joedenver602:17PMApr 18th 2008

When I returned from Viet-Nam in january of 1969, there seemed to be a lot of folks who thought like this guy bill ayes. I didn't think much of them, because they just appeared to me as cowards, who talked a big talk, and used the viet-man vets to get their message and their agenda across. It takes a coward to strike fear when you know it won't come back at you. Most anti-war americans were sympathic to our return, and I thank them for that.

Sherry2:18PMApr 18th 2008

Ayers makes my skin crawl, and to know that Obama is in anyway connected to this guy along with Mr Wright and Rezko does show that associations tell you alot about that person.

ruthe2:21PMApr 18th 2008

the debate was a joke stephanopilus however you spell it acted like a teenager the questions were slanted maybe because the teenager belonged to the clinton administration....the questions were insipid the problems of this administration were not addressed the while thing was a debacle

one not for pickler fan!2:27PMApr 18th 2008

Okay, both Ayers and Obama served on the Woods Fund & Ayres donated 200 bucks to Obama camp. So what? Ayres is a complete piece of crap and I probably wouldn’t spit on him if he were on fire. He said in 2001 "I don't regret setting bombs, I feel we didn't do enough."

However, what does any of that have to do with Obama? If anyone should be questioned it should be who ever appointed Ayers to be the board chairman or allows him to be a professor? I don’t see any of the Clinton and McCain supporters out at the U of I in Chicago protesting him teaching college kids or being allowed to be on the board or participating in community poetry activities. Instead, I see a lot of opposing candidate supporters condemning Obama for being associated through community and Boards. That is called straining at the gnat and swallowing the camel!

TJ2:28PMApr 18th 2008

TOMMY XTOPHER, YOU MADE ME LAUGH SO HARD.
YOU ARE RIGHT, THERE IS A LOT OF "MOJOJOJO"IESQUES GARBAGE OUT THERE.
DOES MOJOJOJO KNOW HE IS A CELEBRITY?
I THINK HE IS FROM ARABIC NATION, SOME OF HIS GARBAGE HAVE COME OUT ARABIC.
THE QUESTION ASKED OBAMA ARE LEGITIMATE, HOWEVER. WE NEED TO KNOW OUR POTENTIAL PRESIDENTS.
UNFORTUNATELY, WE HAVE A SMOOTH TALKER WE KNOW LITTLE ABOUT TELLING US HE'LL "CHANGE" THE WORLD, LIKE MY 14 YR OLD.
ABC HAD EVERY RIGHT TO ASK SPECIFICS OF A POTENTIAL PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE. OBAMA IS AN UNKNOWN AND THAT IS WHY I WOULDNT TOUCH HIM WITH A LONG STICK, WHEN IT COMES TO THE WHITEHOUSE. THAT HOUSE BELONGS TO THE PEOPLE.
I WOULD NOT HANG OUT WITH BILL AYERS IF I EVER DREAMED OF BEING PRESIDENT OF USA.

one not for pickler fan!2:37PMApr 18th 2008

So Sherry, if your neighbor turns out to be a serial killer are you are guilty by association just because you borrowed sugar from them occasionally? If a mom on some PTA, fund raiser, church etc.. board diddles children are you guilty by association? If your husband, boyfriend, etc.. embezzles money are you guilty by association? If you joined in to do a fund raiser for handicapped children only to find another volunteer had been convicted of murder previously would you not do the fundraiser and let the children suffer or be at risk of guilt be association? If you walk beside a black panther in the March of Dimes walk does that mean you are a black panther too?

eaglesnest2:41PMApr 18th 2008

THE "AUDACITY" OF ASKING OBAMA HARD QUESTIONS, THOSE MODERATORS SHOULD BE FIRED......AND YEAH, WE DO WANT TO KNOW ABOUT AYERS, BECAUSE ITS JUST ONE MORE BAD ASSOCIATE OF THAT BUFFOON, OBAMA. AND HIS STOCK ANSWEAR, I DONT REMEMBER, I WAS ONLY 8, HILLARY IS BEING MEAN TO ME........WHAT A WHINING IMMATURE, POOR EXCUSE FOR A HUMAN BEING.

Diana2:42PMApr 18th 2008

Tommy....I agree with you 100% on your assessment of the (lack of) significance of the loose connection between Ayers and Obama and especially about the journalistic standards of our illustrious MOJOJOJO (you are being much too kind!), but to compare him/her to George and Charlie? I know, just a joke.

On topic....nice hoops, Bill. LOL. Here's another excerpt from Ayers' blog:

"2. Terror. Terrorism--....a bombing in a cafe in Israel is terrorism, and an Israeli assault on a neighborhood in Gaza is terrorism; the September 11 attacks were acts of terrorism, and the U.S. bombings in Viet Nam for a decade were acts of terrorism. Terrorism is never justifiable, even in a just cause--the Union fight in the 1860's was just, for example, but Shernan's (his typo, not mine!) March to the Sea was indefensible terror. I've never advocated terrorism, never participated in it, never defended it. The U.S. government, by contrast, does it routinely and defends the use of it in its own cause consistently."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ok, Bill, keep on smoking that peace pipe of yours! Are we a bit anti-semitic like some of your neighbors (NO, NOT OBAMA!)? Pro-Hamas/PLO are we now? The Union fight in the Civil War an act of terrorism? You never advocated or participated in or defended terrorism? Is it time to take your next dose of prolixin or seroquel now? The following comments on his blog put it so succinctly:

Jack Janski says: "No matter how you try to spin it, Billy you're a fucking scumbag along with that wife of yours. BTW--why didn't you get upset when the VC were cutting off the heads of villagers who refused to join their cause? Or when the communists in the region began their program of mass murder when the American military left the region. Yeah, not a word from Billy and his ilk....Disgraceful swine!!!"

Question for you Bill Ayers defenders. A couple of bank guards and a New York police officer were murdered by the Weathermen. Has Billy been compensating their survivors for the pain and the suffering caused by his cohorts' actions?? The dirtbag seems to be doing pretty well these days......Bill. I feel extremely sorry for you. You have the blood of human beings on your hands if not on your conscience. I wonder if you ever regret allowing your political agenda to destroy so many lives. Yours included."

eaglesnest2:47PMApr 18th 2008

RUTHE, YOU DIDNT LIKE THE DEBATE BECAUSE IT SHOWED YOUR CANDIDATE IN A BAD LIGHT WHERE HE BELONGS. SAME WITH THE MEDIA. YOU BOTH ARE SCARED TO DEATH THAT OBAMA IS SLOWLY BEING EXPOSED FOR WHO HE REALLY IS, A RACIST AND A LIAR. YOU ARE THE SAME HATEFUL TYPE OF PERSON THAT DELIGHTS WHEN THERE IS NEGATIVE HILLARY BASHING GOING ON, BUT THE MINUTE SOMEONE DARE ASK AND EVEN HAVE THE "AUDACITY" TO ASK OBAMA HARD QUESTIONS, THEN YOU AND THE MEDIA CRY ...... WHEN PENNSYLVANIA VOTES, YOU NEED TO GO GET UNDER THE COVERS WITH YOUR OBAMA DOLL FOR THE NIGHT.

eaglesnest2:51PMApr 18th 2008

SO ONE FOR A PICKLER FAN........DOES THAT MEAN THAT A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE CAN HAVE FRIENDS LIKE THAT ? GIVE ME A BREAK, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, YOU PEOPLE NEED TO GO DO SOME RESEARCH ON YOUR BIG MISTAKE, SENATOR I DONT KNOW, I DONT REMEMBER, STOP BEING MEAN TO ME AND ASKING ME SILLY QUESTIONS OBAMA.

Diana3:00PMApr 18th 2008

joedenver60......I knew there was a reason I liked you. Thank you very much for your service to our country, together with two of my uncles (one a medic who won a purple heart) and tens of thousands of other brave souls. I salute you all!

BTW--for the record, I was also very much opposed to the War (after the fact, as I was but a child) while always supporting out troops.

one not for pickler fan!3:10PMApr 18th 2008

eaglesnest
I don’t know what you call a “friend,” but I am not friends with all the people I have worked with over the yrs…many of whom have been unsavory. However, I am not going to let my job not get accomplished just because I don’t want to be associated with those unsavory co workers when I needed to collaborate with them. Obama wanted to be on this board so why should he exclude himself from doing good work because someone else hired the scum bag to be on the same board? Ah, if Obama was out having non work related dinners, entertaining , and vacationing with the guy….okay… but I have not found any connection that is not a loose work related connection. The community, college, and businesses accept this guy into their society….blame them not Obama. BTW I am a Hill supporter, but to win by defaming another candidate with misinformation and faux charges is beneath me! I would agree with Obama- stop asking silly questions & lets get to the issues.

Hillary in 08!

Diana3:13PMApr 18th 2008

eaglesnest.....FYI--one not for pickler fan! is actually a fellow Hillary supporter (and former Romney supporter) like myself who is merely trying to use her sharp critical thinking skills in assessing the dubiousness and implausibility of the alleged linkage between Ayers and Obama. You might want to also try it some time.

one not for pickler fan!3:19PMApr 18th 2008

eaglesnest- also, if you are so worried about Ayers….I ask what are you doing to protest him teaching the kids of this nation, being a VIP guest at a kids poetry contest, etc…?? Or do you not care about what he is doing, only who he is doing it with?

mrbline3:35PMApr 18th 2008

At the risk of being totally un-PC.

By the classic definition of terrorism, a famous act during the American Revolution could be construed as one:

The Boston Tea Party.

John3:52PMApr 18th 2008

Sherry,
If associations make you queasy, than you obviously cannot support Mrs. Clinton. Make a list of all of her past associates who have done jail time or who have been disbarred--you might finish the list sometime in December after Obama has been elected President.

I do not believe such associations necessarily reflect on any person. I have known a lot of saints in my lifetime--and I am certainly not a saint. I have also known a lot of goofballs--and I'd like to think I'm not a goofball (at least because of my association with them).

If one's friends influence a belief system, a policy, or an action, then, yes, it would be fair game. But neither Senator Clinton nor Senator Obama should be painted with a broad brush of prejudice because of their past associations with known criminals or known sociopaths. It is anti-intellectual, dishonest, and foolish to do so.

Thanks to "pickler fan not" for saying the same thing more clearly.

John in Philadelphia
OBAMA '08

JimM3:55PMApr 18th 2008

Please do not criticize any close friend of Obama's.

He has already had too many of his friends criticized already.

ex-Reverend Wright
Farrakhan
Reverend Sharpton
Ayers
and the list goes on.

And even his wife Michelle for making an anti-American statement. Nobody should think anything of this remark. She only said this one time in her life.

I say enough is enough. Else these friends of Obama's will come out of the woodwork or where ever they have been and criticize you right back. I am sure you will be caused a racist. Everyone knows if you criticize someone and they happen to be black, you are a racist.

JimM4:03PMApr 18th 2008

I see that many of you think it is okay to associate with known terrorists.

Everone I know and have known have assoicated themselves with known terrorists (except me, I was not so blessed.). Especially they associated with thethe ones who are extremely ant-American.

You must do this for the experience and even the possible thrill it gives you.

And it helps you find out everything you can about them. Then when you go hunting them to exterminate them as they deserve, you will have an easier time.

one not for pickler fan!4:06PMApr 18th 2008

mrbline-
There is a big difference in the Sons of Liberty having protest meetings and dumping tea into Boston harbor……and someone violently blowing up buildings, killing 3 people that I know of, and not caring if women/children/innocent bystanders etc.. were killed in the process.

Tom Baehner4:09PMApr 18th 2008

THE MEDIA IS AFRAID TO ASK OBAMA QUESTIONS BECAUSE HE WILL CALL THEM RACISTS. BILL CLINTON CRITICIZED OBAMA AND OBAMA CALLED HIM A RACIST. I THOUGHT HE WAS THE FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT? HOW SOON THEY FORGET. THE ONLY REASON WE KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT OBAMA IS BECAUSE FOX NEWS HAS THE COURAGE TO CONFRONT HIM. WE STILL DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT OBAMA BECAUSE THE MEDIA IS TOO AFRAID OF HIM CALLING THEM RACISTS.