The Real Bill Ayers by Bill Ayers

[What the Heck]

I stand and applaud Dr. Ayers because of who he is and what he has done. Like it or not the Weather Underground and many others helped bring the war in Vietnam to an end thereby saving the lives of both Americans and Vietnamese.

Bill Ayers may or may not be a supporter of President-elect Obama. That has nothing to do with why I respect him. I respect him because he cared enough to do something. The destruction of buildings was illegal and it was wrong but he did what he felt he had to do to bring that awful war to an end. For that I am grateful. Since that time he has lived his life in the service of education. For that I admire him.

As for the Osama bin Laden nonsense - PLEASE BE SERIOUS. I could post blanket statements about the Obama haters...

Like it or not, no they didn't.

Like it or not, they were, and still are, terrorists who attempted to and did kill others, despite what Ayers has to say now. Like it or not, the attempted destruction to the buildings (buildings that are NEVER completely empty) had absolutely nothing to do with bringing Vietnam to an end. NOTHING. The actions by the Weather Underground didn't shorten the war by one day. Not even by one second.

Ayers is a cowardly terrorist who is now attempting to rewrite the history involved in the 60's to say what he wants it to say.

The powers that brought about the end of the Vietnam War was the common people, the people who protested peacefully, the people who showed the politicians in this country that the war had to end - and they said it with votes.

I would contend, in fact, that if Ayers has "suceeded" in affecting the war in Vietnam, it would have extended the war. Terror almost never works. Did the terrorist actions on 9/11 make us leave the middle east? The only 2 times it "worked" was in Mogadeshu under Clinton and Beirut under Reagon, at least against the US. It has been attempted time after time from thousands of years. More times that not, it usually brings the ones who it was attempted against together, to make them more resolved.

Ayers is a moral coward.

 

[EMom]

I believe the main point here is that the McCain campaign (namely Palin) tried to paint a picture that Obama was in kahoots with this man and that turned out to be complete utter nonsense. Just a boatload of lies and smears.

He can sugarcoat it all he likes and dress it up pretty, but he bombed buildings. That is not "vandalism." It is terrorism. If an Osama bin Laden minion came to the US and did the exact same thing, we'd call it what it truly is. Terrorism. How lovely that he thought he had a really, really, really good reason to blow up buildings, but the fact remains that his actions were not simple vandalism. There were plenty of other ways to protest the war. It's not as if his actions actually stopped the war, so what did he accomplish? (Other than destruction of buildings and making people afraid to go to work?) I think he primarily stroked his own overblown ego.

How delusional to pat him on the head for a job well done when it's sheer luck that a janitor wasn't in the targeted building on the night of the bombing......or someone who had gone back for a forgotten item......or a worker who had decided to head back to work to finish up a project, etc. Or what about firefighters or police who might have shown up in response to the bomb and gotten hurt? For crying out loud, the bombers blew THEMSELVES up prior to these bombings, (we can debate what they called themselves, but some of the core group was the same) so it seems entirely plausible that death could be a possibility with these bombs.

He got off on a technicality but he's guilty as sin. Whether he has ANY association with Obama or not, Ayers is a thug and terrorist. And he's the worst kind of terrorist.......He targeted his own country. Coward.

 

[Geoff_M]

I never killed or injured anyone. I did join the civil rights movement in the mid-1960s, and later resisted the draft and was arrested in nonviolent demonstrations. I became a full-time antiwar organizer for Students for a Democratic Society. In 1970, I co-founded the Weather Underground, an organization that was created after an accidental explosion that claimed the lives of three of our comrades in Greenwich Village. The Weather Underground went on to take responsibility for placing several small bombs in empty offices — the ones at the Pentagon and the United States Capitol were the most notorious — as an illegal and unpopular war consumed the nation.

Very interesting spin... So I guess then that people would also feel that the abortion clinic bombers that set their devices to explode after hours and therefore don't "kill or injure anyone" aren't really bad people either. So if you feel very strongly about something, then such bombing are to be understandable... Interesting.

He got off on a technicality but he's guilty as sin. Whether he has ANY association with Obama or not, Ayers is a thug and terrorist. And he's the worst kind of terrorist.......He targeted his own country. Coward.

Even worse, he clearly still feels his actions were justified. No real regrets... just some psycho-babble.

 

[Saxsoon]

Correct me if I am wrong, and I am sure someone could supply me with the quote, but didn't he say he regretted he couldn't have done more and that he had no problem killing people in the process to do so?

 

[chrisw127]

I simply cannot believe that people are actually standing up for and applauding this man! I am dumbfounded.

Just because he is a huge OS, I guess that means all the other OS have to march in lock-step in support of him.

I guess if Osama Bin Laden had feverishly supported Obama, like Bill Ayers did, they'd be sticking up for him, too.

The sad part is that many of the OS don't realize how badly they've been brainwashed.

My feelings about Ayers have nothing to do with the fact that I am an Obama supporter. Maybe the point wasn't driven home clearly enough, but Obama and Ayers are not buddies. They don't share the same views. Obama served on a board with him, no unilke other Chicago politicians, some of them republicans. I mean, come on. At the height of the Ayers hate fest lead by Plain (who, I might note, discredited herself in the process and ruined any chances of a career on the national level), there were Chicago republicans who came out and said that they too did business with Ayers because Ayers is a respected man in Chicago.

Also, I saw your signature and I'd just like to say: You're Welcome! Thank you for acknowledging my service to this country.

 

[Magic Mom]

Yep, Ayers is a model citizen, and we should all take his word.

 

[Disney Doll]

"We did carry out symbolic acts of extreme vandalism directed at monuments to war and racism, and the attacks on property..."

I consider that terrorism.
I don't find him to be an admirable man. I'm not interested in hearing his excuses for his behavior. I certainly support his right to protest, but it doesn't mean I have to agree with his methods. And I'm not going to call him a hero or a good American or anything else.

Thus far, I am pelased with how President-Elect Obama is handling the transition, and I am OK with his choices of his cabinet members.

Time will tell if my opinion of him remains positive.

 

[joviroxx]

I'm surprised Obama denounced Bill Ayers' actions seeing that he was such a pillar of virtue and honorable in fighting for what he believes. Lordy, regardless of who Ayers supported or was involved with, he is scum in my book. Seriously, applaud this man?

 

[kgle]

Correct me if I am wrong, and I am sure someone could supply me with the quote, but didn't he say he regretted he couldn't have done more and that he had no problem killing people in the process to do so?

Actually, no he didn't. He said in relation to making the US end the war in Vietnam he wished they could have done more. It had nothing to do with planting more bombs. It specifically says that in an article Ayres wrote to denounce the assumptions amde by the paper who originally posted the interview.

 

[LuvDuke]

LOL, "palling around with terrorists" comes to mind. Too bad none of that crap worked!

And that must burn something awful.

 

[kgle]

I simply cannot believe that people are actually standing up for and applauding this man! I am dumbfounded.

Just because he is a huge OS, I guess that means all the other OS have to march in lock-step in support of him.

I guess if Osama Bin Laden had feverishly supported Obama, like Bill Ayers did, they'd be sticking up for him, too.

The sad part is that many of the OS don't realize how badly they've been brainwashed.

That qualifies for the most idiotic statement of the day. Both of the last two sentences. It really disappoints me that people act this way. I hope some day that people grow up. Its sad when grown adults have to resort to childish banter to get a point across.

 

[LuvDuke]

Correct me if I am wrong, and I am sure someone could supply me with the quote, but didn't he say he regretted he couldn't have done more and that he had no problem killing people in the process to do so?

You're wrong. Ayers explained it very nicely in his op-ed piece.

 

[loco4dis]

Correct me if I am wrong, and I am sure someone could supply me with the quote, but didn't he say he regretted he couldn't have done more and that he had no problem killing people in the process to do so?

It's worse than most of us can imagine. Former Weather Underground member/FBI informant Larry Grathwohl, in a 1980s documentary titled "Nowhere to Hide," said Ayers' lovely little terrorist group was prepared to murder 25 million Americans if they couldn't be "re-educated" after the radicals "took over the government."

Here's part of his interview:

I asked, "well what is going to happen to those people we can't reeducate, that are diehard capitalists?" and the reply was that they'd have to be eliminated.

And when I pursued this further, they estimated they would have to eliminate 25 million people in these reeducation centers.

And when I say "eliminate," I mean "kill."

Twenty-five million people.

I want you to imagine sitting in a room with 25 people, most of which have graduate degrees, from Columbia and other well-known educational centers, and hear them figuring out the logistics for the elimination of 25 million people.

And they were dead serious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWMIwziGrAQ

Is the argument here that William Ayers was part of the non-genocidal arm of Weather Underground, as opposed to its genocidal arm? The rationalizations here are stunning, and really make a person understand how unspeakable atrocities happen in human history — because ordinary people who are ideologically blinded stand by and just explain it all away as somehow reasonable or even good. I think they call it brainwashing.

 

[akhenaten]

we can surely argue about the actions of the WU in the 60's...
I understand their motive/frustration but violence is never appropriate....

however his statements about the strategies used in this campaign were right on the mark!!

it truly was a victory against the politics of fear and guilt by simple association!!

I question his actions as a youth but applaud his decision to stay out of the fray in this election!!!!

 

[Saxsoon]

It's worse than most of us can imagine. Former Weather Underground member/FBI informant Larry Grathwohl, in a 1980s documentary titled "Nowhere to Hide," said Ayers' lovely little terrorist group was prepared to murder 25 million Americans if they couldn't be "re-educated" after the radicals "took over the government."

Here's part of his interview:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWMIwziGrAQ

Is the argument here that William Ayers was part of the non-genocidal arm of Weather Underground, as opposed to its genocidal arm? The rationalizations here are stunning, and really make a person understand how unspeakable atrocities happen in human history — because ordinary people who are ideologically blinded stand by and just explain it all away as somehow reasonable or even good. I think they call it brainwashing.

Interesting. Still Saint Ayers probably to many.

 

[LuvDuke]

Interesting. Still Saint Ayers probably to many.

No one called him a saint, so you can that to bed. Or point out where someone called Ayers a saint.

However, this is what you wrote:

Originally Posted by Saxsoon
Correct me if I am wrong, and I am sure someone could supply me with the quote, but didn't he say he regretted he couldn't have done more and that he had no problem killing people in the process to do so?

You were corrected because you were wrong. You tried to deflect it, but you were still wrong. End of story.

 

[gottaluvPluto]

No one called him a saint, so you can that to bed. Or point out where someone called Ayers a saint.

However, this is what you wrote:



You were corrected because you were wrong. You tried to deflect it, but you were still wrong. End of story.

Please show us a link where Ayers stated he regretted doing the bombings.

 

[LakeAriel]

I don't know much about Ayers but I do think his "relationship" with Obama was exaggerated. I also know that Vietnam was immediate and important to that generation. My mother graduated from high school in 1965. In her senior yearbook she kept track of the boys from her class who were killed in Vietnam over the course of the war. It is so strange to see, in writing, "Killed in Vietnam" (and the year written) under the senior pictures of at least a dozen boys. My father joined the Army Reserves and avoided the draft but he lost friends, too.

We graduated the same year and that was my experience also. The first love of my life had just come back. I have no doubt he suffered from PTSD though no one spoke of that then. He went through hell as did the Vietnamese.
I went to a gathering at his home and he showed me a photo album from that service. He was with the 101st Airborne. Most of the young men in the pictures were dead. It was heartbreaking.

 

[LakeAriel]

Please show us a link where Ayers stated he regretted doing the bombings.

Show me a link where he said he wished he had killed more? That was the charge.

 

[What the Heck]

Right on Bill Ayers!!! Keep the books and media appearances coming!!! The youth of America need wise people to guide them!!!

I'm so happy he spoke out. What an intelligent, thoughful man.

No one called him a saint, so you can that to bed. Or point out where someone called Ayers a saint.

However, this is what you wrote:



You were corrected because you were wrong. You tried to deflect it, but you were still wrong. End of story.

I don't know, judging by the quotes above, set up an alter and some may genuflect.

I also noticed that you defended Bill Ayers with - wait for it - a quote from Bill Ayers. So we should forgive Ted Bundy because he was articulate and explained it so well? We have people doing back flips because Bill Ayers says Bill Ayers was innocent so it must be true.

What really burns me is that one of the public schools in my state has as a teacher a terrorist. As one who was almost blown up by a terrorist group in the 80's (the FALN was stopped 2 blocks from my Marine Corps Training Center in Chicago by the FBI one 4th of July weekend) I find this appalling.