayers and how normally, he's someone who would be admired by the vast majority of DUers. He's a man who's done a lot of good. And so has his wife.

[jakem]

1. Associating w/a liberal with a misguided past beats a bunch of phonies and cronies any day...

[UALRBSofL]

43. I have to say I disagree with Ayers

Anyone who blows up the Pentagon, the Hoover building and a NY City police station killing people should be in jail for life. Not only that, he blew up his own house killing his girlfriend.

[cliffordu]

48. Got your revolutionaries mixed up. Wrong guy, Mr. Giuliani

FAIL

[ShortnFiery]

2. Yes, Ayers is also in "good company" of people that The Clintons have thrown "under the bus"

throughout their political careers. :(

[Cassandra]

3. He was only brought up...

to associate Obama with the "dirty, fucking hippies" of the 60's, so that the RW can keep fighting that battle.

[cali]

4. Hillary's campaign has been trying to smear Obama with his

association with Ayers since Feb.

[DemVet]

5. Your thoughts on Ayers are absolutely disgusting.

The man was, and still is, a terrorist.

[mattclearing]

6. He never killed anyone. n/t

[cali]

7. Your McCarthyian crap is what's disgusting and vile and very out

of the liberal mainstream. Of course you've made it crystal clear you're notva liberal, but a right winger. I knew of Ayers work years ago. And why the fuck do you think Mayor Daley had him as an advisor on ECE?

[NOLALady]

9. Do you know him?

He seems to have earned the respect and admiration of his community.
I'm sure the respect of his community is more important to him than your opinion.

[RichardRay]

10. Nope, not even close.

You are seriously wrong. You use the word 'terrorist' as a blunt instrument. I don't know your background, but it seems to have a pretty gaping hole in it.

[jackson_dem]

11. This thread is an embarassment

The fact it is already on the greatest page makes it even worse. A "cheers to a (former) terrorist!" thread is fodder for the rethugs. They can pass this thread around the blogs to make all Dems look bad.

[cali]

13. Let me try something futile: Giving you some information

Here are some reviews by readers of one of his books on teaching:

Hatt-Echeverria's assignment, July 3, 2004
By A Customer

Ayers approach to teaching is holistic and densely worded. He is a true veteran of the academic trenches having taught for almost 40 years at every level from K to college. He shows the utmost respect and concern for his students. Inextricable from his profession and unshakable in his conviction about what is greatness in teaching.

Enlightenment, June 30, 2004
By "jetka1014" (Terre Haute, IN USA) - See all my reviews

I would recommmend this book to all future and current educators. It enlightens the reader with both knowledge and compassion. The author goes deep into the heart of education and gives examples that are actually useful in the classroom. This book has also earned a spot of my personal "good education" book list because it was written by a teacher who knows the system, the students, and the career.

A very challenging book, August 13, 2005
By FifthGradeTeacher (Chicago) - See all my reviews

I really appreciated this book. Ayers is very passionate about a teacher's responsibility to help their students become complete human beings. Reading this book, and Grant Wiggins Understanding by Design, in a graduate class renewed my passion for teaching, which is really a passion for learning. Education should be about the big questions of life, not just the details and basic skills that are tested and required by the state and federal government.

Ayers is committed to developing whole and complete human beings, not automatons.

My only issue is with his emphasis on social justice as the focus of education. While I agree that a concern for social justice will emerge in people who think for themselves, it seems as if his recommendations force this concern on kids a little too heavyhandedly. If we are to be independent, complete people, then naturally what concerns us will not always be the same. Nevertheless, his emphasis is better than many who want us to just teach kids to read words and add and subtract, but don't really care if they can think for themselves.

On a side note, while I am disgusted by Mr. Ayers' past and his continued lack of repentence, I don't believe that it invalidates his philosophy of education.

http://www.amazon.com/review/product/0807739855/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_helpful?%5Fencoding=UTF8&coliid=&showViewpoints=1&colid=&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

[LaurenG]

12. No he isn't and your saying so tells me more than I want to know

about how you really think. I'm a dirty f***ing hippie for Obama too then. I may not have done what the weathermen did but I have been on the fringe of society simply because of the way that I think.

Did you realize that they were attempting to right wrongs? He may have gone about it it in the wrong way but he has since righted much of what he did, he is a contributing member of society.

Is there no room for that now in the hearts of supporters of Senator Clinton? And why does what you posted sound so republican?

[kwassa]

16. What terror did Ayers commit?

Got anything?

I didn't think so.

[barb162]

20. He set bombs, is that enough? You know, bombs tend to kill people

WU set some bombs at government buildings.
Weather Underground, SDS, were very radical groups

[LaurenG]

21. Yes and Bill Clinton pardoned them. What point are you trying to make? nt

[barb162]

25. Bill Clinton never pardoned Ayers.

[cali]

22. They set bombs in unoccupied buildings.

I don't condone that, but sorry, dearie, Ayers is now a nationally renowned acamadician who is accepted in the Chicago community, and has even advised the current mayor. Neither life nor people are simple.

[barb162]

28. Wrong , honey, some bombings had fatalities

"Members of group, like Ayers, claimed responsibility for a series of bombings, fatal and non-fatal bombs at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weatherman_%28organization%29

[cali]

30. wiki is not invariably accurate

and that hardly points to Ayers guilt. Now answer me this, little genius, if Ayers is such a bad nasty terrorist, why do prominent non-profits have him on their boards? Why is he the Distinguished Professor of Education at U of I, a state *gasp* university? Why is he allowed to teach impressionable young people? Why did Mayor Daley have him as an advisor on ed policy?

[barb162]

35. In 2001he said he set bombs. Are you denying that?

:)

[cali]

45. I'm denying that he is responsible for any injuries or deaths

and you erroneously claimed there were WU fatalities.
UU

[cali]

32. WRONG, HONEY, NO WU BOMBINGS HAD FATALITIES. FROM FACTCHECK

a much more credible source than wiki, which anyone can edit.

"Members of the Weather Underground, known initially as the Weathermen, claimed responsibility for a series of bombings, including non-fatal but destructive ones at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol."
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j7cAG1TxjwCG7Xv6Wdn5m7kp_RfwD903SSOG0

[Egnever]

23. your comments make you appear to be a clown

You probably aren't but ....

[yardwork]

27. In what way? Explain, please.

How is he a terrorist now?

You are aware that he never killed or hurt anyone?

[TahitiNut]

38. On the exact same basis (even more so) Hillary "was, and still is, a" Goldwater Girl.

How conveeenient. :eyes:

[Tinksrival]

8. Exactly!

I can't believe the hypocrisy at DU on both Ayers and Wright!
:mad:

[cali]

14. yep duers eager to use the right wing smear

tactics. sickening.

[karynnj]

40. Exactly, but anyone who mentions "blue dress" or "cattle futures" is said to

be damaging the party.

The Ayers thing is particularly stupid - he gave a contribution and he and Obama have sat on boards together. The purpose and actions that those boards oversee are public and they are good things to do.

[stillcool]

15. I thought this was puzzling...

seeing as how it came from ABC.

ABC News
Clinton Camp Pushes O-Bomber Links: Ignores Her Own Radical Ties
Clinton, Obama Spar on Ties to Radicals
By JUSTIN ROOD

Feb. 22, 2008—

The Hillary Clinton campaign pushed to reporters today stories about Barack Obama and his ties to former members of a radical domestic terrorist group -- but did not note that as president, Clinton's husband pardoned more than a dozen convicted violent radicals, including a member of the same group mentioned in the Obama stories.

"Wonder what the Republicans will do with this issue," mused Clinton spokesman Phil Singer in one e-mail to the media, containing a New York Sun article reporting a $200 contribution from William Ayers, a founding member of the Weather Underground, to Obama in 2001. (Obama's ties to the radical group first surfaced last week in a Bloomberg News article.)

In a separate e-mail, Singer forwarded an article from Politico.com reporting on a 1995 event at a private home that brought Obama together with Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, another former member of the radical group.

Opting to leave any attacks on the issue to the GOP may be wise, as attacks from Clinton could backfire. In his final day in office, President Clinton pardoned another one-time member of the Weather Underground, Susan L. Rosenberg, after she had served 16 years in prison on federal charges

Rosenberg had been arrested in 1984 while unloading 740 pounds of dynamite, a submachine gun and other weapons from the back of a car.

Rosenberg admitted the materials were to supply others for politically-motivated attacks. Authorities had been searching for Rosenberg since 1981, for what they believed was her role in the robbery of a Brinks truck in Rockland County, N.Y. The attack, for which Rosenberg was thought to have aided with surveillance and getaway driving, left two police officers and a guard dead.

Rosenberg has denied playing a role in the Brinks heist. In arguing for a pardon in 2001, she noted that she had been a model prisoner.

And in 1999, President Clinton also pardoned 16 violent Puerto Rican nationalists responsible for more than 100 bombings of U.S. political and military installations, after they promised to renounce violence. The attacks reportedly killed six people and wounded dozens more. In justifying the pardons, President Clinton noted none of the men had been convicted of crimes that resulted in death or injuries.

[cali]

17. kick for the simple minded who equate Ayers with McVeigh

and others.

[Quixote1818]

18. K and R

[barb162]

19. Ayers in 2001:"I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough."

That's really a "charming" statement. Still sounds like a terrorist.

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

[cali]

24. Read more than wiki- like Ayers own words about that comment

his blog has been posted here this morning.

[barb162]

29. Those words have been published in many other places.

Wikipedia is as good a source as others where I have seen that line.

[cali]

36. bzzzt. you get so much wrong

info from wiki. it's best to corroborate material like this from wiki.

[ampad]

26. Equal opportunity hit jobs

You got your black radical, afro, racist preacher. You got your ultra liberal ex hippy all pinned to the cross ready for their crucifiction. YOu people who are pushing this crap should be ashamed. Had you heard of Ayers or Wright under different circumstances you would be singing their praises. All this hate for Obama and your gonna try to bring down good people who have done quite a bit for their communities. This country doens't have enough community activist but your all willing to take as many of them out that utter the name Obama as you can. Fucking disgusting what some of you will do to help this pathetic excuse for a candidate.

[2rth2pwr]

31. Obama should offer him Dept of Education.

or maybe Obama/Ayers '08?

[cali]

33. I'm sure he'd do a better job than any repuke

and if it weren't for his history, he'd actually be qualified.

[2rth2pwr]

46. His history, yeah, there is that.

[redqueen]

34. Isn't it great seeing "liberals" hop on board the RW "terra! terra! terra!" bandwagon?

This primary is great. Really sorting the wheat from the chaff.

[cali]

37. not a lot of fun.

and I sure won't miss this shit when it ends.

[redqueen]

39. I think it's necessary.

If they're so stupid they'll fall for any RW bullshit Hillary (or Hannity) spews, then perhaps they might learn something from all this.

If not, there was probably never any hope for them anyway.

[TahitiNut]

41. Looking at this from the perspective of an independent liberal ...

... it seems (to me) to betray the lack of sound ideological grounding for the choice of partisan affiliation for many. I've long thought that far too many make choices to affiliate with a political party without any comprehension of the their own political ideology and the ramifications. Folks too often toss around such labels out of abject ignorance - much like participants at a high school pep rally that don't know the first thing about the sport or even the players and coaches.

It's worse than religion ... since most folks who call themselves a "Catholic," a "Lutheran," or a "Jew" actually have to take some instruction in the tenets of that faith. Not partisans, though.

(Sigh) :eyes:

Say what we will ... even our education system does a far better job of introducing students to the precepts of religious dogma than it does secular poltical ideology. That's sad. Enormously sad.

[redqueen]

42. Can I shorten that up a bit?

FAR too many people just aren't too fond of the whole "thinkin" thing.

[TahitiNut]

44. That seems to be the case ... and has often perplexed me.

While I'm sure that opinions are mixed regarding whether I do it well or not, I've regarded "thinking" like play and my brain as a PLAYGROUND for as long as I can remember. When I was less than 10, I took joy in the idea that I had a functioning brain that could explore, exercise, comprehend, imagine, and engage in pursuits that were bounded SOLELY by my own 'rules'. It gave me an enormous sense of FREEDOM and potential ... and served as an underpinning for an optimism that both sustained me and disappointed me.

I've discovered that thinking doesn't use calories. (Sometimes I wish it did.) Therefore, it's not "tiring."
I've discovered that I can't "not think" ... merely "think" in undisciplined, nonproductive, random ways. So, if I'm going to do it anyway, I figured it might be good to learn how to do it more effectively and beneficially - according to my own values, of course.

Oh well. :shrug: I'm merely another Nut in the squirrel's nest. :silly:

[2rth2pwr]

47. That's a good comparison, your brain like a playground. It always seems to be at recess.

Sorry, couldn't help it.
LOL!

[Bake]

49. Obama's a fool for putting himself in the position of having to explain the Ayers connection.

Politically, it was foolish. I don't give a tinker's damn how many times you protest that he's a "respected member of the community." Politically, the guy is kryptonite.

You're in the position of having to DEFEND him. If you have to explain, you've already lost the battle.

Bake

[cali]

50. oh for pete' s sake. Clinton commuted the sentences of two WU

members who really were violent. Obama served on a charitable board with Ayers. Why don't you deal with that?