Will MSM Challenge Obama Assumption That Bill Ayers Was 'Rehabilitated'?

October 10th, 2008 8:37 AM

Did you know that there is no longer any reason to make a fuss about Obama's relationship with Bill Ayers? He was rehabilitated. At least that is the absurd assumption by Barack Obama that he claimed he had in a radio interview with Philiadelphia radio talk show host, Michael Smerconish. You can listen to the audio from Politico and here is the coverage of that radio interview (emphasis mine) via Jake Tapper's Political Punch blog at ABC News:

In an interview with conservative Philadelphia radio talk show host Michael Smerconish today, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said his relationship with William Ayers is being questioned and his middle name is being invoked at events for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to distract voters from the economy.

"This is a red herring," Obama said of the Ayers story," because people don't want to talk about the fact that economy over the last eight years has been mismanaged to the point that we're teetering on a really, really bad situation.

...Smerconish said his callers wanted to know about Obama's trip to Ayers' home in 1995 to discuss his pending state senate run: why go to his house to begin with?

"I moved to Chicago," Obama recalled. "I didn't grow up in Chicago. And graduating from law school I was involved in a whole bunch of civic activities.

"The gentleman in question, Bill Ayers, is a college professor, teaches education at the University of Illinois and that's how I met him, was working on a school reform project that was funded by an ambassador and former close friend of Ronald Reagan's and I was sitting on this board along with a whole bunch of conservative businessmen and civic leaders and he was one of the people who was on this board. And he lives in the same neighborhood.

"Ultimately, I ended up learning about the fact that he had engaged in this reprehensible act 40 years ago, but I was eight years old at the time and I assumed that he had been rehabilitated.

"So, you know, the central point this is not somebody who advises my campaign, it's not somebody who is part of my, you know, inner circle in any way. This is somebody I've worked on some projects with, the latest is school reform. And I've strongly condemned his actions.

Rehabilitated? If Obama really believed this then he was one of the very few people in this country who did. There has never been any remorse expressed from Bill Ayers himself over his role in the terrorist Weather Underground and the wave of bombings they participated in back in the 1970s. Didn't Obama even see the photo (above right) of Bill Ayers stomping on the American flag in an article in the August 2001 edition of Chicago Magazine. A month later, ironically on September 11, 2001, Bill Ayers was quoted in the New York Times about his attitude over his terrorist activities: ''I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough.''

Some rehabilitation but will the mainstream media call Obama on this? The MSM can ignore this but it appears that many readers of Jake Tapper's blog aren't buying Obama's lame excuse about Ayers:

Obama assumed Ayers had been rehabilitated. yea right! If you believe that one I have a bridge for sale.

Obama thought Ayers was rehabilitated? Really? Obama then needs to argue that he doesn't read the newspapers, and didn't see the Chicago Sun Times article on Ayers in August of 2001 with a picture of Ayers stomping on a US flag or the NY Times article "No regrets" published on 9-11-2001.

Can somebody please tell me how a Terrorist can be rehabilitated?

I guess he wasn't the Bill Ayers he thought he knew. Is Obama the most clueless person in America? He seems totally in the dark about all of his radical friends, jobs with Acorn etc.

Please. First story was Obama didn't know him except as someone in the neighborhood, then he didn't know at the time of his fundraiser that Ayers was a domestic terrorist now he thought he was rehabilitated! Rehabiliatated from what if he didn't know Ayers was a terrorists. 

Good point on the last comment but don't hold your breath waiting for the MSM to pick up on it.