False fears of terrorism are already entering the 2008 political debate. Last night, Sean Hannity declared on his TV show that Obama’s connections with education professor Bill Ayers would be a "major issue." Today’s Chicago Tribune features Jonah Goldberg’s column denouncing "Obama’s acquaintance with an unrepentant terrorist."
So let’s get some facts straight here. Ayers is not, and never has been, a terrorist. Obama had only a distant relationship with Ayers, and has criticized Ayers’ past and his views. While the right-wing and mainstream press attacks Obama for this non-story, it’s very interesting that media ignore John McCain’s embrace of someone who really did support terrorists and even supplied them with weapons: Oliver North.
So what is Ayers’ connection to Obama? In 1995, State Sen. Alice Palmer held an event for supporters at the home of Ayers, where she announced her plans to run for Congress and introduced Obama as her chosen successor. Obama also served on the board of directors for a progressive foundation, the Woods Fund, from 1999-2001, when Ayers was also on the board. In 2001, Ayers gave $200 to Obama’s state senate campaign fund. And Obama and Ayers appeared together on a 1997 panel at the University of Chicago dealing with juvenile justice (Obama also praised Ayers’ approach on the subject in an op-ed he wrote that year), and on a 2002 panel on public intellectuals at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
That’s it. Altogether, it amounts to a pretty typical interaction between a politician and a prominent progressive activist in his district. Obama has also criticized Ayers. Obama’s press secretary, Bill Burton, noted: "Sen. Obama strongly condemns the violent actions of the Weathermen group, as he does all acts of violence. But he was an 8-year-old child when Ayers and the Weathermen were active, and any attempt to connect Obama with events of almost 40 years ago is ridiculous."
So what did Ayers do? Bill Ayers was a member of the Weather Underground in the 1960s and 1970s, along with Bernadine Dohrn. The Weather Underground undertook a series of symbolic bombings (including the US Capitol and the Pentagon) where no one was killed, except for a 1970 accidental explosion in New York City when three members of the Weather group got killed (Ayers wasn’t involved in that). Ayers was nothing more than a stupid, self-indulgent, glorified vandal.
I’ve never forgiven Ayers and the Weather Underground for helping to destroy Students for a Democratic Society and discrediting the anti-war movement with their useless and dangerous bombs. And I wish Ayers would express more regret than he has for the stupid mistakes he made. However, Ayers is not a terrorist. The definition I have of a terrorist is intentionally killing innocent people for political purposes. The Weather Underground came dangerously close to terrorism, and their juvenile behavior of faux rebellion deserves condemnation, but they weren’t terrorists by my definition.
John Podhoretz at Commentary writes about the Ayers link with this hypothetical: "What if John McCain had visited the Unabomber’s cabin? Or had been photographed with Terry Nichols? Or had stopped off at David Duke’s house at some point because he was gathering support and donors? How big a story would that be?"
In fact, McCain does have a supporter who is far more of a terrorist than Bill Ayers. His name is Oliver North. Ayers was never prosecuted for any crime. North, by contrast, was convicted (he got away with it because his testimony to Congress provided him with immunity).
In case you’ve forgotten, North was a central figure in the Iran-Contra scandal of the Reagan Administration. The weapons illegally supplied by North to Iran and the Contras were used by both groups to kill innocent people. And that makes him a direct supporter of terrorism.
So what is the McCain campaign’s position toward this terrorist supporter? Have they denounced his views? No, McCain’s own campaign website promotes the endorsement of him by Oliver North.
And what is the media’s position on McCain’s terrorist supporter? Have they written articles bringing up North’s past crimes and his links to McCain? Have they contacted the McCain campaign to ask if the McCain will distance himself from his controversial supporter? Actually, the Washington Post blog did ask the McCain campaign, "Is McCain pleased to receive North's endorsement, given the fact that the failed GOP senatorial candidate was convicted in 1989 of shredding documents, accepting an illegal gratuity and aiding and abetting in the obstruction of Congress?" The McCain campaign declined to criticize North or remove their link to his endorsement: "We'll let the comments in the release stand," wrote spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker in an e-mail. The Post also notes in its blog that McCain supported North in his 1994 campaign for the Senate in Virginia. But no one else in the press has uttered a word about the subject.
By contrast, the mainstream press has promoted the Ayers story. The Politico reported the Ayers/Obama "connection" in an article that was actually titled, "Obama once visited '60s radicals." Echoing the various right-wing blogs, the Clinton campaign pushed the story further, with Clinton spokesman Phil Singer emailing a New York Sun article to the media and writing, "Wonder what the Republicans will do with this issue."
In fact, while Ayers is an obscure professor ignored by the media, North is considered a legitimate commentator who has a show of his own on Fox News Channel. Yes, that’s right, the channel where Sean Hannity can be found expressing outrage about Ayers’ distant links to Obama.
I should note that I fully support the freedom of expression of both Ayers and North. I think that Ayers is a very good scholar and entirely deserves his position as a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. I also believe that Oliver North should be free to speak on the air and at college campuses, even though he is a unrepentant supporter of terrorism.
Ayers is not the only professor linked to Obama who is falsely accused of terrorism. This week, WorldNetDaily titled an article, "Obama worked with terrorist," referring to Rashid Khalidi, the brilliant Columbia University professor who hosted a 2000 fundraiser for Obama and is denounced by the right-wing for criticizing Israel.
What bothers me is the double standard: We have two people who committed crimes in the past and engaged in terrible mistakes promoting violence. Both of them are reluctant to apologize (Ayers has more regrets than North, though). One of them was convicted of a felony (North). Both of them are connected to presidential candidates, but only McCain has endorsed his "terrorist" supporter and posted the terrorist’s support of him on his website. Only Obama has criticized the "terrorist" linked to him. And only Obama has been scrutinized by the press for his connections to a controversial supporter.
It’s time to end this double standard and demand that the media give the same attention to the McCain/North "terrorist" connection, and start asking some tough questions.
Crossposted at DailyKos.
