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Bill Ayers: I Was Not a Terrorist

But I saw no 'path to a rational discussion' during campaign

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 6, 2008 11:22 AM CST

(Newser) – Even as John McCain was painting him as a domestic terrorist in Barack Obama’s rogues gallery of acquaintances, William Ayers kept silent. “I saw no viable path to a rational discussion,” he writes in today’s New York Times. Now that the election’s over, it’s time to set the record straight. The Weather Underground carried out “symbolic acts of extreme vandalism,” he writes. It crossed lines. “But it was not terrorism.”

The bombings weren’t intended to injure or kill or spread fear. They were simply a “screaming response” to the Vietnam War, and his real regret is that they couldn’t end the conflict. He says the McCain camp’s dishonesty extended further, attempting to lay Ayers’ actions at the feet of a passing acquaintance. But “guilt by association and the politics of fear did not triumph, not this time. Let’s hope they never will again."

[Images (2)]

[Quotes (3)]

William Ayers speaks about his two books to an audience at the All Souls Church, Unitarian in Washington, Monday, Nov. 17, 2008. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

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I felt at times like the enemy projected onto a large screen in the 'Two Minutes Hate' scene from George Orwell's 1984. - William Ayers

With the mainstream news media and the blogosphere caught in the pre-election excitement, I saw no viable path to a rational discussion. Rather than step clumsily into the sound-bite culture, I turned away. - William Ayers

Demonization, guilt by association, and the politics of fear did not triumph, not this time. Let’s hope they never will again. - William Ayers

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 15 comments

Guest

Dec 8, 2008 6:58 AM CST

While there is no such thing as guilt by association, there is reason for suspicion in someone who claims he didn't hurt anyone by bombing property. Several people were hurt and killed because of bombs set off either by the Weather Underground, the activities of SDA or imitators, like the UNABOMBER many years later. It is naive to assume Ayers' actions had no adverse consequences. And while there is no such thing in court as guilt by association, it does not follow that there is innocence by association, either.

Zebraone

Dec 8, 2008 6:17 AM CST

Quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, smells like a duck........

Guest

Dec 7, 2008 11:21 PM CST

I certainly was one of the people that said during the campaign that Barack Obama's meetings with Bill Ayers - both on the Board and in his neighborhood - in now way is an indication of his own views on any topic. What the Republicans did was guilt-by-association, and McCarthyism of the worst sort. What has made me question Mr. Ayers, outside of his judgment or lack of it in opposing the Vietnam War, was his charecterization of Sirhan Sirhan, the man that murdered Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, as a political prisoner. I always believed Robert Kennedy to hold more hope for this country than any other political personage in our country's history - and consider Sirhan Sirhan as a person that shattered the dreams of an entire generation. I can't think any opinion of Mr. Ayers to be more despicable than this one. I would like an explanation by Mr. Ayers of that charecterization of Sirhan.

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Bill Ayers: I Was Not a Terrorist